タイ初等中等教員に求められる倫理の特質 : 他の専門職倫理規程との比較分析

Article 81 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand revised in 1997 stipulates the necessity of formulating an educational law for national educational development and enhancing the teachers' professional development. Based on this provision, Teachers and Educational Personnel Council Act was eventually promulgated in 2003 and the newlyestablished license system for educational professionals together with standards for the educational professions and the code of ethics came into being. In the requirements of the license, three positive qualifications and three prohibited characteristics were specified. Considering these factors, the high level of ethics was more emphasized than mere knowledge and teaching techniques. This study aims to clarify the quality of ethics required for teachers through comparing the differences of the code of ethics of educational professions with those for other traditional professions, such as lawyer and medical doctors. This study also examines the objectives, authorities and powers and duties of each profession and the composition of their ethics committees to identify the nature of the organization as well as the nature of their code of ethics. Consequently, professionality and autonomy of teachers' organization and their code of ethics seem to be relatively immature. However, teachers are required to be a living example with high morality and to be an active leader in preserving and developing the traditional culture and the local wisdom in their community. In short, the quality of ethics required for teachers should go beyond the classroom or school and extend to the community. In a sense, teachers are required to have more sophisticated ethics than the other traditional professions.