Page Content
Question: As an incentive to take students on international travel, a tour operator has offered me credits for free flights or merchandise of my choosing. Is it OK to accept these incentives?
Answer: It has been common practice for teacher chaperones to accompany their students on international travel at no cost if a certain number of students signed up to attend the trip. Since the teacher is engaged in the supervision and acting as an employee of the district, the teacher should not incur costs for accompanying students on a school-sanctioned excursion. However, tour operators have recently been offering teacher chaperones credits to use for flights of their own choosing or credits for merchandise. Accepting such incentives could be deemed to be in contravention of the Code of Professional Conduct, article 7, which states, “The teacher may not take advantage of a professional position to profit from the sale of goods or services to or for pupils in the teacher’s charge.” If a teacher takes flight credits or merchandise and keeps them for personal or family use, a professional conduct committee could find the teacher guilty of unprofessional conduct. It is acceptable, however, for teachers to accept incentives and turn them over to the school to offset the cost of travel for extra supervisors or to give a student or chaperone who would not normally be able to experience such a trip the chance to attend. Alternatively, merchandise could be raffled off to students and staff and the proceeds used to lower the costs for all students attending trips. Keeping incentives for personal gain is not acceptable.
Questions for consideration in this column are welcome. Please address them to Gordon Thomas at Barnett House (gordon.thomas@ata.ab.ca).
