Developing a descriptive framework for comprehending the inherent moral significance of teaching

Abstract

Developing a descriptive framework is one step in the complex process of theory development in qualitative research. This complexity is especially evident when analysing data about how teachers interpret the inherent moral significance of their classroom interactions. A common way of gathering data is to follow an iterative process, in which both theoretical concepts and empirical data play an important part. Theoretical concepts to describe teachers' interpretations of the inherent moral significance of their classroom interactions could be offered by continental European pedagogiek. However, because of difficulties connecting these pedagogische theories to empirical data directly, an intermediary operation was required. To meet this requirement the central pedagogische question: ‘Who should be taught what, how, when, and why?’ was used as the starting point for the development of the framework. This article sets out in detail the process of getting from this question to a framework that is able to describe teachers' interpretations of the inherent moral significance of their classroom interactions.

Keywords:

• pedagogy
• moral significance of teaching
• classroom interactions
• descriptive framework
• data analysis

Notes

1. In this article we do not translate the Dutch terms pedagogiek or pedagogische (adjective) because of their distinct continental European meaning.

2. Professor Bas Levering, Fontys University of Applied Sciences; Professor Wilna Meijer, University of Groningen; and Professor Siebren Miedema, VU University Amsterdam.

3. The interviews with the experts and the participating teachers were held in their first language. The selected quotations in the text and tables were translated from Dutch by the author.