Teachers in the Private and Public Spheres: Ethical Orientations in Educational Interactions (original) (raw)

Journal of Education Culture and Society

Aim. The main aim of the article is a presentation of a comparative study of differences in ethical orientations used by teachers in educational practice in two settings: in private life as parents and in the public sphere, working as teachers. Methods. First, a hypothesis was proposed to test the observations by Lawrence Kohlberg (1984) and Carol Gilligan (1993) regarding the relative stability of ethical orientations in terms of the ethics of care and justice. To this end, an assumption was made that teachers prefer the former in contacts with their own children (private sphere) while favouring the latter in relationships with students (public sphere). The paired samples t-test confirmed this hypothesis. Results. Based on the analysis, gender was found not to influence teachers’ ethical orientations in the private sphere; however, it seems to play a part in the public sphere. This ambivalence was revealed in male teachers. Contrary to gender stereotype, in contacts with their own ...