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Quality and Change in Teacher Education pp 277–291Cite as

Quality Teaching as Moral Practice: Cultivating Practical Wisdom

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Part of the book series: Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higher Education ((PROD,volume 13))

Abstract

To engage in quality teaching, requires more than just technical skills; it requires the moral capacities to achieve worthwhile aims. We posit teachers need “practical wisdom,” which cultivates teachers’ capacities to conduct themselves purposefully in the moment-to-moment episodes of human interaction by discerning the most useful questions to ask and to employ the most effective techniques to achieve intended aims. Teacher education, then, must nurture the teacher’s ability to discern both what to do and what is worth doing. This is a developmental moral practice, developed over time and situated in the contexts and dilemmas teachers find themselves in.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We would note here the distinction between problems and dilemmas, the latter of which always requires a decision between competing alternative actions, and a discernment of which is the best choice.

  2. 2.

    All proper names used are pseudonyms.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Education Policy Studies, College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Deborah L. Schussler

  2. Teacher Education Department, School of Education, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Peter C. Murrell Jr.

Authors
  1. Deborah L. Schussler
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  2. Peter C. Murrell Jr.
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Correspondence to Deborah L. Schussler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    John Chi-Kin Lee

  2. School of Education, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Christopher Day

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Schussler, D.L., Murrell, P.C. (2016). Quality Teaching as Moral Practice: Cultivating Practical Wisdom . In: Chi-Kin Lee, J., Day, C. (eds) Quality and Change in Teacher Education. Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higher Education, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24139-5_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24139-5_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24137-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24139-5

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