Professional Ethics, Loyalties and Interpretative Space

Abstract In a study of Iranian English teachers’ reflections on moral dilemmas, a central finding is conflicting loyalties between professional integrity and various forms of pressure from school leaders and parents. In this commentary I reflect on experiences from a Norwegian context. Here similar dilemmas are discussed within professional ethics, a field that respond to the responsibility and trust the teachers receive from society to employ their professional judgment in complex situations involving uncertainty. Referring to two publicly known cases that both accentuate the significance of loyalty, I exemplify how professional ethics is put under pressure, and reflect on how these cases make distinct what professional ethics is about. The commentary highlights the importance of providing an interpretative space for teachers carrying out a complex institutional practice, and the need to situate ethical dilemmas in the larger societal context school and education is a part of.