Moral Reflections from a Primary Classroom: One Teacher's Perspective

Abstract

Teaching is by nature a complex activity filled with ambiguities and dilemmas. Teaching also is fundamentally a moral activity, making the dilemmas and ambiguities both pedagogical and moral in nature. This article describes one teacher's reflections on her efforts to resolve the dilemmas and ambiguities presented to her by the competing values of her school system and her own values as a teacher in a multi-age primary class. As a participant observer in her classroom over the course of one school year, the author examined how she addressed the moral ambiguities and dilemmas of the competing demands. These demands were exemplified in the way she taught mathematics and language arts lessons. The differences in the role she played in each lesson were subtle, but indicative of different values and beliefs about teaching and learning and, importantly, came to be seen by her as reflecting a moral stance. By reflecting upon the moral nature of the differences as they emerged, she re-examined her fundamental beliefs and values about teaching.