Teachers’ Ethical Decision-Making: Discretion and Phronesis in the “One Best System”

• In Event: Self, Society, and Education for Belonging

Abstract

This paper is a qualitative study of the ethical reasoning of 149 teachers working in a large city district where mitigating systemic injustices through individual decision-making is a feature of everyday practice. I analyze how these experienced teachers reason through a “normative case study in educational ethics” (NCS) that presents an ethical dilemma of the tradeoff between systems-level policy implementation and individual student need. My findings provide a rare illustration of phronesis (practical wisdom) and discretion in teacher policy implementation. In contrast to the techno-rational decision-making assumed by the USA K-12 education system, teachers’ ethical reasoning in this case was individually-focused, holistic, and flexible.

Author

• Tatiana Geron, Harvard University