Teachers’ and children’s personal epistemologies for moral education: Case studies in early years elementary education

While there is strong interest in teaching values in Australia and internationally there is little focus on young children’s moral values learning in the classroom. Research shows that personal epistemology influences teaching and learning in a range of education contexts, including moral education. This study examines relationships between personal epistemologies (children’s and teachers’), pedagogies, and school contexts for moral learning in two early years classrooms. Interviews with teachers and children and analysis of school policy revealed patterns of relationships between personal epistemologies and pedagogies within each school. A whole-school approach to understanding personal epistemologies and practice for moral values learning is suggested.     

Teacher education, preservice teacher beliefs, and the moral work of teaching

This paper presents a case for attending to preservice teachers’ beliefs that are relevant to the moral work of teaching within teacher education research and practice, and examines what it would look like to do so. The case for attending to candidate beliefs is grounded in a learner-centered approach to teacher education and in the literature on the role of beliefs in teacher learning and change. The authors demonstrate how attending to preservice teacher beliefs is particularly critical for the task of preparing candidates for the moral work of teaching, and present a conceptual framework that can guide that task and teacher education research and practice designed to support it.     

Teacher interpersonal competence for Dutch secondary multicultural classrooms

In the Netherlands, as in many European countries, classrooms display a growing cultural diversity. There are only very limited empirically supported data on the interpersonal competence teachers need in Dutch classrooms and studies from other countries cannot be generalized because of differences in the composition of the student population. This paper reports on an exploratory study in two schools on teachers' experiences in multicultural classes followed by an in‐depth case study of one expert teacher. We use this study to answer the question to what degree this teacher displays interpersonal competence (teaching behaviours, knowledge and attitudes) specific for teaching in multicultural classrooms by comparing this teacher's competence with generic interpersonal teaching competence. The teacher studied seems to be aware of special needs of students from different cultures and to use this knowledge to apply specific teaching strategies and interpersonal cues to create a positive classroom atmosphere and to cater for needs of diverse students. Further, the results indicate that many elements of this teacher's interpersonal competence in teaching a multicultural class can be considered aspects of generic teaching competence. It seems that the multicultural classroom puts heavier demands on this competence than a less diverse classroom.     

Building caring relationships between a teacher and students in a teacher preparation program word-by-word, moment-by-moment

Our purpose was to illustrate the process by which caring relationships between students and their teacher educator developed in the context of preservice reading preparation that made use of online communication as one class activity. Describing the development of caring relationships between three students and their teacher, we showed that caring could not be considered a one-way characteristic of what teachers do and are, but rather that it depended on students’ reciprocal responses. Findings indicated that the trajectories of caring relationships developed differently, each influenced by differences in entering expectations, critical events, and a negotiation of what the relationship meant.     

Teachers’ perspectives on mathematics education research reports

Practicing teachers’ perspectives on a set of mathematics education research reports are described. Data were gathered through email messages, group discussions, and questionnaires. Teachers identified positive influences of research on practice aligned with some of the strands of proficient mathematics teaching identified by Kilpatrick, Swafford, and Findell [2001. Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics. Washington, DC: National Academy Press]. Teachers also gave negative critiques of the ability of research to influence practice aligned with Kennedy's [1997. The connection between research and practice. Educational Researcher, 26 (7), 4–12.] discussion of historical factors underlying the gap between educational research and practice. The variety of perspectives documented provides some empirical ground for informing actions in the areas of teacher education and research.     

‘Behind every profession is a person’: Students’ written memories of their own teacher-student relationships

This article employs a narrative approach in examining the intertwining of the personal and professional in teacher-student relationships. A total of 141 Finnish people of various ages wrote about their teachers; specifically, the article focuses on memories related to their teachers’ personal lives. Such memories illustrate the inevitable presence of teachers’ personal lives in schools and show how teacher-student relationships develop in private contexts during and after the school years. Teacher education should provide tools and means of supporting teachers to consider the personal and professional in teacher-student relationships. Nowadays, social media challenges teachers to reconsider these aspects.     

Teachers’ conceptions of teacher-research and self-perceptions as enquiring practitioners—A longitudinal case study

Recognizing the importance teachers’ own voices play in their own professional development, the case study reported in this paper aims to illuminate the role that formal instruction and immersion in research can play in shaping teachers’ views of teacher-research and of themselves as future enquiring practitioners. The study was conducted with a group of nine overseas teachers attending a B.Ed. (Honours) degree in TEFL run by a higher education institution in Britain. Data were collected via questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and field notes from direct observation. Using a grounded theory methodology, the multiple sources of data were integrated into a theoretical model of ways of describing teacher research. The results of the study confirm previous assumptions that the highly-structured nature of the academic format of doing and reporting research may fall short of providing teachers with skills and tools for reflection that are easily transferable to practice.     

The features of moral judgment competence among Chinese adolescents

In this paper, we used the “Moral Judgment Test” (MJT), an instrument that was developed by German psychologist, Georg Lind in 1976, along with some additional items, administered after the standard MJT. The participants were 724 Chinese adolescents whose ages ranged from 14 to 27 years of age. The results show that there was considerable fluctuation between grades in C scores, without the regularity seen in prior studies conducted in Western cultural contexts, but with senior college students generally showing higher C scores than freshmen. No significant differences in C scores were found between male and female students, between students with various professions, between key schools and the regular schools and between the two-year and the four-year college students. The possible implications of these findings for Chinese moral education are also discussed. This research was supported by a grant to Yang Shaogang from the Scientific Research Creation Team Project of GDUFS (GW2006-TA-008).     

Emotions that experienced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers feel about their students, their colleagues and their work

This study examines what contribution emotions make to the professional lives of experienced EFL teachers. Interviews with EFL teachers working in Tokyo universities revealed that the teachers had very positive feelings of emotional warmth regarding students, which they expressed through their identity as carers and moral guides. On the other hand, the teachers expressed their relationships with colleagues and institutions in much more negative emotional terms. Two implications for teacher development are suggested: the need for teachers to talk collaboratively about the emotional impact of teaching, and the need to discuss what the moral purpose of EFL teaching is.     

Border work: Teachers’ expressions of their literacy-related professional development needs in a First Nations school

This paper reports on a case study of teachers’ expressions of their literacy-related professional development needs in a First Nations school located in Ontario, Canada. The paper construes the work of the teachers as “border work” and argues that their literacy teaching work was complex and tied to an ongoing legacy of colonialism. Four interrelated themes are discussed. The paper recommends improving compensation and job security for educators in First Nations schools and supporting them to see themselves as knowledgeable professionals who can entertain sophisticated notions of literacy that consider its relationship to situation including culture.     

Teachers’ perspectives on innovations: Implications for educational design

Educational designers often develop a ‘powerful learning environment’ that is subsequently implemented by teachers. Due to a lack of cooperation with teachers they may receive limited feedback on the quality of their design and the way it is implemented. This study focuses on teachers’ perceptions of a Dutch innovative learning environment called the “Second Phase”, as well as their desires and their dis/satisfaction with this environment. The results show that teachers are reserved about student autonomy and productive learning. Perceptions and desires are related to their individual approaches to teaching. The findings provide useful feedback for designers and a starting point to intensify their cooperation with teachers.     

Teachers’ opinions on quality criteria for Competency Assessment Programs

Quality control policies towards Dutch vocational schools have changed dramatically because the government questioned examination quality. Schools must now demonstrate assessment quality to a new Examination Quality Center. Since teachers often design assessments, they must be involved in quality issues. This study therefore explores teachers’ opinions on assessment quality evaluation criteria. Pre-vocational and vocational teachers (N=211$N=211$) responded to a questionnaire. Contrary to expectations, results show that teachers deem classical and competency-based quality criteria equally important. Vocational teachers gave higher importance scores than pre-vocational teachers, possibly due to the pressure they experience to improve the quality of their assessments.     

Comparing teachers’ views on morality and moral education, a comparative study in Turkey and the United States

In this study, the researchers examined how K-8 teachers approach morality, moral education, and the moral development of children in Turkey and in the United States. Both countries have diverse cultures and long histories with secular education systems. Surveys were sent to teachers in nine cities in both countries. Results suggest that Turkish teachers emphasized societal values and global values, which have implications for the sustainability of the Turkish nation-state. American teachers emphasized moral action and morality in context (cultural relativity) rather than global values. Our findings emphasize the importance of inter-cultural awareness and tolerance.     

The impact of teacher immediacy and perceived caring on teacher competence and trustworthiness

This research investigated the impact of teacher caring and teacher immediacy on student perceptions of teachers' credibility. While the results of the two studies conducted indicated the presence of strong main effects for teacher caring and immediacy and strong negative effects for teacher non‐caring and nonimmediacy on the various dimensions of teacher credibility (as hypothesized), significant interaction effects were observed between caring and nonimmediacy on both dimensions of credibility studied (competence and trustworthiness). In most cases, when teacher caring was low, whether the teacher was in the immediate or nonimmediate condition made no significant difference—both produced negative perceptions of teacher credibility. In contrast, when teacher caring was high, teacher nonimmediacy significantly lowered perceived credibility. Probing of the interaction results suggested that high verbal caring tends to soften the negative impact of teacher nonimmediacy. The results of these studies demonstrate that teachers should maintain high verbal caring to preserve their credibility in the classroom. Implications for teacher training and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

How teachers’ values affect their evaluation of children of immigrants: Findings from Islamic and public schools

This study examines the implications of how teachers’ views of immigrant parents predict their ratings of first-grade students’ academic competence and behavioral problems. Teachers rated 191 first-grade immigrant students attending Islamic and public schools in the Northeast United States. The results showed that when teachers perceived parents as having discrepant value differences, they rated students more negatively both in terms of academic competence and behavioral problems, even after controlling for student gender and ethnicity, parental education and parental school involvement. Surprisingly, teachers in Islamic and public schools did not differ in their perceived value differences with parents. The type of school students attend, however, moderated the effects of teachers’ perceived value differences on their academic ratings, but not on their behavioral ratings. While both Islamic and public school teachers rated students’ academic competence equally high when they perceived little or no value differences with parents, public school teachers held lower academic expectations than Islamic school teachers with increased value differences. These findings suggest a mechanism by which children from immigrant families enter a path of diminished expectations, albeit through slightly different levels in Islamic and public school settings.     

Infusing moral education into English language teaching: an ontogenetic analysis of social values in EFL textbooks in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the representation of social values and their ontogenetic development in English as a foreign language textbooks in Hong Kong. Adopting a social semiotic approach, it considers social values in textbooks as semantic categories which are constructed by complex semiotic discursive resources, and develops an explicit framework to model what values are selected and how the values are constructed. Analysis of 19 textbooks from Primary 1 to Secondary 4–6 shows that the social values change from the personal domain (e.g. good hygiene and healthy lifestyle), through the interpersonal domain (e.g. politeness and respect), to the altruistic concern for all mankind. The result also suggests that the textbooks are more concerned with the didactic education of good citizens than with cultivating children’s critical thinking. The analytical framework and the findings can be used for the explicit instruction and critical analysis of social values in English language teaching.     

The lack of professional knowledge in values education

The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of their practice of values education, and to explore their degree of professionalism in this matter. Qualitative interviews with 13 teachers have been conducted and analysed by a comparative analysis. According to their view, values education is (a) most often reactive and unplanned, (b) embedded in everyday school life with a focus on students’ everyday behaviour in school, and (c) partly or mostly unconsciously performed. Furthermore, professional knowledge appears to be missing in the domain of values education among these teachers.     

Defining the quality of higher education around ethics and moral values

The context of higher education across the world currently presents evidence of university failures. These failures are evident in areas such as governance, financial and risk management, conduct of senior leaders and quality assurance issues surrounding international education. Having this in mind, the present paper argues the need to add a new definition (to what is already known) of quality. The conceptual approach proposed by the authors takes into account ethics and morals as key virtues of the higher education sector. The literature shows that it is still difficult to find agreement on a single definition of the concept. University leaders and quality assurance professionals define quality in many different ways. However, despite the ethical challenges in the current higher education landscape, little has been discussed on the connection between quality, ethics and moral values. Therefore, the authors provide the unexplored relationship between these concepts.     

Moral education and values education in curriculum reform in China

In the new curriculum reform in China, moral education and values education have been defined from the angles of the integrity and conformity of curriculum functions. Accordingly, a new education concept based on complete/integral curriculum functions is established. By discussing the essences of the curriculum, the basis of moral and values education, integrated curriculum setting in instruction structure, the presence of emotional and attitudinal goals in the subject standards, and teaching methods, this text points out that this curriculum reform looks to moral and values education in schools. The reform also emphasizes and will guarantee moral and values education in schools. Finally, the article recommends to elementary and secondary schools the studies on moral education in class conducted by the Research Institute of Moral Education of Nanjing Normal University, one of the Key Bases for Humanities and Social Sciences Research for the Ministry of Education. __________ Translated from Global Education, 2002:12     

Holocaust knowledge and Holocaust education experiences predict citizenship values among US adults

This community-based research investigated the relationship among Holocaust knowledge, Holocaust education experiences, and citizenship values in adults residing in the US. This study contributes to the literature an inferential investigation that reports positive civic attitudes associated with Holocaust education. A moderate correlation was identified, with approximately 10% of the variance in citizenship scores explained by Holocaust knowledge. Multiple regression analyses revealed Holocaust knowledge as the strongest predictor of citizenship values, followed by gender, suburban/urban childhood community, and learning about the Holocaust in school, respectively. Of eight unique Holocaust education experiences examined, learning about the Holocaust in school was the strongest predictor of citizenship values, followed by hearing a Holocaust survivor testimony in person or via electronic media, and visiting a Holocaust museum, respectively. Findings can inform Holocaust education policy, research, and practice, including the potential role of Holocaust curriculum in the larger context of moral and civic education.