Intellectual Output 3: Ethics
Joint Staff Training Event 3, online on September 1th–3rd 2020
From a broad conceptual point of view, ethics encapsulates being brought face-to-face with moral values, decision-making, consequence, and responsibility. From a contextual point of view, the meaning of ethics moves within a field of tension between fixed values and sensitivity to the specific situation. Thus, it is essential to support student teachers' ethical awareness when conducting research in school-based context. Different kind of material, such as a guideline, that describes ethical considerations with the help of practical case examples, along with cognitive tools for approaching and solving the ethical issues are helpful in raising and practicing ethical awareness.
An entry point into investigating ethical awareness-training in teacher education, is mapping out where ethics is present within the program. In the DePTER-project, the partners analyzed the core documents, such as curricula and practicum instructions and other relevant documents related to the practicum period, for instance, special ethical guidelines for Practicum and task instructions for students.
To find mutual ground in the comparison between teacher training programs, different foci which may produce ethically justifiable outcomes was identified. These foci may also provide an indication of the main ethos of a program, or parts of it, when key documents are viewed in the light of these perspectives. Furthermore, an analysis pinpointing the alignment of ethical ethos in components of teacher education curriculum (course syllabi, instruction, assessment tasks) might reveal misalignments; ethics is addressed, for example, in the intended learning outcomes, but it is not as frequently and explicitly present in course content descriptions.
Another way to approach ethics in teacher education is through ethical analysis; a step-by-step process model for analyzing “when”, “where” and “how” matters of ethical nature emerge (Mustajoki & Mustajoki, 2017). This model can be used to analyze a situation of an ethical nature both in teacher education and in students’ own experiences of teaching.
In the resources below, are the models for inspiring and supporting teacher educators to analyze their programs. These models could be used in partnerships between teacher training programs in the development of ethical content in teacher education.
Model for identifying ethics in teacher education
When, where, and how do ethics emerge in teacher education?
Overviews and results from analysis of ethics content
The overview below is an example of how the intended learning outcomes in the Practicum courses of the Primary School Teacher Education Program at Uppsala University was mapped out from the lens of explicit and implicit ethical content. The overview was used in course and program development and dialogue for teacher educators. The overview is in English and in English and Swedish.
Mapping Ethics in Practicum Courses at UU
Mapping Ethics in Practicum syllabuses UU_SVE & ENG
The document, below, Analysis of the University of Helsinki Code of Conduct for Practice in the light of ethical frameworks presents analytical work done during the project to strengthen practicum from an ethics perspective. The document describes an analysis of the ethical frameworks that the University of Helsinki Code of Conduct for practicum draws on. The analysis suggests that perspectives of principle ethics, utilitarian ethics, rule ethics and care ethics are present. The analysis was used to strengthen the way in which ethics is presented as part of the practicum experience.
Analysis of HU ethical code of conduct for practice 2020
The document below, Etik i läroplanen för klasslärarutbildning 2016-2019 Helsingfors universitet, synthesises the results of an analysis of ethics in the class teacher curriculum at the time of the start of the DePTER project. The analysis was used to identify the role of ethics in the curriculum as a whole and to inform subsequent curriculum development.
Etik i läroplanen för klasslärarutbildning 2016-2019 Helsingfors universitet
The document below, Etik i läroplanen för klasslärarutbildning 2020-2023, Helsingfors universitet, synthesises the results of an analysis of ethics in the class teacher curriculum mid-project. The analysis was used to synthesise changes compared to the previous curriculum.
Etik i läroplanen för klasslärarutbildning 2020-2023, Helsingfors universitet
Presentations and student tasks in teacher education
The presentation below was part of the introduction day for student teachers at the start of the course Practicum II at Uppsala University.
Teachers’ professional ethics in Practicum II
This student task below is a compulsory assignment in Practicum I at Uppsala University. The students will carry out the task in a three-step design aiming at the reflection of their own practice in connection to the identification of certain events in the classroom.
Practicum I, critical incident
This student task below is a compulsory assignment in Practicum I at Uppsala University. The students will carry out the task in a three-step design aiming at the reflection of their own practice in connection to the identification of certain events in the classroom.
Practicum II, the teacher’s professional role
This student task below is a compulsory assignment in Practicum I at Tallinn University. The goal is to support pre-service teachers to notice and describe teaching and learning related problems and to analyze the situation based on relevant literature.
Practicum task Individual research assignment
This student task below is a compulsory assignment in Practicum II at University of Helsinki. The specific task is one of key exercises supporting students in making connections between different aspects of practicum experiences and school life.
