Toward Deeper Understandings of Care Ethics in Teacher Education

• In Event: 31.091 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 31.091-18 - Moral Development and Education SIG Roundtable on Teachers and Teacher Education

Abstract

Care ethics acknowledges the centrality of caring relationships in moral education. To teach care ethics, we investigated teachers’ preconceptions of care and found they tended to: (1) conflate the term “care” with its quotidian use; (2) underestimate the challenge of developing caring relationships; (3) tend toward monocultural understandings of care; and (4) separate affect and intellect. We developed cases explicitly designed to help teachers transcend these preconceptions and investigated their learning through reflective dialogues over them. We found the cases cultivated deeper understanding of care ethics in practice in culturally diverse settings.

Authors

• Colette Rabin, San José State University

• Grinell Smith, San José State University