INTRODUCTION: The code of ethics for professional teachers is a set of

well stipulated laws mandating the members or as listed in the PRCs rosters
of teachers to behave in accordance to its standards and regulations. As a
matter of lexical definition, professional ethics is a systematic rules or
principles governing right conduct. Each practitioner, upon entering a
profession, is invested with the responsibility to adhere to the
standards of ethical practice and conduct set by the profession (Miller-
Keane Encyclopaedia and Dictionary); the same is adhered by
teachers around the globe as they go about their teaching career, thus,
putting it as a worldwide schema of conducting oneself as a teacher; this is
true even though there are claims that the said norms are informally
defined and observed (John M. Braxton and Alan E. Bayer,
2003).
In fact, there are many authoritative literatures both online and in
printed form that tackles the said, placing importance to its presence both
as a field of study and as a matter of practice, for instance; authors
like Audi, R. (1994) and Smith, D.C. (1996)tackles the ethics of teaching
and its connection to the ideals of learning. The importance to teachers to
know and practice a set of ethical standards can be seen in the article
entitled Ethics and the Law which pictures how ethic plays a penalizing
role to teachers in the United States of America which reads: The education
codes of many states require that teachers be persons of good character.
Most states also permit teachers to be dismissed for unethical conduct.
States also forbid particular forms of misconduct, such as child abuse, sexual
harassment, and drug abuse, and their violation may be grounds for
dismissal.

What counts as good character or conduct can be a contentious matter. In

past decades teachers might have been dismissed not only for drunkenness,
homosexuality, unwed pregnancy, or cohabitation, but also for myriad other
offenses against the moral code of their community. Some of these may still
be gray areas; however, in recent years, courts have been inclined to insist
that actionable immoral conduct be job-related, providing some protection
for the private lives of teachers. Here a particularly contentious matter is
whether being a role model is part of the job of teachers, because this
expectation can expand public authority over the lives of teachers. In certain
cases, as when teachers discuss controversial matters in class or employ
controversial teaching methods, they may be protected by the First
Amendment. Teachers, especially those who are tenured, are also likely to
have significant due-process rights. Dismissal for immoral conduct is most
likely when the teacher has committed a felony, in cases of inappropriate
sexual advances toward students, or in cases of child abuse. In this last case,
teachers may also have a duty to report suspected misconduct by others.
The kinds of misconduct dealt with by the law are usually acts that are (or
can be viewed as) unethical in any context. Teachers, like others, are
expected to not steal, kill, commit assault, abuse children, or engage in
sexual harassment. Although the definition of immoral conduct in the law has
not become coextensive with violations of criminal law, there is little in the
meaning of immoral conduct that is distinctive to teachers or
teaching (Carol J. Auster, 2002). In This Global or more specifically, United
State of Americas scenario of ethics and the law, we can see a somewhat
harsh picture of penalty to those who can be found deviant on the set of
standards mandated to be followed by teachers. However, harsh in some
ways but this is the law and one must abide by it. Furthermore, accepting the
said standards is of use not only for the benefit of refraining from penalty,
but also of the social benefit derived from Teaching with
Integrity (Bruce Macfarlane, 2004). Practice of teaching in the
Philippines, like that of the above, is also imbued with the ideals of
ethics. The Code of conduct for Professional Teachers, lays the foundation
of ethical standards that must be followed by teachers in the Philippines
through its well stipulated details. The said code sprouts from the
provisions of paragraph (e), Article 11, of R.A. No. 7836, otherwise
known as the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994 and
paragraph (a), section 6, P.D. No. 223, as amended, the Board for
Professional Teachers hereby adopts the Code of Ethics for Professional
Teachers. It must be noted that, this code is in effect in the country, for;
deviant behavior against the said code, has been the cause of
numerous judicial, quasi-judicial and extrajudicial decisions in the history
of teachers and teaching in the country.