ABSTRACT
Morality in professional acting becomes more and more an important issue. This chapter outlines a new understanding of professional morality.
Ethical dimensions in teachers’ professional decision making are illuminated. It is argued that considering these dimensions does not contradict the professional (i.e., instructional) success, as is often thought, but actually is a precondition for good teaching. In contrast to solely normative concepts, for listing the virtues a good teacher is supposed to possess, this approach focuses on an orientation that can be learned but requires fundamental changes in teachers’ concepts of their authority. This orientation is called the discourse position. The criteria for a discursive stance towards decision making and interpersonal problem solving are elaborated.
It is demonstrated that moral conflicts in educational settings arise when three types of moral claims cannot be met at the same time: justice, care, and truthfulness. Professional morality emerges in strategies of coordinating these moral dimensions in the search for an adequate solution of a problem.
Central to the theory of professional morality, as it is outlined in this chapter, is the hypothesis of qualitatively different forms of decision making strategies. Five types, or models, of balancing moral claims against functional standards of professional acting and against each other (when they conflict) are described, called “avoiding,” “delegating” or “security seeking,” “unilateral” or single handed decision making,” “incomplete discourse,” and “complete discourse.” In a further section, some consequences of this approach for programs in teacher education are elaborated.
192Finally, an overview of the empirical research is presented that has been conducted in Switzerland and Austria during the last four years. The core study was interventional, addressing the issue of changeability of the teachers’ “ethos.” In fact, changes towards a discursive position could be stimulated. Major results of this and other studies are reported, and some methodological issues are addressed.
