Skirting the Ethics of Teaching in Teacher Education

• In Event: The Moral Vacuum in Teacher Education: International Perspectives on Research, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

The objective of this presentation is to explore how two broad components of teacher education, traditionally associated with the more practical or technical aspects of teaching and the more theoretical or foundational dimensions of teaching, have each skirted around issues relating to the moral and ethical work of teachers. Rather than engaging student teachers in the thoughtful cultivation of professional wisdom as a reflection of the ethics of teaching, teacher education continues to be fraught by missed opportunities in both components to ignite a sense of moral purpose to guide the daily work of educational practitioners. The result is the creation of a “moral vacuum”.

Situated within the literature that conceptualizes teaching as a moral and ethical activity (Campbell, 2003, 2008; Colnerud, 2006; Hansen, 2001; Jackson et al, 1993; Richardson & Fenstermacher, 2001; Sanger & Osguthorpe, 2013; Sockett, 2012; Stengel & Tom, 2006), my presentation will constitute a conceptual examination of the issues rather than a report of empirical results. Nonetheless, it will provide a context for the consideration of the concept of a “moral vacuum” by summarizing results from previous qualitative studies I conducted with teacher educators and ethics educators in other applied professional fields within Canada (Campbell, 2011, 2013). In identifying ways other professions acquaint new practitioners with the ethics and moral complexities of their respective disciplines, the presentation will propose ways for teacher education to build upon a stronger ethical foundation, rooted in moral accountability and the virtues that underpin defensible practice, such as fairness, truthfulness, courage, empathy, and care.

Regarding the technical component of teaching and teacher education that narrows its focus on academic achievement and standards, I will argue that rather than seeing this as necessarily obscuring moral purpose, it can be reframed to highlight the moral and ethical nuances and challenges of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; after all, is it not a moral aim of teachers to teach diligently, honestly, and with competence to enable their students to flourish, academically and in other ways? (Sockett, 2012) Teacher education programs that adopt such a perspective, expressive of the ethical nature of their curriculum and by extension the curriculum their teacher candidates will teach to children (Colnerud, 2006), may start to lessen the “moral vacuum”.

Regarding the foundational component reflected in courses about sociological, philosophical, and psychological theories of education, I will argue that there are possibilities to connect such broad theoretical areas to the moral demands of teaching and the ethical responsibilities of teachers. Occasionally, theoretical issues promoted in teacher education classrooms are simply assumed to carry some kind of moral weight; however, without explicit recognition and consideration of their ethical integrity and relevance to moral practice, such assumptions do little to lessen the “moral vacuum”.

Significantly, my presentation will conceptualize a response to the “moral vacuum” as interpreted in two ways: first, as a gap to fill, and second, as imprecise and inaccurate assumptions to challenge--assumptions that what is already being done is somehow of moral/ethical significance. Both warrant sustained analysis and action.

Author

• Elizabeth Campbell, OISE/University of Toronto