Description
This empirical study examined school leaders’ perspectives about the expression “the best interests of the student” as a viable professional ethic for education. Additional features of professional moral reasoning were examined as well; including educators’ perceptions about the morally unique aspects of their work, sense making about their own experiences and judgments where a plurality of values embody competing moral standpoints, and the meanings ascribed to professional moral practice. Findings indicate what participants clearly articulated unique moral aspects of the profession. The expression, “the best interests of the student” was employed as a professional injunction in order to recognize, respond to and address students’ needs. Sometimes the phrase was used as a formal maxim, while more often the expression was “weighed” with a variety of other rules of actual duty, assortments of additional considerations and motivations, and situational and contextual variables in order to determine what value or set of values take(s) precedence while seeking to meet both individual and collective student interests. William C. Frick is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Rainbolt College of Education, at the University of Oklahoma. He holds a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University in Educational Theory and Policy. His research interests include valuation, ethics and moral leadership practices.
