An Ethic of Caring and Its Implications for Instructional Arrangements

TLDR

Education for moral life has, until recently, been a primary aim of American schooling. The essay argues that while moral education remains appropriate, our conception of morality requires revision, proposing caring as both a moral orientation to teaching and an aim of moral education. The authors propose a model of moral education based on ethics of caring, comprising modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation, which requires increased teacher–student interaction to build trust and informs research recommendations.

Abstract

Education for moral life has, until recently, been a primary aim of American schooling. In this essay, it is argued that the aim itself is appropriate but that our conception of morality needs revision. Caring is suggested both as a moral orientation to teaching and as an aim of moral education. After a brief discussion of ethics of caring, four components of a model for moral education are described: modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation. Use of this model requires that teachers and students spend more time together so that relations of trust may be established. Finally, the perspective of caring is used to make recommendations on research for teaching.