“The teaching practice vs. teaching ethics”. Towards teaching practice improvement through teaching ethics

Abstract

There is an increasing demand of a suitable ethic professional training for teachers on the part of society; it has been noticed in the last few years that the moral nature in education is being highlighted in every sphere, but mainly in the one we deal with, that is teacher training. Therefore, this demands to include ethics in higher education syllabi. This would prevent ethics in professional teacher training from being left out, as something optional or even subsidiary, and give it its place as a systematic component in pedagogical training. Professional training cannot be restricted to transmit objective knowledge; moral issues, cognitive aspects, and technical abilities should merge in order to acquire an adequate professionalism. That is the reason why along this paper it is proposed to deepen in the study of ethical identity as it may be an interesting contribution to the improvement of teaching practice, whenever it stimulates personal and shared reflection about our own vital project, moral and professional attitudes, moral context in teaching and about the possibilities everyone has to turn improvable aspects into positive.