Which of the following best represents ethical behavior for a teacher today?

Concept — Professional ethics for a teacher is the set of standards that govern how the authority and the access to personal information carried by the role are exercised. Codes of professional conduct for school teachers, such as the code notified by the NCTE in 2010, set out a range of obligations, among them three that are directly relevant here: impartiality towards every learner, safeguarding of information obtained about learners and their families, and honesty in academic work, assessment and record-keeping.

Application — The stem asks which description best represents ethical behaviour. Read against those three duties, the description that names fairness, confidentiality and integrity states the three duties themselves - impartiality, safeguarding of learner information, and honesty - so it is the accepted answer.

Cross-check — The remaining descriptions name practices that these same three duties govern:

• Sharing students' personal data openly is disclosure of learner records beyond those who need them, the practice the duty of confidentiality restricts; informational privacy is also protected under Article 21 of the Constitution (K. S. Puttaswamy judgment, 2017).

• Discipline through punishment is penalty-based control of behaviour; Section 17 of the RTE Act, 2009 prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment of a child, and NCF 2005 recommends positive discipline in its place.

• Showing favoritism to certain students is allocation of attention, opportunity or marks on grounds of personal preference rather than on relevant, consistently applied criteria, the practice the duty of impartiality restricts.

Conclusion — Fairness, confidentiality and integrity is therefore the description that best represents ethical behaviour for a teacher.