An Australian validation study using Rasch analysis to measure preservice teachers' views of ethical behaviour

The importance of teachers as moral agents and values' educators has led Australian universities to institute a selection process for initial teacher education candidates based on dispositional as well as academic qualifications. Further, in order for any university teacher-training program to gain professional accreditation, they must ensure that their courses develop and assess preservice teachers' understanding of the ethical dimensions of their professional role. It has now become an imperative that universities must provide suitable instruction courses for prospective teachers; courses either directly centred on ethics or the exploration of the legal and professional codes of conduct. In preparation for this instruction and grounded on constructivist pedagogical tenets, a previously validated survey instrument was used to assess baseline beliefs and understanding of 139 first year preservice teachers and to determine the instrument's utility for differentiating preservice teachers' understanding of professional ethical behaviour. The "Professional Interactions and Behaviours Scale" (PIBS) was initially developed to assess the degree to which preservice teachers understand appropriate professional interactions with students. The survey was based on the "Victorian Institute of Teachers Profession Code of Conduct" (2008) which states teachers are required to maintain professional relationships with students centred on learning at all times, whether at school or not. Results of the application of the PIBS in this study revealed that novice preservice teachers had well informed ideas about appropriate interactions with their students. However, Rasch analyses of the survey instrument showed that it did not provide a sufficiently nuanced measurement scale to separate students along a continuum of acceptable ethical and professional behaviour. A more sensitive instrument must be developed to assess preservice teachers' understanding of ethical teacher behaviour