Ethical and Philosophical
Considerations for Teaching and
Learning
Tom Hawk
Center for Teaching Excellence
Frostburg State University
Session overview
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An ethic of care
Pedagogical caring
Recognition and Appraisal Respect
Assumptions and Values
Teaching/Learning Philosophy
Faculty Responsibilities
• Master Discipline and Related Areas
• Master Teaching and Learning Processes
• Model and Encourage Ethical
Development
• Develop a Teaching/Learning Philosophy
An Ethic of Care
An ethic of care is contextual as well as
relational rather than the application of
universals. In an ethic of care, the one caring
apprehends the other’s reality, feeling what he
feels as nearly as possible. This means
preserving the uniqueness of human encounters
since so much depends on the subjective
experience of those involved in ethical
encounters and conditions (that) are rarely
sufficiently similar.
Noddings (1984; 1988)
An Ethic of Care
• Engrossment
• Displacement
• Commitment
• Confirmation
Engrossment
Engrossment involves meeting
the other as one-caring, as
totally as possible for the
entire time during which the
caring encounter takes place.
Displacement
Displacement of motivation
means stepping out of one’s
personal frame of reference and
into the other’s. Although there
may be legal or formal constraints
placed on the relationship, they
do not displace or weaken the
caring relation.
Commitment
Commitment requires
steadfastness to the
relationship, even in difficult
times, by both the one caring
and the one cared for.
Confirmation
Confirmation asks the one caring to see
the one cared for as he or she sees
himself or herself in the most positive light,
what potentially might be. The caring
relationship defines both individuals but it
does not sacrifice either individual. Rather,
caring is serving the other and serving
one’ self at the same time.
Pedagogical Caring
• The teacher recognizes and understands
the student as a unique individual self.
• The teacher recognizes the student as a
person in the sense of being a member of
the category of all persons having certain
ethical rights which the teacher is
obligated to respect.
Hult (1980)
Pedagogical Caring
The teacher recognizes the student as
student, as one who has certain needs
and expectations that a pedagogical
service is to be delivered, and has rights
which protect and guarantee that these
expectations are fulfilled.
Hult (1980)
Recognition Respect
• Recognition respect is owed to all persons who are
entitled to have other persons take seriously and weigh
appropriately the fact that they are persons in
deliberating about what to do
• Recognition respect is respect that recognizes the
students as individuals and promotes the well-being of
each student. Promoting the well-being of an individual,
however, necessarily means understanding the
individual’s goals and seeing the world as that individual
sees it. Recognition respect enhances the dignity of the
other and is accorded to everyone. It is intimately bound
up in an ethic of care.
Darwall (1977), Diller (1993), Applebaum (1997)
Appraisal Respect
• Appraisal respect is an attitude toward a person or
persons or feature of persons which are held to manifest
their excellence as persons or as engaged in some
specific pursuit
• Appraisal respect is given to a student for the degree to
which the student develops, as a result of his or her own
efforts, the knowledge, skills, and/or characteristics that
are valued in a certain domain. Here, appraisal respect
and the relevant feedback must be specific and focus on
the attainment of standards rather than on the person.
Darwall (1977), Diller (1993), Applebaum (1997)
References
Applebaum, B. (1996). But that is not what I mean: Criticizing with care
and respect. Annual of the Philosophy of Education Society, 77-85.
Darwall, S.L. (1977). Two kinds of respect. Ethics, 88(1): 36-49.
Diller, A. (1993). Can we reach a rapprochement between educational
criticism and nurturance? Annual of the Philosophy of Education
Society, 238-245.
Hult, R.E. (1980). On pedagogical caring. Educational Theory, 29(3):
237-243.
Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral
education. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
Noddings, N. (1988). An ethic of caring and its implications for
instructional arrangements. American Journal of Education, 96(2):
215-230.
A Teaching/Learning Philosophy
• Assumptions on the nature of the
individual
• Assumptions on what is knowledge and
the nature of knowledge
• Assumptions on who determines what is
knowledge and how
A Teaching/Learning Philosophy
• Assumptions about how people learn
• Assumptions about effectiveness of
different teaching and learning
processes
• Values you bring to your profession
• The disciplinary constraints, if any