The Relationship Between Preschool Teachers' Professional Ethical Behavior Perceptions, Moral Judgment Levels and Attitudes to Teaching

Abstract

Morality is the stance and attitude that makes a social human being; the display of behaviors such as praise, criticism, tolerance and intolerance, confirmation and rejection; the taking of sides by stating what one finds good or bad, right or wrong, instead of staying indifferent to what other people say and do (Pieper, 1999). Moral development needs to be taught at schools from the personality-shaping years of preschool so as to raise individuals with a strong sense of morality. Teachers are as important as families in children's moral development. Although parents may play a crucial role in child development within the family environment, once children start school, teachers take the primary importance in children's lives. As pointed out by Dewey (1995), telling preschool children to behave morally has very little contribution towards the development of moral behavior. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that teachers involved in morality education act as models for children by displaying ethical and moral behavior. As a discipline, morality is the collection of ethical codes reflected in practical everyday life; they constitute the value system guiding a society's behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. In their studies, Oser (1991) and Terhart (1998) state that teachers' professional quality depend on the development of cognitive, moral and practical domains, and that these three together define teacher competencies. Therefore, it is not enough for teacher education programs to improve teachers in only one domain; moral judgment levels and teaching attitudes play a determining role in the identification of teacher ethical behaviors. Starting from this, the present study investigates the relationship between preschool teachers' professional ethical behavior perceptions, moral judgment levels and teaching attitudes. The sample includes 464 randomly selected preschool teachers working in 10 different regions of Istanbul. Three different measurement tools were used: Preschool Teacher Ethical Behaviors Scale, Moral Judgment Test, and Teaching Attitudes Scale. The results seem to imply that a linear relationship exists between the variable of ‘preschool teachers’ ethical behavior perceptions’ and the variables of ‘moral judgment level’, ‘democratic attitude’, ‘autocratic attitude’ and ‘apathetic attitude’. Put differently, preschool teachers' perceptions about ethical behaviors are predicted by moral judgment level, democratic attitude, autocratic attitude and apathetic attitude.

An investigation of English Language teachers and students views on ethical principles towards students

“…In a study by Oktay et al (2010), it is reported that morality has been an area of study in such diverse areas as religion, philosophy and psychology from Socrates to present day. It is also reported in the same study that morality has been defined in several ways.…”

“…It is also reported in the same study that morality has been defined in several ways. According to the definition, the researchers borrowed from Oktay et al (2010), morality is a cognitive structure that includes not only conscious judgment, decision-making but also behavior about justice and injustice, right and wrong, good and bad.…”

“…For that reason, the researchers claim that moral development should be taught at the personality shaping years of preschool in order to raise individuals with a strong sense of morality because people with highly developed moral judgment can listen to and critically evaluate ideas other than their own, instead of blindly rejecting them; and they consequently delay, revise or change their own ideas (Oktay et al, 2010). In that sense, considering the issue of moral development from a perspective of democracy, the researchers believe that raising individuals with a strong sense of moral development is a pre-requisite for the establishment of democratic citizenship in a society.…”

“…So the researchers draw attention to the role and responsibility of teachers in establishing a society whose individuals can think rationally and critically, make free decisions, and take responsibility for their decisions and actions, too. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that teachers involved in morality education act as models for children by displaying ethical and moral behavior (Oktay et al, 2010).…”

“…While Oktay et al (2010) point to the significance of raising individuals with a strong sense of moral development for the establishment of democratic societies, Luttenberg et al (2004) draw attention to the problem that, as far as moral aspects of teaching are concerned, too little work has been done towards a clear definition of concepts. According to them, the concept of moral responsibility has been insufficiently analyzed and too little attention has been paid to the real motivation of teachers.…”