Hope, attentiveness, and caring for difference: The moral voice in teaching

Abstract

The concern of this article is with the moral dimension of teachers' knowledge. Moral concern pervades all of teachers' work and the knowledge that grows out of that work, yet researchers have tended to concentrate on cognitive aspects of teacher thinking. Beginning from an analysis of teachers' accounts of their work and their caring for students, and drawing on the work of Ruddick (1989) and Arandt (1968), the article identifies three aspects of the moral in teacher knowledge: a sense of hope, attentiveness to particular students, and caring for difference among students. It is further suggested that each of these characteristics of teachers' knowledge operates counter to the technocratic world view that is prevalent in modern educational settings.