Professional Boundaries: It’s All About Right and Wrong – Right? - February 23

Date: February 23

Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Description: It’s not quite that simple. As convenient as it might be to articulate professional boundaries with binary terms like “right” or “wrong,” our work as educators demands a far more nuanced approach. The schooling environment may appear to be a stronghold of standardization and homogeneity with steadfast boundaries, but practitioners face an extraordinary number of ambiguous situations with decision-points that are as varied and unique as the students and families they serve. Educators’ roles are not clearly defined – often with ascribed expectations that far exceed the delivery of classroom content. And within that space, it’s rarely about boundary absolutes, but rather how to best navigate the gray.

Through authentic case studies, video clips, and engaging models-of-understanding, this interactive workshop will challenge traditional assumptions by exploring the complexities of professional decision-making within the situational and systemic variables that contribute to professional risk and vulnerability.

Please ensure you register through the correct link. 

OPC Member or Associate Registration 

Non - OPC Registration  

Facilitator: Dr. Troy Hutchings

Troy Hutchings researches, writes, and speaks in the areas of professional ethics, educator misconduct, and frameworks for an ethical and legal teaching practice. He presents to various state and national policy and practitioner groups across the United States and Canada. Hutchings also provides expert witness testimony in judicial hearings; collaborates on policy initiatives with state, federal and provincial agencies; and has been the subject matter expert on a variety of national projects dealing with educator ethics including the Model Code of Ethics for Educators and the National Council for the Advancement of Educator Ethics. 

Dr. Hutchings is the Senior Policy Advisor for the National Association for the State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC). He has a record of full-time teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities at the university level spanning 15 years, and has also served as a high school teacher, administrator and coach in public and private schooling environments for an additional 16 years. In addition, he spent four years conducting research, creating resources and developing thought-leadership capacity in educator ethics for a non-profit educational assessment company.