T. W. Wineberg, 2008
Rotterdam and Taipei, Sense Publishers
€29.99 (pbk), 164 pp.
ISBN 978‐90‐8790‐298‐8
€145.69 (hbk), 164 pp.
ISBN 978‐90‐8790‐299‐5
This book points to some new ways of moral thinking and moral development within the teaching context with the aim of improving teacher’s ethical sensibilities—as the title indicates. Wineberg criticises current versions of professional ethics for not being morally formative, because they only focus on standards of conduct or on ethical dilemmas and therefore cannot help in changing our schools for the better. Thus Wineberg wants teachers to bear the ethical dimension in mind, because this aspect often seems to be neglected within daily teaching practice, which is described as ‘increasingly programmatic, technique‐oriented, and career‐driven’ (p. 1). He calls upon teachers to perceive their work as a vocation as well as a ‘profession’ in the original sense of the word—namely a strong devotion to serving the public good with a deep appreciation for the moral dimensions accompanying pedagogical work in general. This seems crucial, because developing perceptual sensibilities enables professionals to interpret practical situations better and thus react more adequately.
The way to achieve this target of promoting teachers’ moral reflection, and with it their moral formation, is obtained not by using technical terms, but by an orientation toward five ethical spheres with corresponding metaphorical images and key practices to exercise. The main idea of Wineberg’s vivid concept is, in his own words, that ‘metaphors engage our imagination, enabling us to understand one thing in terms of another, and consequently they enrich our perceptions and our interpretation of experience’ (p. 6) in order to shape teachers’ self‐perceptions for empowering their moral formation. Following the structure of these five ethical spheres the book is divided into five chapters. Every chapter closes with a number of ‘questions for further reflection’, which demonstrate Wineberg’s desire to get the reader involved in his ideas. Moreover he supports his statements by selected arguments of renowned educational philosophers of education like Maxine Greene or Dwaine Huebner.
The pivotal thesis of Chapter 1, ‘The ethics of sacrifice: the teacher as servant’, is that, due to the challenges of public service, teachers frequently appear to be caught between self‐sacrifice and self‐fulfilment. This often leads to the fact that in this context vocation is misinterpreted as ‘moral heroism, joyless self‐denial or self‐diminishing sacrifice’ (p. 9) and accompanied by some pathological tendencies like depression, fear, anger, cynicism, burnout and so on. What is needed, therefore, is a healthy dynamic equilibrium between sacrifice and fulfilment. The way to achieve this lies in a general contemplative stance, which includes, for example, a critical reflection on literature linked with stringent self‐discipline, which enables teachers to offer a loving service to their students.
In Chapter 2, ‘The ethics of community’, a teacher’s role as moral friend is examined, mainly based on theoretical considerations by John Macmurray. Wineberg makes the case that an ethics of professional care has to focus on the importance of mutuality within teacher–student relations. Students would have to be viewed as partners, as ‘moral friends’, which is said to be essential for a moral community and for moral development. Following Wineberg, such a perspective has to be distinguished from other community models like the so‐called ‘contractarian’ or the ‘functional’ model, which serve, in his view, ‘a greater end—that of establishing mutually caring relations’ (p. 64).
Chapter 3, ‘The ethics of craft: the teacher as mentor’, points to the moral aspect of teachers’ work. From this perspective, unlike many other professions, teaching cannot be characterised by generally accepted technical norms and is therefore more idiosyncratic because ‘teaching is at heart a virtuous‐normative activity, demanding an array of moral sensibilities’ (p. 91). Wineberg argues that a sheer technical perspective about craft—which is fairly common—could not cope with the actual complexity of the teaching context and that personal and relational dimensions are more profound and more central than (such) technical dimensions like craft knowledge or technical know‐how. For that reason the teacher–student relationship has to be interpreted as a so‐called in loco parentis relationship including parental responsibilities to provide a caring and protective environment for young students. Hence the guiding metaphorical image for teachers within the Ethics of craft should be that of a mentor because with ‘its language and sensibility of gift‐exchange’ (p. 9) it seems to be the one that lives up to the personal and relational dimensions mentioned above as well as the in loco parentis relation required.
Based on these thoughts the initial hypothesis of Chapter 4, ‘The ethics of tradition: the teacher as covenantor’, is that the teacher–student relationship, described in the last chapters, also features a ‘covenantal dimension’ (p. 93), in the sense that personal relationships in general cannot be reduced to a merely contractual perspective. On this account a covenantal ethic underscores the meaning of mutual need, commitment, gift and responsibility in the teaching context. Education in this regard must be seen as ‘a gift of hospitality’ for students (p. 101) and not only as an institutionalised endeavour, in order to fashion covenantal classrooms. This demands again the sort of pedagogical sensibilities explored in the preceding chapters, like self‐detachment, recognition, responsiveness and attentiveness—in short, critical social and political reflection.
The last chapter, ‘The ethics of moral imagination: the teacher as moral companion’, generally examines the importance of moral imagination for moral understanding and formation. Wineberg’s essential assumption is that images used as heuristic guides for moral practice can serve as an adequate normative framework. Images then are able to shape the moral sensibilities (imagination, perception, reflection and thus judgement) of practitioners and therefore help to broaden and reorganise ‘our moral landscape—an endeavour that might be viewed as the journey of self in the quest for self‐transcendence’ (p. 10). The most suitable role image for teachers within an ethics of moral imagination is that of a moral companion because it underlines the humanity of the personal relation and implies amicable reciprocity.
In conclusion, it can be stated that this book offers an ostensive and imaginative view of the moral practice of teaching and makes helpful suggestions for one’s own moral formation. However, the theoretical foundations of Wineberg’s conception seem to be rather thin. Indeed he fleshes out his ideas with diligently selected philosophical arguments, but given the aim of his volume—contributing to the personal and academic moral formation—a psychological theory of the professional development of teachers in the moral domain is clearly missing. Furthermore, in many places it remains unclear how moral formation can proceed in detail, because no concrete guidelines, for example, to realise a general empathic and contemplative stance or to reach the required equilibrium between self‐sacrifice and self‐fulfilment, are given. Moreover, it is questionable whether an orientation based on metaphors can really make a contribution to moral formation at all. But maybe this is not the point for the author. Nevertheless, this book can be commended to all practitioners who aim to come to a different perspective on their own moral formation and to explore new ways of critical (self‐)reflection.
© 2010, Jennifer Loew