Leading with Integrity in Education: Enhancing Ethics Leadership, Assurance and Complaint Resolution in Colleges and Universities Sector
School boards and universities have grown over the years to involve thousands of employees besides teachers. Teachers’ and faculty professional organizations have developed a process to deal with teachers, but this has left a gap in the policies and procedures for school boards and post-secondary schools use to deal with non-teaching employees such as janitors, maintenance staff, bus drivers, teacher’s aides, secretarial staff, and administrative staff. Although the public do not see these employees working behind the scenes, a great amount of time is spent by the administrative staff at the school level and at the school board level dealing with internal conflicts and work issues, including ethical issues.
Most school boards have a Superintendent responsible for the different areas of Administration, Maintenance and Transportation. Because School Boards demand confidentiality, and because the institutions can have many organizational fiefdoms, and because many are publicity averse, they may be reluctant to bring in outside help to resolve these issues in the event the public become cognizant or even suspicious of their issues.
Description: This half-day course, Leading with Integrity in Education: Ethics Assurance and Complaint Resolution, is intended to enhance ethics in all areas of education—whether at public schools, private schools, community colleges or universities. This includes a review of ethical challenge fundamentals in the education sector, including human resources, student counselling, complaint resolution, in-community partnerships, character education programming and procurement. While these issues are typically “siloed” in educational institutions, the presentations and case studies used by the two presenters argue for holistic, proactive leadership approaches and an integrated, responsive and cost-effective, ethical solutions agenda.
The presenters review all stages of complaints and discipline, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of alternative organization of compliant handling, investigation response processes, discipline hearings, and ethics by design programs. Attendees will be exposed to and have opportunity to discuss and test a Best Practices in Education EthicsAssurance Checklist. The half-day program concludes with an opportunity to arrange for an individual EthicScan team to visit specific attendees’ institutions.
Objective: Offer a practical, intensive, half-day course followed by opportunity to request a consultant team from EthicScan to visit the site to discuss local problems and applications. Case studies are drawn from EthicScan’s four person complaint investigation team that reflects an estimated 10,560 days of public sector inspection experience, managing and investigating complex, multi-faceted cases for both criminal prosecution and civil proceedings, including 2,100 days for municipal investigations._
Who Should Attend:
Human resources, quality assurance and compliance officers in universities, private schools and community colleges; Character education, dispute resolution, and human resources professionals; Directors of education; Complaint resolution directors; Deans of business affairs; Internal affairs and discipline professionals; Directors of the office of the University President; Collective bargaining heads; Elected and appointed trustees; Internal audit specialists; Directors of procurement; Ethics program educational experts; School board association leaders.
Benefits for Those Attending:
- Review of strengths and weaknesses of alternative organization of ethics by design programs;
- Exposure to and discussion of Best Practices in Education EthicsAssurance Checklist;
- Arrange for individual team to visit specific attendees’ institutions.
- Review the elements of ethical best practice for complaint investigation
- Learn how to further respectful dialogue and open communications
- Discuss the application of principles of trust, integrity, accountability and transparency to what are responsible, effective practices in terms of complaints, investigations, and labour relations pulse taking.
- Discuss what works in terms of ethics education, public and stakeholder engagement, reinforcement and effective governance
- Discuss what are the respective roles and responsibilities to be played by elected officials, boards, trustees, bargaining unit representatives; municipal and Ministry staff, internal audit, and the media
Pricing: $499 per registrant; $399 per person if three or more from one organization, including Pre-read material, Binder, lunch; and follow-up meting within 5 weeks. Pricing: $499 per registrant; $399 per person if three or more register from the same organization. The registration fee includes pre-read material, a Course Binder, a full buffet lunch (noon-1:00 PM); a mid-afternoon health break; and an opportunity to schedule a follow-up workplace consultation meeting within 5 weeks.
Pricing: $499 per registrant; $399 per person if three or more from one organization, including Pre-read material, Binder, lunch; and follow-up meting within 5 weeks.
Instructors:
David is a rare breed in North America: a full-time organizational ethicist. He does original writing, teaching, consulting and research on ethical decision making, enhancing corporate social accountability, auditing, and reporting, and developing ethics assurance programs, including transparency, risk management, ethical management and “safe” partnering
Denis Chamberland is a commercial lawyer with over 20 years of experience working in the public sector on a variety of commercial projects, including health/hospitals, municipal water & wastewater, solid waste collection and recycling, and design-build projects. In addition to his transactional, project-based, practice, Denis has pioneered the development of public procurement law in Canada, including the role of procurement Fairness Commissioner. Denis acts as a Fairness Commissioner on larger projects, but also in circumstances where he is brought in to investigate the facts, interview the relevant individuals involved in the complaint or dispute, and render his advice to the public agency.
