Ethics and Self-Study Research: Reporting on Teacher Candidate Perspectives in a Cultural Diversity Course

• In Event: 77.054 - Ethics in Self-Study

Abstract

This paper examines the ethical issues raised by reporting on teacher candidates (TC) perspectives in a cultural diversity course. It identifies the benefits and risks of collecting and reporting TC perspectives. Particular consideration is given to the ethical implications of extensive use of TC exit cards, reflective journals and reader response entries in which they reveal their identities, worldviews and emerging understandings concerning social justice. There are four themes: (1) increasing trustworthiness as research, (2) improving practice through TC input, (3) protecting TCs from judgment in class, and (4) protecting participants’ identities and respecting their views in scholarship. Examples from five classes (133 participants) are used to illustrate the benefits of such self-study research, especially when safeguards minimize risk.

Author

• Julian D. Kitchen, Brock University