Developing Whole School Pedagogical Values—A Case of Going Through the Ethos of “Good Schooling”
Source: Teaching and Teacher Education , Volume 23, Issue 4, May 2007, Pages 390-401
In this paper, we investigate the content and structure of teachers’ pedagogical values. We have used the process of value clarification with 24 teachers to encourage them to recognize and articulate their own values and beliefs related to their professional morality and to their school community. This paper examines both the normative and descriptive foundations of pedagogical values. The emphasis is not on how teachers and students should act given a catalogue of value prescriptions, but on what kind of ethos/value structure could prevail in schools so that they can be considered truly educative institutions and professional communities.
In accordance with Flores (1988) we emphasize the claim that the teaching profession should be understood as a complex of virtues and ideals that are essential to success in a teacher's role. Hence, teaching as a normative concept can be defined as an idealized way of being (in a certain role) that contributes to the realization of the good central to the profession. The project was carried out as a collaborative action research project in which the researchers and teachers worked together. The whole process of recognizing, articulating and expressing pedagogical values will make teachers’ aware of their ethical knowledge and help them to develop their school to become a learning community that acknowledges the multiple dimensions of the school ethos.