Cultivating an Ethical School


Book Description

Often the school is left as an institution seemingly ethically neutral, leaving untouched questions about whether the school itself is a site of injustice toward both educators and children. Springing from his well-known Building an Ethical School, Robert J. Starratt now looks more closely at the educational leader’s responsibility to ensure that the whole fabric of the educational process reflects an ethical philosophy of education. Starratt argues that the work of educating young people is by its very nature an ethical work as well as an intellectual work, and that this work inescapably engages educators and their pupils with an academic curriculum, a social curriculum, and a civic curriculum. Cultivating an Ethical School lays a foundation for educators seeking to cultivate a comprehensive ethical educating environment. The second half of the book then takes up the more specific perspectives on teaching and learning that constitute the heart of cultivating an ethical school. Starratt provides examples of how an ethical school can expose students to a variety of perspectives on the challenges they will be called upon to face in the worlds of culture, nature, and society. This valuable book shows leaders and educators the importance of organizing a curriculum and a pedagogy that simultaneously respect and cultivate the intellectual, personal, and social qualities of being human.




Ethical Education


Book Description

Ethical education should help students become more sensitive to the perspectives and experiences of others. However, the field is dominated by the teaching of moral values as a subject-matter, or by the fostering of character traits in students, or by moral reasoning. This book proposes an alternative to these limited moralistic approaches. It places human relationships at the core of ethical education, in its understanding of both ethics and education. With contributions from renowned international scholars, this approach is laid out in three parts. Part One develops the underlying theory of ethics and education; Part Two focuses on the relevant pedagogical principles, and Part Three provides illustrations of emergent innovative ethical educational practices in worldwide schools. Against a backdrop of divisiveness and apathy, the innovative practices described in this book show how a new vision for ethical education might be centred around caring for students' well-being.




Building An Ethical School


Book Description

The author argues for much greater attention to ethical education and responds to sceptics who say that it can't be done in the face of a pluralistic secular society badly fragmented over values. Seeking always for themes and issues that unite rather than divide, the author provides a conceptual foundation for ethical education broad enough for building consensus among teachers and parents, yet focused enough to provide guidance for highly specific learning activities. The second half of the book takes the reader through a carefully devised series of steps by which a school community might proceed in building their ethical school. The final chapter reminds of the many difficulties to be met along the way, but offers encouragement to strengthen the resolve of the school community. The book concludes with two helpful appendices: the first provides detailed information on exiting initiatives already underway in ethical education, the second offers an annotated bibliography of books and essays which are available for those educators who need or want to read more on the topic of ethical education.




The Ethical Teacher


Book Description

This text combines teachers' beliefs and practices with a discussion of the connections between the moral dimensions of schooling and professional ethics applied in teaching. It presents the concept of ethical knowledge as it is revealed, as it is challenged, and as it may be used in schools.




The Ethical School


Book Description

Conflicts often arise between regulations, making it difficult for school management teams and teachers to resolve situations with appropriate dignity and respect for all concerned. This book discusses provocative actual case studies to help teachers to reflect on their own ethics, guiding them to make more reasonable decisions in their schools, and thereby gradually transforming schools into more cohesive and caring communities. A model of consequences, consistency and caring, each aspect based on traditional ethical theories provides a scientific base - a rational and a responsive base for ethical decision-making. This work covers such everyday problems as censorship, inclusivity, school uniform, punishment, personal gain and confidentiality, and argues that care and respect for others, equity, rational autonomy and concern for long-term benefits are more important for a school community than short-term power and control.




Ethics and Education Research


Book Description

Part of the popular BERA/SAGE Research Methods in Education series, this is the first book to specifically focus on the ethics of Education research. Drawn from the authors’ experiences in the UK, Australia and mainland Europe and with contributions from across the globe, this clear and accessible book includes a wide range of examples The authors show how to: identify ethical issues which may arise with any research project gain informed consent provide information in the right way to participants present and disseminate findings in line with ethical guidelines All researchers, irrespective of whether they are postgraduate students, practising teachers or seasoned academics, will find this book extremely valuable for its rigorous and critical discussion of theory and its strong practical focus. Rachel Brooks is Professor of Sociology and Head of the Sociology Department at the University of Surrey, UK. Kitty te Riele is Principal Research Fellow in the Victoria Institute for Education, Diversity and Lifelong Learning, at Victoria University in Australia. Meg Maguire is Professor of Sociology of Education at King’s College London.




Philosophy in Education


Book Description

Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialog in K-12 Classrooms is a textbook in the fields of pre-college philosophy and philosophy of education, intended for philosophers and philosophy students, K-12 classroom teachers, administrators and educators, policymakers, and pre-college practitioners of all kinds. The book offers a wealth of practical resources for use in elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms, as well as consideration of many of the broader educational, social, and political topics in the field, including the educational value of pre-college philosophy, the philosophies of education that inform this philosophical practice, and the relevance of pre-college philosophy for pressing issues in contemporary education (such as education reform, child development, and prejudice and privilege in classrooms). The book includes sections on: the expansion of philosophy beyond higher education to pre-college populations; the importance of wondering, questioning and reflection in K-12 education; the ways that philosophy is uniquely suited to help students cultivate critical reasoning and independent thinking capacities; how to develop classroom communities of philosophical inquiry and their potentially transformative impact on students; the cultivation of philosophical sensitivity and positive identity formation in childhood; strategies for recognizing and diminishing the impact of social inequalities in classrooms; and the relationship between introducing philosophy in schools and education reform.




Ethical Education in Plutarch


Book Description

In addition to being the author of the Parallel Lives of noble Greeks and Romans, Plutarch of Chaeronea (AD c.46-c.120) is widely known for his rich ethical theory, which has ensured him a reputation as one of the most profound moralists in antiquity and beyond. Previous studies have considered Plutarch's moralism in the light of specific works or group of works, so that an exploration of his overall concept of ethical education remains a desideratum. Bringing together a wide range of texts from both the Parallel Lives and the Moralia, this study puts the moralising agents that Plutarch considers important for ethical development at the heart of its interpretation. These agents operate in different educational settings, and perform distinct moralising roles, dictated by the special features of the type of moral education they are expected to enact. Ethical education in Plutarch becomes a distinctive manifestation of paideia vis-à-vis the intellectual trends of the Imperial period, especially in contexts of cultural identity and power. By reappraising Plutarch's ethical authority and the significance of his didactic spirit, this book will appeal not only to scholars and students of Plutarch, but to anyone interested in the history of moral education and the development of Greek ethics.




A Theory of Moral Education


Book Description

Children must be taught morality. They must be taught to recognise the authority of moral standards and to understand what makes them authoritative. But there’s a problem: the content and justification of morality are matters of reasonable disagreement among reasonable people. This makes it hard to see how educators can secure children’s commitment to moral standards without indoctrinating them. In A Theory of Moral Education, Michael Hand tackles this problem head on. He sets out to show that moral education can and should be fully rational. It is true that many moral standards and justificatory theories are controversial, and educators have an obligation to teach these nondirectively, with the aim of enabling children to form their own considered views. But reasonable moral disagreement does not go all the way down: some basic moral standards are robustly justified, and these should be taught directively, with the aim of bringing children to recognise and understand their authority. This is an original and important contribution to the philosophy of moral education, which lays a new theoretical foundation for the urgent practical task of teaching right from wrong.




Ethical Problems in Higher Education


Book Description

The Ivory Tower Myth suggests that the world of higher education has no moral problems. Unlike ethical conflicts in business, politics and medicine, ethical problems in higher education receive little publicity. But devotion to the pursuit of knowledge does not ensure ethical behavior. Power, competition, pressure and lust for recognition create moral conflicts. Some are unique to higher education but many are common to the world off-campus. This book uses ethical theories as a tool to analyze real examples from our colleges and universities. Topics include: academic freedom, plagiarism, cheating, research fraud, equal opportunity, evaluation, tenure, student-faculty relationships.