Caring and Empowerment: A teacher educator's reflection on an ethical dilemma

Abstract

Despite a growing interest in the lives and work of teacher educators, there has been little explicit examination of the ethical dimensions of their professional practiceÐ or of the ethical dimensions of teaching in higher education in general. This article contributes to efforts to address these oversights. More speci® cally, it documents aspects of my re¯ection on an enduring ethical dilemma I encounter as a university-based teacher educator; How to enact my commitment to professional practice grounded in an ethos of caring (Noddings, 1984) for my students, without being drawn into the abyss of endless and ultimately disempowering emotional labour that caring can entail (Bateson, 1989)? In attempting to resolve this dilemma I identify an alternative conceptualisation of caring as mutual empowerment and draw on Tom's (1997) notions of deliberative relationships, transparency of practice and presence. Although the context of this article is teacher education, I believe that these notions have relevance for university teachers in most disciplines, and especially for those preparing students for entry into the`caring professions' . PrologueThe student leaves my of® ce in tears and I slump back into my chair, drained by the tense exchange that has just taken place and wondering, as I so often ® nd myself doing, whether the stance I have taken is justi® able or unconscionably harsh. I know the student well for over the last two years she has con® ded in me about the ongoing dif® culties she encounters in her personal life. I have come to admire and respect her strength and tenaciousness and, wherever possible, have tried to accommodate her needs for exibility with assessment tasks and time-lines. Yet following a recent chance discussion with a similarly sympathetic colleague who has also worked closely with this student and been even more accommodating, I have become increasingly uneasy that the student might be beginning to take advantage of my colleague' s and my concern for her. The meeting that has just ended so disastrously had been an attempt to share my disquiet

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Toward Developing Authentic Leadership: Team-Based Simulations

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