Aims of Ethics for Professional Educators

What educators can expect to do in the way of enhancing moral perception and sensitivity?

- Without moral perception* and sensitivity, moral reasoning* cannot be started.

- We lack moral concepts, commitments, sensitivities, ways of reasoning, etc.

. Well designed courses - cannot change a person (e.g. uncaring-caring, lack of virtue - virtuous)

. Prospective educators are not completely insensitive, uncaring or without virtue.

e.g. act and think differently in different contexts, settings, situations - caring in some and not in another, act honestly and

fairly in one context and not in another.

. Students: learn their moral concepts from restricted range of exemplars - narrow concepts &

unfamiliar with concepts. e.g. bullying - we only know what was pointed out to us.

*Moral perception = Our ability to judge important moral qualities in particular situations

*Moral Reasoning = thinking process with the objective of determining whether an idea is right or wrong.

Group critique:

- Coomb’s article does not address his own concerns about ethical problems - unresolved tension among incompatible priorities in ethical decision-making that rival theories provide.

- No explanation - how participants in professional ethics courses would assess the reasons for new moral concepts