The teacher

1
The teachers integrity

• Professor Kirsi Tirri
• University of Helsinki
• Finland

2
Ethical dilemmas in teaching

• Teachers are not always aware of the moral impact
  of their actions (Jackson et al 1993)
• Teachers are ill-prepared for dealing with
  ethical dilemmas they have identified in their
  work (Lyons 1990, Tirri 1999)
• Ethical dilemmas are very content- and context
  specific (Tirri 1999)

3
Teachers professional morality

• The teachers role has changed
• views of teaching and learning
• international co-operation
• multiculturalism
• increased autonomy
• interaction skills

4
The values behind the teachers professional
ethics

• Human worth
• Honesty
• Justice
• Freedom

5
Ethics in the school community

• Vision
• Power and hierarchy
• Individuality and collaboration
• Commitment

6
Virtue ethics

• Aristotle
• Emphasis on the personality
• Ethical sensitivity
• Moral exemplars
• Commitment to personal growth

7
Principles of justice

• Equality
• Equity
• Need

8
The data source

• Early education teachers
• 26 written responses
• Secondary school teachers
• 59 interviews
• 44 questionnaires
• Ninth-grade students
• 98 written responses
• 40 interviews
• 40 questionnaires

9
Early education data

• Kindergarten and elementary school teachers
  (N26)
• Essays on real-life moral dilemmas in their work
• The data was analyzed by qualitative content
  analysis (Strauss Corbin 1990)
• The themes and the relationships involved in the
  conflicts
• Successful and unsuccessful decisions to these
  conflicts

10
Conflicts between a teacher and parents (N10)

• Do the actions of the parents serve the best
  interest of a child?
• The most suitable educational arrangement for the
  child
• Evident problems at home
• Teachers took the perspective of a child
• Evaluation of the situation and suggestions for
  the parents
• Parents responsibility was to make the choice
  for the child

11
Conflicts between a teacher and a colleague (N8)

• A colleague had behaved in a cruel way towards a
  child
• hurtful use of language
• purposeful actions to humiliate the child
• Questions of power and hierarchy
• Conflicts involving colleagues are the most
  difficult ones to solve (Campbell 1996, Colnerud
  1997, Tirri 1999)
• Norms of collegial loyalty keep teachers from
  defending the pupils

12
Conflicts between a teacher and the whole
community (N8)

• Educational philosophy of the community
• The ethos of the community
• A lack of discourse about the means and the ends
  of education
• Open discussion is needed to establish guidelines
  for organizational morality

13
Ethic of care

• Moral stance of care in teachers professional
  ethics (Gilligan 1982, Noddings 1984)
• Fundamental needs of children (Clark 1995)
• to be loved, to be led, to be vulnerable, to make
  sense, to please others, to have hope, to know
  truth, to be known, to be safe, to make ones mark

14
The values and virtues of teachers

• Bravery
• teachers courage to confront parents or
  colleagues in the troubled circumstances
• Truthfulness
• teachers own ideals and ethics
• seek the truth in the difficult conflicts
• straightforwardness in identifying the vices
• Justice
• equality and fairness in the application of rules
  and norms

15
Schools

• Havukoski (urban secondary school)
• circa 400 students (15 foreigners)
• 33 teachers
• teachers active and willing to develop their
  school
• Maikkula (rural secondary school)
• same size school as Havukoski
• students more homogeneous than in Havukoski
• co-operative and active teachers

16
Matters related to teachers work

• Grading
• Punishing
• Confidentiality
• Sensitive issues
• Colleague
• Teaching criticism
• Impolite language
• Neglecting students
• Biased attitude

17
The morality of students behavior

• Harassment
• Negative attitude towards learning
• Cheating
• Impolite speech and behavior

18
The rights of minority groups

• Religious beliefs
• Ethnic identity
• Trustworthiness of minority students
• Students racial attitudes

19
Common rules in school

• Forbidden things
• smoking
• playing cards

20
Problem-solving strategies

• Avoiding
• Delegating
• Single-handed decision
• Discourse I (incomplete discourse)
• Discourse II (complete discourse)

21
Teachers Harassment
22
Students Harassment
23
Teachers Fighting
24
Students Fighting
25
Roundtable discussion in schools