Moral literacy for teacher and school leadership education: a matter of attitude

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for conceptualizing three dispositional‐related stages that educators may experience in their professional careers and address the implications of these stages for integrating moral literacy perspectives into initial and advanced teacher and leader certification programs.

Design/methodology/approach

The dispositional conceptual framework is presented and discussed from the author's viewpoint. The contention is that there is at least some general consistency that teacher and leader program candidates, at various stages of their professional careers, may experience and reflect in the attitudes – a component of dispositions – that they bring to the university classroom learning environment.

Findings

Observations and insights about the consistency of dispositions within each of three program candidate groups are discussed. The dispositions emerged as: attitude formation; attitude adjustment; and attitude alignment. Within the context of course development and through that process of course delivery, the author describes how an understanding of candidates' attitudinal stages informed decisions about course content and instructional strategies to facilitate an ethos of values inquiry and reflection.

Originality/value

The framework may be useful to professors of education interested in integrating values inquiry and moral agency into their teaching.

Citation

Leonard, P. (2007), "Moral literacy for teacher and school leadership education: a matter of attitude", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 413-426. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230710762436