The Moral Imagination in Pre-service Teachers’ Ethical Reasoning

Abstract

This paper will discuss findings from a teaching project pilot study designed to investigate the ways in which pre-service teachers understand and reason through ethical tensions perceived to arise during their final professional experience situation. The project utilised an assessment strategy based on the ‘community of inquiry’ model to document the ways in which pre-service teachers understand and reason through ethical tensions perceived to arise in their profession. Whilst there is significant research examining the pedagogical development of pre-service teachers’ knowledge and skills after their internship experience, there is little research examining their experience of ethical tensions, nor ways to further enhance pre-service teachers’ ethical reasoning. This research aims to provide points of reflection regarding how pre-service teachers process and reason through situations and indicates directions learning opportunities more aligned with their experiences and expressed needs.