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LYING IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION: using mixed methods to challenge teachers’ honesty and choices to critical incidents

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Abstract

Existing literature indicates that the moral complexities of teachers’ daily routine have not been searched enough. Robust knowledge on the way teachers apply ethics in their classrooms and schools is also limited. The purpose of this paper is to challenge teachers’ honesty and ethical judgment, as it explores teachers’ lying as a response to critical incidents in schools. Mixed methodology has been used to analyze data from 524 Primary and Secondary teachers. The results indicate that only half of the participants choose to use little conventional lies [“white” lies] in critical situations. They choose to do so for “good reasons”, to protect their students or to cover for colleagues. The study contributes to existing research on ethical knowledge and sensitivity and the moral dimensions of teaching and stresses the practical need for continuous training on ethical sensitivity and the attainment of ethical knowledge when coping with critical incidents and arising dilemmas.

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Notes

  1. Out of the 524 participants, 246 of them responded to the open-ended question. Therefore, percentages presented in above table refer to the 46.8% of responses. The absolute percentages are found in parentheses.

  2. For example: the possibility of a teacher lying to his/her students increases along with the increase of the degree to which the teacher thinks this is right for keeping the school balance (.670) or because s/he does not think this is wrong if students may benefit from this little lie (2.2.76); similarly, the possibility decreases when the teacher claims s/he never lies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pre-School Education, School of Education, University of Crete, Gallos University Campus, Building C2, Office C2.103, 74100, Rethymnon, Greece

    Eleftheria Argyropoulou

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  1. Eleftheria Argyropoulou
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Correspondence to Eleftheria Argyropoulou.

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Argyropoulou, E. LYING IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION: using mixed methods to challenge teachers’ honesty and choices to critical incidents. International Journal of Ethics Education 5, 243–259 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-020-00099-8

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