The Active/Ethical Professional A Framework for Responsible Educators

by Gunzenhauser, Michael G.

• ISBN13: 9781441152107
• ISBN10: 1441152105
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-08
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The Active/Ethical Professional proposes an ethical framework for educators and school leaders who find their practice constrained by the demands of policies and structures created in response to accountability legislation. The framework is derived from Michel Foucault's theories of discipline, surveillance, resistance, and care of the self. Gunzenhauser asserts that an educator's dual position of being normalized (especially in relations with those above them in the education hierarchy) and normalizing (especially in relations with their students) can be troubling and difficult. The book argues that this position requires educators to be both "ethical" and "active." To be ethical, educators not only need to resolve ethical dilemmas in defensible ways, but they also need to recognize themselves as powerful in relation to others. To be active, educators need to be vigilant for moments when they are placed in the position to be "reactive" to normalizing pressures, and they also need to develop clear notions of how they may create opportunities for the cultivation of educational selves - selves that are rich ethically, aesthetically, epistemologically, and politically.

Author Biography

Michael G. Gunzenhauser is Associate Professor of Administrative and Policy Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
The high-stakes accountability context	p. l
Accountability as a philosophical problem	p. 13
Ethics in educational practice	p. 45
From accountability (for test results) to responsibility (for children)	p. 61
Normalization, surveillance, and the self-disciplined	p. 79
Care of the educated self in crisis	p. 103
Educator professionalism: the active, ethical, and resistant	p. 121
The active/ethical professional in practice	p. 147
Appendix Studies of accountability and school reform	p. 161
References	p. 165
About the author	p. 175
Index	p. 177
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