A good teacherteaching ethically Professional ethics Professional ethics

A “good” teacherteaching ethically

Professional ethics? • Professional ethics are implied in practice, not always visible and mostly unspoken • Professional ethics seem not to build on knowledge, but personal feelings and beliefs (Colnerud & Granström, 2002, Thornberg, 2008) How do all this affect learning professional ethics in teacher education? Professional ethics need to be discussed and problematized through didactic plans and implementation

Research questions • What does it mean to teach ethically (what is the essence of professional ethics)? • How do student teachers learn to teach ethically?

LIFEWORLD THEORY LIFE WORLD: Heidegger, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer When you direct yourself at something and interpret it as something, lifeworld is shaped. Different lifeworlds meet in teaching and affect teaching Context decides how student teachers need to act Levinas The encounter with the Other rises an inevitable requirement of ethical responsibility

Methodology Reflective lifeworld research (RLR) Find the essential meaning of the phenomenon, professional ethics • Openness, bridling, reflecting • Moving between whole-part • Systematic analysis, meaning units, cluster

Method • Data: Different texts, for example didactic plans, observations and interviews with ten students, educating themselves as teachers of children from preschool up to elementary school. • Second to fourth semester

Essence Professional ethics mean to intertwine learning and relationships Getting to know the children and their needs will strengthen the opportunities to help them developing. Professional ethics mean to use experiences to the child´s best When meeting children, your own experiences can be valuable in understanding the child but you should never let your own feelings or needs take over.

Essence Professional ethics mean to include each child Regardless of the difficulties it means to let the child participate. You have a responsibility to include everybody and meet each child on its own terms. Professional ethics mean to be an authoritative but not authoritarian The authority is created through an atmosphere of joy, respect and security.

Essence Professional ethics mean an ambiguity that demands responsible decisions. Uncertainty makes learning of professional ethics difficult. Student teachers do not always understand why placement teachers act as they do. Professional ethics are developed when theory and practice are entwined in reflection Students are telling that they sometimes just do but afterwards think about the situation.

Didethics-model in three steps Step 1 Ethics: Attitudes Values/norms Meanings of professional ethics Methods: How do we actually work to put together ethics and curricula? Topic: Curricula Different levels Current

Step 2 Pedagogue • Preunderstanding • Responsibility • Curricula and professional ethics are interwoven in a planning with suitable methods Meeting • The planning is transformed • Implementation • Children and pedagogue as agents Children • Preunderstanding

Step 3 Didethical planning Transformation in practice meeting the children Reflection

Learning to teach ethically Dispositions – self-awareness – what values do I express in my actions? – learning in practice Judgment – balancing act – context – learning in practice Reflection – self-reflection

Thank you for your attention! marita. cronqvist@hb. se QUESTIONS?