HEA Hosts 2025 Teacher Symposium
By Lynn Hammonds, Ed.D, HEA Program Manager
HEA welcomed public school educators from across the islands for the 2025 HEA Teacher Symposium at Kapolei High School on November 4, 2025. It was a day of professional learning dedicated to strengthening ethical practice in the teaching profession.
The event brought together teachers from six high schools statewide, four Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs), representatives from the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association (HSTA) and the Hawai‘i Teacher Standards Board (HTSB), alongside HEA President Joan Kamila Lewis, Executive Director Laurie Togami, and Program Manager Dr. Lynn Hammonds for a meaningful convening.
The symposium centered on Hawai‘i’s instructional integration of the second edition of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators (MCEE) with high school students enrolled in education pathways and clubs.
To guide this work, HEA featured virtual keynote presenter Dr. Troy Hutchings, the nation’s leading expert on educator ethics and Senior Policy Advisor at NASDTEC. His presentation, “Protection • Prevention • Purpose: Professional Ethics and the Model Code of Ethics for Educators,” served as the foundation for the day’s learning.
Dr. Hutchings shared scenario-based learning strategies that engage students in applying professional norms, evaluating risks, and understanding contextual variables as they begin to observe and work with other students in a classroom as an aspiring educator.
Teachers received resources to support classroom instruction aligned to the new edition of the MCEE, including guidance on how to introduce the code in their courses and clubs.
A major outcome of the symposium is support for teachers as their students study the code as part of their preparation to enter the teaching profession, building early habits of defensible decision-making and professional conduct.
This is particularly important as Hawai‘i students participate in the Educators Rising Ethical Dilemma Competition, a national event sponsored by EdRising, that challenges future educators to analyze real-world ethical scenarios. The dilemmas change annually and reflect current, relevant issues, mirroring the scenario-based strategies Dr. Hutchings demonstrated during the symposium.
Hawai‘i students have the option to compete in the state-level Ethical Dilemma Competition in early 2026. State champions will advance to the Educators Rising National Conference, scheduled for June 20–23, 2026, in Portland, Oregon, under the theme “Teach with Purpose, Lead with Passion.”
Throughout the day, participants reaffirmed a shared commitment to preparing the next generation of Hawai‘i’s educators with strong ethical grounding. The collaboration among HEA, HTSB, HSTA, local high schools, and Hawai‘i’s EPPs underscores a vision of ensuring that future teachers enter the profession prepared with strong instructional skills and with the ethical understanding needed to serve Hawai‘i’s keiki and communities.
HEA looks forward to continued support across the state for teachers as they work with aspiring educators in Hawai‘i high schools. The 2025 symposium marked a significant step forward in strengthening Hawai‘i’s educator pathways and elevating the professional standards that define the teaching profession.
