Nel Noddings: Caring, moral learning and coaching

Abstract

Nel Noddings was born on 19 January 1929 in Irvington, New Jersey, USA. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physical Science from Montclair State College and a master’s degree in Mathematics from Rutgers University. She began her educational career as a schoolteacher and spent seventeen years working with elementary and high school pupils. Throughout her teaching career, Noddings also held a variety of administrative positions (i.e. Mathematics Department Chairperson, Assistant Principal) alongside her teaching duties. Her experiences in these roles enabled her to not only become familiar with various classroom-related issues, but also the demands and dilemmas that are a feature of the wider school context. During this period she also undertook a Ph.D. in Educational Philosophy and Theory at Stanford University. Following the completion of her doctoral work, she took up faculty positions at Stanford University, Columbia University and, latterly, at Colgate University. Here, her own experiences of being taught by, and working with, caring teachers proved a significant influence on her research and scholarly thought about student-teacher relations. Noddings enjoyed a prolific academic career, which included the authorship ofover eighteen books and more than 200 articles. Indeed, she is recognised as one of the premier philosophers of moral education (Bergman 2004). Her insightful and articulate scholarly work has been widely lauded in the academy and she has been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards. For example, she was elected as the president of the John Dewey Society, the National Academy of Education, and the Philosophy of Education Society. She also received a medal for distinguished service from Teachers College (Columbia University), the Award for Distinguished Leadership in Education (Rutgers University), was the recipient of the AmericanEducational Research Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and is currently the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University.