Challange of Moral Education - Term Paper Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert Moral Education Framework Introduction Education is the foundation for the development of human ability to reason and make decisions responsibly as may be demanded by the society. The role of educators in molding students to become responsible and rational members of the society they live in can therefore not be overlooked (Lu and Xiong 109). In many cases, public educators are often evaluated on the basis of leaner’s’ performance. However, it is often the value systems that the educators may instill or fail to do so on their learners that may have a great toll on the learners. Such is the importance of morality in teaching that performance is highly dependent on the educator’s values. In as much as institutions should have their framework for morality like prayers, guidance and conduct requirements, it is important that the teachers have individual morality objectives. For effectiveness, the moral values of beliefs that have positive impacts on learners should be applied during lessons. This paper will examine my personal value system and how I am convinced that such values may be effective during my teaching sessions. Consequently, the beliefs or moral philosophies that guide my morality system will be compared to that of the secular system. The paper will subsequently address the various critiques that may arise out of my personal value system. It will also explore the various ways in which I may implement these values in terms of ethics, or guiding principles of action, in my public role as an educator. For the purposes of improving my professional expertise, this paper will therefore be important in highlighting the various areas that need improvement at personal level. Finally, the paper will identify the challenges that might be in the quest for improvement and suggest the ways of overcoming such challenges. To begin, it is important to outline the basic religious and philosophical beliefs that have motivated me as a public educator. This value system shall be discussed in the section that follows. Personal Values My work as a public educator has been effective because of my religious and philosophical motivations. I believe in moral standards for the betterment of my profession. In addition, I have always wanted to have an impact on my students and other learners since teaching to me is more of just a professional but an opportunity to serve different interests and direct people on the right paths to success. This is my main philosophical belief and motivation as a professional in the field of education. As the learners discover the best ways to attain moral standards, they are in turn able to present themselves in class in a suitable condition for grasping the contents of learning. Secondly, I believe in honesty and this value has motivated me to present the best I can to my students. Honesty is a religious virtue that is based on presentation of facts and situations they way they are without making alterations or intentionally making misrepresentations for personal interests. I believe that by being honest first to myself and then to the students, I am able to build a free learning environment, which is important for the whole process. During the learning process, evaluation of learners is always a critical component for the attainment of learning objectives. As a result, my next motivation is on stressing on merit rather than favoritism and biasness. For learners to get a real picture of the progress they are making in the learning process, it is important to provide them with the most sincere and standardized feedback as much as possible. Stressing on merit also helps in evaluating my effectiveness in the various modules. Subsequently, another of my motivations as a public educator is based on the principle of fairness to all regardless of their social, cultural and religious backgrounds. This is because looking at the divisions humans have in their quest for identity may blind our decisions. It is therefore common to find that during the sessions, I stress on inclusion through contribution by every student regardless of their perceived weaknesses. This has been one of the ways of ensuring that the class remains focused on attaining curriculum objectives rather than on concentrating on the different abilities to do so. Trustworthiness has also been key in my teaching sessions. I have found out that it is only through trust that learners are able to get further clarifications and provide input that are important for fostering fast learning among the students. Generally, my moral belief system is based on the idea of ensuring that I not only teach morality but also strive to teach morally. Students have to be consciously aware of the important values during learning and this awareness can only be ensured through provision of a role model based system. By practicing what you teach and advocate for, the students are able to appreciate the importance of the moral values. However, my value system might be subject to various criticisms. To begin, fairness has always been difficult to attain when the learners themselves have been deeply rooted in the various misconceptions about their original identities. Secondly, it has been argued that sometimes honesty in learning may act against motivating learners especially those who are week in grasping concepts. Lastly, others have also argued that it is difficult to have standardized moral values especially with cross cultural societal values. Nevertheless, these criticisms are not a hindrance to my value system because of various justifications. It is difficult to achieve universal fairness as pointed out in the likely criticisms for my value system. However, fairness does not mean pleasing everyone especially in the learning environments. It is the process of ensuring that every individual is treated with respect and decorum so that no one is seen as special more than others are. It is important to be honest since dishonesty creates suspicion, which may act against the image of the educator (Zhou, Qin, Deng and Chai, 190). It is therefore important to be honest at all times and in the cases of communicating honesty issues, there should be a lot of care taken not to embarrass the learners. Morality is a standard requirement even though attitudes or beliefs towards certain values may differ. To be able to eliminate the diversions that come with cross cultural backgrounds, my value system applies to professionalism and student welfare rather than passing on personal convictions. The next question that arises is therefore on the extent to which my values may apply to the secular world. In the context of being public, my value system is based on the quest for equality and human rights observation. This is important for my professional profile since it is important to give a clear direction for learners. Having looked at the value system that my teaching is personally based on, it is important to outline how to best implement it into the ethical and guiding principles of a public educator as well as the challenges that might present themselves during the implementation stage. The following section therefore discusses this issue at length. Implementation Ethical principles are important in the learning process so that there is an accommodative learning environment for all. To begin, the ethics attached to teaching has a great correlation to the ethical principles of the individual teacher. It is a positive and necessary requirement in which an educator should be able to handle or treat all learners with care and in the most considerate way possible. In addition, fairness and impartiality should be accorded to all learners regardless of their social, gender, cultural, religious and nationality backgrounds (Narvaez, Khmelkov, Vaydich and Turner 7). As a result, any teacher that has a conviction to pursue ethical standards should be able to competently assist the students in their all-round development, moral values and acceptable character. As a matter of principle, the public educator will ensure that all the students individually realize and attain their potential. By recognizing the differences among students and seeking to help them meet their personal education needs, the teacher will be ethically responsible to the learners. Ethical teaching is therefore based on the inner conviction of the teacher rather than on external push or motivation factors. To be able to boost the internal desire, there must be guiding principles so that there is a standard way to handling the issues of ethics in the learning environment. It is however notable that just like learners, teachers may have different abilities to teach according to the required standards. As a result, ethics in teaching requires that every individual perform to the best of their ability and not only relying on other to do so. Free will is therefore important in the process of ensuring sound ethical behavior among teachers. With the stated personal value system in my professional practice in mind, it is therefore easy to identify the best ways of implementation in the ethical standards requirement system. First, it is important that prior to the actual implementation phase there is research done to understand the nature and issues related to the targeted learners (Wang 40). Since fairness and trust is only gained by having a close relationship with the learners, it is essential that I understand the learners and such is the importance of the research and planning phase. Onto the actual implementation, I would employ a three-pronged strategy. They include the integration of the value system in the content, the mannerisms and creation of a moral or ethical culture among learners. The content of learning is one of the most important elements of influencing individual learners. It is therefore important to integrate the moral value system beliefs into the content regardless of the disciplines so that they are able to apply them even in the process of acquiring knowledge (Fenstamacher, Osgurthope and Sanger 8). As a public educator, this objective will be achieved through practically introducing ethical concepts in the various learning areas so that I am able to teach technicalities as students appreciate the value system proposed. For instance, even when teaching issues on technicalities like scientific concepts, the moral value model will be integrated in the examples given on emergent concerns and best ways to follow during scientific decision-making. Secondly, my conduct or manner of teaching will strictly follow the value system of fairness, merit, honesty and trustworthiness. Cognitive learning is based on positive modeling. As a result, by practically applying the stated values ethically, the students are also able to follow into my footsteps. This will however be a gradual process since not all learners may consider me their role model. Subsequently, I will strive to promote a culture of morality among my students. Based on the value components proposed, the students will be encouraged even through incentives to conform to ethical standards that may be helpful for the learning process as well as their future endeavors. The three steps will be constantly improved to capture all learning environments so that it is developed as first as possible. As a result of the rigorous implementation procedure, there might be various challenges that might be faced. First, it will be important to stress that cooperation among students will be an important requirement for the success of the stated value system implementation. Secondly, additional resources may be required in the areas of time, finances and human resources for the promotion and facilitation of the ethical value system. It is therefore important that mobilization is carried out in the initial stages of implementation. In addition, it may be difficult to change the attitude of some learners bearing in mind their different backgrounds. However, some of these challenges may be overcome through planning of the process. There should be a push for volunteering among likeminded individuals for the success of promotional requirement of this project and, therefore, this will be a priority. In addition, I will seek the assistance of the institution’s authority for support and success of the program. Organizations that support ethics and morality in education will also be partnered with, where possible, especially in provision of information to the learners. All these measures will therefore be employed to ensure that the challenges are eliminated. Conclusion Learning is an important developmental process in the life of any individual regardless of their religious, social or cultural standing in the society. Moral values are often overlooked in the learning process despite the numerous opportunities and advantages to do so. This project is therefore an important initiative of ensuring that the value system is promoted in the learning environment I am and shall be engaged with. My core philosophies and beliefs are based on issues that are critical for the success of learners even beyond the actual schooling or learning process. As a result, my advocacy in this area is pegged on the future of learners. Finally, it is important for curriculum developers to ensure that moral and ethical standards are promoted even in the development of appropriate content for learners. To the extent of improving the learners’ attitude and belief system, the effective implementation of this program may be essential for the overall improvement of learners’ performance. This project is therefore an alternative to ensuring that there is a constant and gradual change in the learning process as well as among learners from different backgrounds. Works Cited Fenstamacher, Gary; Osgurthope, Rechard and Sanger, Mathew. Teaching Morally and Teaching Morality. Teacher Education quarterly, 36, (3), 2009, p7-19. Li, Yu and Xiong, Lianyong. Moral Education from the Perspective of Moral Belief. Asian Social Science, 9,( 3),2013, p107-111. Narvaez, Darcia; Khmelkov, Vladimir; Vaydich, Jenny L and Turner, Julianne. Teacher Self-Efficacy for Moral Education: Measuring Teacher Self-Efficacy for Moral Education. Journal of Research in Character Education, 6, (2), 2008, p3-15. Wang, Elaine. Integrating moral education in the study of literature. English Quarterly35, (3/4), 2003, p38-42. Zhou, Yongzheng; Qin, Ziqiang; Deng, Xiaoling and Chai, Xuxu. Study on Three-dimensional Moral Education in Universities and Its Practical Approaches. Asian Social Science, 7,(9), 2011, p189-193. Read More