ED+610

**__ED 610: Ethics for Educational Leaders__**

Dr. Mary Kropiewnicki
 * Instructor**

**Required Textbooks** Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2005). //Ethical leadership and decision making in education//. (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.  (ISBN 0-8058-5022-8) Starratt, R. J. (2003). //Centering educational administration//. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.   (ISBN 0-8058-4239-X) **Required Readings Shapiro & Stefkovich** Chapter 3 Chapter 1 &2 (also pages 140-16 Frameworks) Chapter 4-9

Chapter 1 Chapters 2 & 3 Chapter 10 (pages 140-149 The Professors) Chapters 4-6 Chapters 8-14
 * Starratt**

I. **Key Concepts and Skills**

1. Review how to **structure a case analysis** and practice analyzing cases using those in the Shapiro & Stefkovich text. Review the cases you have analyzed, as well. a. Begin with a summary of the ethical dilemma identifying the key individuals, groups, and issues; b. Construct the analysis by applying the ethical paradigms to analyze the issues from multiple perspectives; c. Determine a resolution that is reflective of one or more of the ethical frameworks used in your analysis that is most appropriate to the case and tie in one of more of the central themes presented in the work of Starratt.* see below

2. Know the **four ethical paradigms** and how to apply them in a case analysis (* below).


 * II. ****Synopsis of Four Ethical Paradigms** *

The following is a synopsis of each ethical model and questions related to each. This information also appears in Shaprio & Stefkovich chapter 2 and also in Starratt chapter 8.

In its application, the following questions are considered: Is there a law, right, or policy that relates to a particular case? Is there is a law, right, or policy, should it be enforced? If there is not a law, right, or policy, should there be one?
 * The Ethic of Justice** frames issues around the concepts of **fairness, equity, and justice**. This ethic frequently serves as a foundation for legal principles and ideals. In practice, one examines fairness and equity as absolutes, such as whether policies and laws are absolute and if exceptions are to be made, under what circumstances, and is the rights of the individual greater than the good of the community.

Who will benefit from what I decide? Who will be hurt by my actions? What are the long-term effects of a decision I make today? If I am helped by someone now, what should I do in the future about giving back to this individual or to society in general?
 * The Ethic of Care** frames issues around **care, concern, and connection**. This ethic has roots in feminist thinking and emphasizes relationships and connections with others, as well as building collaboration. It asks that consequences of decisions and actions be considered as well as the value of trust and loyalty. In application, the following questions are considered:

Who makes the laws? Who benefits from the law, rule, or policy? Who has the power? Who are the silenced voices?
 * The Ethic of Critique** frames issues around **critical theory** which is rooted in an analysis of social class and its inequities, as well as inequities related to gender and race, to name a few. It is founded in asking hard questions that relate to concepts of oppression, power, privilege, authority, voice, language, and empowerment. In application, the following questions are considered:

What would the profession expect me to do? What does the community expect me to do? What should I do based on the best interests of the students, who may be diverse in their composition and their needs?
 * The Ethic of the Profession** frames issues around the three preceding ethical paradigms but also considers **the** **unique moral aspects of the profession and leadership in the profession of education**. It expects professionals to formulate and examine their own codes of ethics, as well as the standards set by the profession. It is founded on **placing students at the center of the decision-making process**. In application, the following questions are considered:

3. Review the following concepts and themes presented in Starratt. These do not have to be recalled word for word but you should be able to synthesize some of the following ethical leadership practices in your analysis and resolution of an ethical dilemma. a. **cultivating** **meaning** (chapter 2), Meaning can refer to what we want to convey, especially by language. Meaning can have a personal status or a personal status. One can study what certain actions, rituals or symbols mean to people of a different culture and come to some understanding of their meanings. Meaning in the classroom. Teachers work to cultivate the construction of meaning. Although they do not control the meanings of their youngsters discover, accept, or create, they may strongly influence those meanings. Four foundational perspectives i.  The social production of meaning Learning does not take place in isolation. Learning is a social activity. It is always interpretive, tentative and subject to revision. ii. Learning and everyday life Meanings grounded in life experiences have an immediacy and richness. School meanings can also be related to experiences of neighborhood patterns. // Learning and Everyday Life // - provide opportunities for students to make the connection between concepts and real-world examples. A student’s need to learn a concept should not be “//__because it is on the test__”.//Starratt claims, //“Much of the work on authentic assessment of student learning promotes a form of student learning that is developed and expressed in concrete applications of learning specific situations connected with the students’ experience of life in the community (Newman & Associates, 1996; Wiggins, 1998; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Meanings grounded in life experiences have an immediacy and richness.”// (Starratt, 2003)

iii. Meanings within the cultural projects of civil society Relation of school meaning to the large cultural projects of our current historical era and the cultural projects of our past history. Youngsters need to feel connected to a significant discourse about the making of history. Starratt believes that children need to be prepared to participate in making decisions that affect history. iv. Learning and human concerns Stance that continually relates meaning, knowledge, and learning to a sense of something intrinsically human. Summary With the four foundational perspectives on the cultivation of meaning, we may begin to discern the architecture of our educational vision. The work is shaped by an understanding that learning needs to be connected with the realities of everyday life. The cultivation of meaning also implies that learning must be intentionally rooted in human concerns. These four perspectives on learning enable teachers to enrich student learnings while connecting to curriculum frameworks. The **first** and **fourth** perspectives are similar; social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition.

b. developing a **collective vision** (chapter 3, pp. 54-55, pp. 63-64), Developing a collective vision involves sharing ideas, clarifying and understanding the various points of view reflected in the community as well as the beliefs and assumptions underneath those points of view, negotiating differences and building a consensus. Developing a collective vision also involves the content of that vision. Administrators should be willing to lay out their own attempt at articulating the content of the vision. We must begin to build a vision around one focus: the students, not the teacher, as the primary workers in the learning process.

Community implies //solidarity//, a togetherness around common interests, //trust// that members will hold to their agreements, and //autonomy// on the part of the members responsibly acting in the social world. The guiding principles of community – solidarity, trust, autonomy-can provide the scaffolding for cultivating community at school. The curriculum of community is a sequence of multiple learning activities spread out over the whole K-12 curriculum. The building and sustaining of community will have to deal with the messy side of community as well as the uplifting side. Students will need to learn how to disagree, resolve misunderstandings, settle disputes non-violently and repair broken relationships. The academic agenda of the school requires being responsible to and for what one learns. “I propose that an essential work of administration is to construct a preliminary vision for the school and engage the rest of the school community in the process of developing a collective vision for the rest of the school.” (p. 54). “I suggest that we build this vision around one focus: the students, not the teacher, as the primary workers in the learning process. This focus, to be sure, is embedded in our changing understandings of the natural, human, and social world as it is being developed in the natural and social sciences and the humanities (embedded, one would hope, in state and district curriculum standards),” (p. 64) d. **cultivating responsibility** (chapter 7)
 * c. cultivating community** (chapter 5, pp.94-97): The sub-heading for these pages is: **Community As Curriculum.** “Community implies //solidarity//, a togetherness around common interests, //trust// that members will hold to their agreements, and //autonomy// on the part of the members responsibly acting in the social world (Delanty, 2000). (p. 94). “Much of the curriculum of community grows out of the community issues students bring to school, such as conflicts over cultural expressions of pride, identity, attitudes toward authority; perceived inequities of the way different groups are treated; learning styles; relationships with teachers; perceived humiliations in classroom and corridors; explicit bullying, intimidation, disrespect, stereotyping, insults name-calling; student property and theft; parental involvement; and student privacy and record keeping. (p. 95).

>> 6. What Are the Implications for Educational Leadership? “If educators were to dwell inside this understanding of learn <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">     e.              conducting **conversations with constituencies** to frame school renewal around meaning, community, and responsibility (chapter 9, summarized in figure 9.5 on p. 176) f. integrating **various forms of empowerment** to build community (chapter 10) Communities cannot reach their potential unless they are made up of members with a strong sense of individuality. This chapter explores this theme. // Premise: // good communities are made up of good individuals
 * 1) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Learners learn inside a culture that was already constructed by that learner. The individual is not isolated but is part of the natural world and must be aware of multiple simultaneous relationships.
 * 2) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Knowledge is sacred and as learners we must be responsible to and for the ‘known’.
 * 3) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Professionals must master the knowledge and best practices.
 * 4) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">A better teacher is like a scholar; the teacher is enthusiastic and motivates all students to //mess with this stuff.//   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> ling and the Construction of Knowledge
 * // “Empowerment must be felt and exercised by the whole staff. When individual teachers who feel empowered work together with other empowered teachers to respond to school wide needs, empowerment is raised to a new strength. An empowered staff comes to believe that it has within its ranks enough talent and insight to respond to most school problems and create from their own talent an outstanding school. By discussing ideas, sharing experiments, and pooling resources, an empowered staff can generate extraordinary energy and enthusiasm. That should be the ultimate goal of any policy of empowerment.”( // Starratt, 2003, p. 190v).

<span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  strong communities of strong individuals, <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  innovative communities of innovative individuals, <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  caring communities of caring individuals, and <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  self-governing communities of self-governing individuals. (185) forms of empowerment can and should be integrated. Professional empowerment should be linked to bureaucratic empowerment so that the shared activity or shared decision making would not simply be a kind of contrived collegiality or merely a human relations experiences to help people feel good about themselves. <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  Bureaucratic, (empowerment is concerned with shared decision making and teamwork) <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  Professional, (empowerment means growth in professional performance, competence, and efficacy) <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  Moral, (empowerment is revealed in a growth in autonomy, in ownership of one’s choices.) and <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  Existential (empowerment is concerned with the power to be this unique person with these talents, this heritage, and there awesome possibilities  Three sources of power: <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·   The power to be oneself, <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·   the power to connected activity, and <span style="COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·   the power contained in ideas, dreams, and visions
 * Various forms of empowerment **

g. practicing **organic management** to build a culture of commitment (chapter 11) One builds a culture of commitment by a process of organic management. By organic management, the administrator continually tries to focus on the core or central work of the school and brings others’ attention to that central work. An important part of organic management is the principle of subsidiarity. This means that operational decisions about the work are not made at the superintendent’s level or even at the principal’s level. They are made where teaching and learning take place. Four requirements for subsidiarity include: (1)  Trust (2)  Knowledge of the Task Administrators need to work with teachers to encourage them to identify their major tasks. (3)  Capability to Accomplish the Task Administrators and teachers need to discuss what they need in order to do the work more effectively. (4)  A Sense of the Whole If teachers and students are to have the authority to make discretionary decisions about their learning, they have to make those decisions with the realization that they have responsibilities – not simply to do this specific tasks, but to the working of the larger community and its variety of tasks. A sense of the whole applies to the use of the resources, including the resources of time and space for learning.