On the relationship between the moral character of a teacher and the moral development of a student.

Abstract

If there is a truism in education, it is that good teaching requires a teacher to be knowledgeable in content, skilled in method, and moral in character. There is seldom much discussion over the merits of wanting teachers to be experts in their subject matter and able to convey it in accessible ways, but why do we want teachers to be moral in character? We want teachers of good moral character because throughout the history of schooling in the U.S., it has been assumed that there is a strong and important connection between the moral character of a classroom teacher and the proper moral development of students. This dissertation is a philosophical analysis of the presumed connection between the moral character of the teacher and the moral development of the student. This study unveils the complexities of this commonly accepted relationship and explores other possible forms it might take, as well as questions it might beg. It makes evident that what is missing from the scholarship on moral education is an account of how to demonstrate whether or not there is a connection and just how strong that connection might be. The results of the analysis indicate that, despite its pervasiveness and intuitive appeal, the relationship is far more ambiguous and troubled than much of the extant literature assumes. The analysis puts the relationship in greater relief and suggests important applications for the study of moral education and the practice of teacher education. The applications for research suggest that scholars pay closer attention to the agency of students in this relationship, the relative influence of a teacher's unintentional moral expressions in the classroom, and the role of modeling in moral education. The applications for the practice of teacher education point to different ways that teacher preparation programs might attend to the moral character of teacher candidates, and they also suggest different reasons for wanting teachers of good moral character. Combined, these applications suggest an important possible shift in the conceptualization of moral education: toward morally good teaching (for its own sake) and away from teaching students to be morally good.