Axis 5. Critical incidents and ethical dilemmas

What is a critical incident?

The critical incident (CI) technique, which was first developed in the early 1990s, was designed as a way of learning what work behaviours adopted by aircraft pilots influenced the success or failure of their missions during World War II (Flanagan, 1954). Flanagan defined the critical incident technique as:

“[…] a set of procedures for collecting direct observations of human behaviour in such a way as to facilitate their potential usefulness in solving practical problems and developing broad psychological principles. The critical incident technique outlines procedures for collecting observed incidents having special significance and meeting systematically defined criteria.”

(Flanagan, 1954, p. 327)

Although this technique arose from the development of studies in the field of Aviation Psychology, its application has spread to several disciplinary fields over the years. In education, it was first used during the 1990s (Tripp, 1993) in the context of reflective practice, and one of its leading exponents was Schön (1992).

During initial and ongoing teacher training, critical incident analysis as a qualitative approach has enabled us to identify and reflect on the most common problems that arise in operational contexts. It is applied as a tool to reflect on attitudes and values, manage conflict situations and enhance teaching leadership in the classroom. As Monereo states,

“[…] for a critical incident to take place, there must be a situation that the teacher perceives as conflicting and that may involve other educational actors (e.g. students, colleagues, management, inspection, parents) but also, and especially, the teacher themselves.”

(Monereo, 2010, pp. 160-161)

In both the Spanish and Catalan educational contexts, a lot of research has been done on the application of the CI technique in teacher training (e.g., Navarro, López & Barroso, 1998; Monereo, 2010; Fernández, Elórtegui & Medina, 2003; or, more recently, Canelo & Liesa, 2020). The common theme running through these proposals is the design or application of guidelines or protocols to identify and analyse critical incidents: the unforeseen events, conflict situations or specific problems that most destabilize and worry teachers. These proposals provide teachers with effective tools to deal with these situations and a wide range of possible situations of similar nature (Bilbao & Monereo, 2011).

The results of a recent study of students completing their Practicum at two Catalan universities (Canelo & Liesa, 2020) reveal that, for example, the most frequent CIs reported by the students concern:

• The management of interpersonal relationships between students (especially solving verbal or physical conflicts involving students).
• The management of student behaviours (especially disruptive behaviours).
• The mastery of teaching and learning content (related to the concerns of teachers in training, not knowing how to respond to new content or issues raised by the students).

What is an ethical dilemma?

We have already pointed out that professional ethics are not limited to deontological ethics. In this regard, deontological codes may help in forming the teacher’s moral conscience, but they daily have to make decisions that generate ethical dilemmas towards others or themselves (Martínez, 2010).

An ethical dilemma arises when two moral values stand in conflict with one another and the professional, in this case the teacher, must deliberate and choose one of the options, while taking responsibility for the negative consequences of discarding the other option. Therefore, the teacher must do their best to compensate for the possible negative effects of their choice. This is exemplified by the conflict that could arise from a clash between the teacher’s moral convictions and the institutional requirements established by educational laws or the rules of the educational centre.

Cobo (2001, pp. 133-138) identifies four steps to determine, analyse and deliberate on possible ethical dilemmas associated with the practice of professional teaching:

1. Face the problem responsibly. Understand and accept that the situation may cause in the teacher a moral conflict of conscience: they may have to face two principles that cannot be reconciled, and no matter what course of action is taken, some ethical principle will nonetheless be compromised.
2. Correctly identify the nature of the problem and the circumstances. Do not rush into quick judgments and actions, but rather identify the nature of the problem and the underlying circumstances. This identification is necessary, both to avoid making mistakes and because it often sheds light on the solution. Moreover, often times, this identification helps determine the solution to the problem.
3. Predict and assess, comparing the consequences of each response to the dilemma. Take responsibility for choosing one of the possible options and try to compensate for the harm that may arise from the decision taken.
4. Choose with conscience. Once the previous steps have been taken and no way to solve the dilemma has been found, the teacher has to choose an option by weighing out the benefits and drawbacks. They must also take responsibility for the choice made and enforce the appropriate measures to amend or compensate accordingly, as much as possible.