Teacher Identity and Morality:
A Thought Experiment

(The following is a fictionalized account. Potential resemblances are unintentional.)

"Mr. Green"

    Mr. Green is a new graduate of a B.Ed program who, the September after graduating, has begun his first LTO placement at Newbrook SS. The school has a reputation of both high academic achievement amongst its students, and over-involved “helicopter parenting” by the parent community.

Mr. Green is teaching first period Gr. 10 English, a mandatory course. The majority of his students are wonderful - with one exception. James is loud, rambunctious, overly chatty, and prone to wandering out of the class. His work is often late or incomplete, and even completed assignments are done poorly. Green pays little attention in class, preferring to gossip with his friends in a loud and dramatic fashion. After consulting the IEP, Mr. Johnson notices that James has AD/HD; after checking with the other staff, he learns that James poses absolutely no problems in their classes. When asked about this James admits that he takes his Ritalin after first period so that he can focus for the rest of the day. Further conversation reveals that James does not take his Ritalin in time for English class because he dislikes the subject. Mr. Green consults James’ mother about this and is shocked to find that she condones her son’s view of the class and his behaviour.

    Although James does well in his other classes, because he misses so much time in Mr. Green’s class, his average sits at around 30%. Mr. Green tries to engage James but the student will often simply leave the class. The teacher has tried to engage the students' parents, but James’ mother sees no problem with this behaviour, and offers little in the way of discipline or structure.

About three-quarters of the way through the semester, Mr. Green is called in to an emergency meeting with the principal, Mrs. Carpenter, regarding James, who has been absent from school for several days. At this meeting, staff learn that James was hospitalized for self-harm. He has been stabilized and will be returning to school shortly. Mrs. Carpenter is extremely concerned. She asks staff to waive the remaining coursework for James and assign him a final passing grade. Although the other teachers believe this was a behavioural outburst rather than the result of depression, they agree to waive the work since his marks are strong in their courses and he likely would have passed regardless.

Mr. Green, however, has many concerns. He would have to fabricate an additional 30% to make James pass, which strikes the teacher as patently unethical. Further, James completed so little of the course that even if he “passes”, he will not be prepared for the content in Gr. 11 English next year, which is also mandatory. Mr. Green is also worried about what kind of message this sends not only to James, but the other students in his class. Is he learning that by acting out in dangerous ways, he will be rewarded with a free grade? Does this reinforce the message that Mr. Green's class “doesn’t matter”? Yet if Mr. Green does fail James, will this trigger another episode of self-harm; perhaps a more serious one? Compounding this is all the pressure Mrs. Carpenter has put on Mr. Green; as a first-year teacher, his future employment is based on the assessment of this principal.

Critical Schemas

Educators are often faced with moral and ethical dilemmas in the line of work. To navigate these, it is important for teachers to have well-developed schema - a "conceptual cluster we create to help organize environmental information". Particularly in areas of ethical concern, educators must cultivate a value schema that gives them "conceptual tools and weapons that we all employ in order to maintain and enhance self-esteem" (Rokeach 1973).

This cognitive shorthand is helpful in a critical incident which marks a significant turning point in a teacher's approach. These incidents are important to identify; they can offer opportunities for professional growth; or, if mishandled, lead to a decline in professional development, as the negative reaction engendered can be repeated in similar situations (Shapira-Lischinsky, 2010).

How, then, should an educator form a critical values-based schema for dealing with incidents like those with "Mr. Green" ? What should his next steps be in this situation?

The Moral Stress of Education

Colenrud (2015) identifies the cognitive dissonance and moral anxiety that teachers face when dealing with these situations. Educators are held to a high moral standard institutionally, societally, and personally. Failure to meet these standards can arise when there is a lack of clarity, or conflicting responsibilities, that make ethical judgements murky. Many times a teacher will know the "right" thing to do, but for a variety of reasons may not be able to pursue the ethical course of action.

Teachers are possessed of a singular "moral sensitivity" (Colenrud) unlike other professions. When their students feel bad, they feel bad. This leads to a tangle of conflicting fairness dilemmas, where the principles of equality, need, and merit all intertwine. Personal interaction, progressive discipline, and evaluation of students are all based on a messy combination of equity, need, and effort, leading to a calculus of care that is difficult to balance. This juggling act leads to moral stress - internal moral imperatives that conflict with other internal moral imperatives.

Ultimately, teachers cannot look to an external principle for guidance. They must develop their own schemas for dealing with moral quandaries.

Moral Identity Formation

Broadly speaking, a teacher's career can be subdivided into three categories of concern (Clark and Conway, 2003):

• Preteaching - Operates with a schema similar to a student; specifics are not considered
• Early Teaching - Locus of concern lies with personal performance
• Late Teaching - Ego is tied into student progress

As "Mr. Green" is in the early teaching stage of his career, his schema will be based around the ethics of his own personal performance. This will be formed within the dichotomy between personal and organizational identity, as outlined by Caughey (1980). Teachers move between the end points of this dialectic, establishing a schema within:

Feared Identity (Failure) <-------> Idealized Identity (Perfection)

Personal Identity (Son) <------> Social Identity (Teacher)

Who "Mr. Green" believes he is - where he puts himself on this continuum - will define his critical schema, and thus his solution to the ethical dilemma he finds himself in.

Ethical Assessment

The crux of this quandry is whether or not "James" will pass the course. Most ethical dilemmas in education are based around marking, assessment, and evaluation - this is "not surprising, given the current climate characterized by increasing accountability, high-stakes testing and pressure to improve student learning scores" (Ehrich, et al, 2011). Failure to properly navigate this dilemmas results in "grade pollution", marked by purposely misrepresenting the students' mastery of the assessed material (Ibid.).

Now that "Mr. Green" has developed his identity, and thus his critical schema, how should he move forward to avoid "grade pollution" ? The solution, according to Ehrich, et al., lies in several levels of interconnected ethical decision-making

1. First, "Mr. Green" must bring his own schema to the fore and apply it to the dilemma.
2. Next, he must recognize the mediating morality of the organization (the school), which may be at odds with his own morality.
3. "Mr. Green" must now work to find a solution that appeases both his own schema and that of the organization.
4. In this solution, "Mr. Green" must acknowledge that the results will have impacts on both himself and the organization, and must consider those ramifications.
5. The solution will also impact the ability of "Mr. Green" to make future decisions.

This process considers the schema of both "Mr. Green" and the school; while likely totally satisfying neither, it will still work towards the common goal of student success while maintaining intact values for all parties.

In practical terms, Mr. Green would suggest an alternate modified assignment, or set of assignments, that could be completed in order to justify the additional 30% increase. While this may seem like a simple solution, it can be difficult to see or even accept it without feeling as though one's moral foundations have been violated. The best way to avoid the moral stress of these scenarios is to articulate one's professional ethics clearly, and model them publicly, so that all parties are aware of how the teacher will react. Over time this will result in a stronger critical schema, better self-identity, and clearer relationship between individual and organization that will make decision-making processes less stressful for all involved.

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WORKS CITED

Caughey, J. (1980). Personal Identity and Social Organization. Ethos, v. 8, n. 3, pp. 173-203. The American Anthropological Association.

Clark, C. and Conway, P. (2003). The journey outward: A re-examination of Fuller’s concerns-based model of teacher development. Teaching and Teacher Education, v. 19, n. 5, pp. 465-482

Colenrud, G. (2015). Moral Stress in Teaching Practice. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and practice, v. 21, n. 3, pp. 346-360.

Ehrich, L.C., M. Kimber, J. Millwater, and N. Cranston. (2011). Ethical Dilemmas: A Model to Understand Teacher Practice. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, v. 17, .n 2., pp. 173-185.

Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.

Shapira-Lischinsky, O. (2010). Teachers’ critical incidents: Ethical dilemmas in teaching practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, v. 27, n. 3, pp. 648-656