The Quest for Ethical Teachership as an Embodiment of Professionalism Through Spirituality and Moral Reasoning Among Ghanaian Teachers

A David Edwards

doi:10.7176/jep/10-20-05

Abstract

The quest for ethical teachership has led to this investigation purposely to examine the relationship between spirituality and moral reasoning among teachers in Ghana. The issue is the need for ethical leadership within the work of teaching. The study employs an associational design that involved a purposive sample of 156 teachers who were available at a SEIP workshop organized by the Ministry of Education. In all 136 participants responded with usable data from a survey questionnaire which had items on spirituality (SI), moral reasoning (MR), and biographic information. Results showed respondents’ levels of SI and MR which were appropriated along the principles of ethical teachership. The correlation between SI and MR was found to be positive (r=0.27). Tests of group differences showed no statistical significance among gender (t=1.46, df=134, p=0.146) but a statistical significance difference among age groups (F(4.58), df=134, p=0.004). Discussions surrounded the purposefulness and moral domain in the work of teaching, a practical interest in authentic learning, and ethical teachership for the success of NTC teacher licensure policy in Ghana. Study recommendations include:(i) such humansitic conceptss are to be taken seriously practice and policy leadership; (ii) ethical teachership can guarantee trusted educational results, and (iii) scholarship must engage on such socio-moral-scientific discussions surrounding ethical issues in educaton. Despite methodological limitations, further research should look at other adulthood concepts within the framework of teachership. Keywords: ethical teachership, Ghana education, moral reasoning, spirituality, teachers DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-20-05 Publication date :July 31 st 2019

Highlights

The Ghanaian teacher is central in the national education development (NED) agenda 2030, which is framed with national interests, national relevance, sociocultural values, and human capital growth for the national development
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between the gender categories among the teachers in the quest for teachership SIGEN-1 = SIGEN-2, at the p=.05) and ( MRGEN-1 = MRGEN-2, at the p=.05) Hypothesis 3: There are no significant differences in the Mean scores for SI and moral reasoning (MR) within the age groups among the teachers in the quest for teachership. ( SIAGE-1 = SIAGE-2 = SIAGE-3 = SIAGE-4, at the p=.05) and ( MRAGE-1 = MRAGE-2 = MRAGE-3 = MRAGE-4, at the p=.05)
The discussion is still varied that levels of spirituality involvements and moral reasoning are strong variables to inform ethical behaviours among respondents

Summary

Introduction

The Ghanaian teacher is central in the national education development (NED) agenda 2030, which is framed with national interests, national relevance, sociocultural values, and human capital growth for the national development. Teachership is the ability to influence teaching and learning because of the professional identity attached to a person, which demands a moral disposition, and a meaningful task assignment within the confines of a professional grouping This is conceptually similar but beyond the idea of teacher leadership espoused by many researchers such as Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller (2005) who claimed that the teacher is a leader of a sort in the business of education. Research design and Sample and Procedures The research design is correlational focused on post facto levels of the study variables (SI and MR) and the design is to ask questions with predetermined sample to describe an existing situation in an attempt to establish a significance association between the study variables (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006) This design was appropriate because of the self-reporting nature of what already exist as teachers’ levels of spirituality, moral reasoning, and their disposition towards professionalism as in the context of ethical teachership. Data from spirituality and moral reasoning contradicted their claims (as seen in subsequent data analysis to answer research questions)

Not moral person

Mean of Means

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