Abstract
Ethics and morality, fundamental concepts in human society, are expected to be upheld by individuals and effectively taught by teachers to new generations. This study delves into the perceptions of preservice teachers regarding ethics and good within the framework of an ethics and morality course in education. It also explores the ethical and unethical behaviors these teachers most commonly encounter in their school experiences. Utilizing a qualitative case study methodology, the research provides an in-depth analysis of ethics, the concept of good, ethical and unethical behaviors within the Turkish context. Through thematic analysis of data collected over various weeks, the findings reveal that participants perceive ethics as actions, individuals, and ideas that embody values such as justice, respect, and honesty. Their decision-making is influenced by diverse ethical filters aligned with normative ethical theories. For instance, an act is deemed ethical if it does not limit freedom and harm others, conforms to societal norms, benefits others, adheres to laws and rules, instills a sense of righteousness, and stems from good intentions. Furthermore, the study identifies six key qualities defining the concept of good: evoking happiness, being beneficial, proper, pure, preferred, and encompassing both moral and ethical dimensions. The experiences of ethical and unethical acts among participants predominantly relate to themes of inequality versus justice, harshness versus love, ineffective versus effective teaching, inconsistency versus role model behaviors, undesired versus desired relationships with school stakeholders, and the breach versus balance between professional and private life. Overall, this research highlights significant aspects of how preservice teachers perceive the concepts of ethics and good along with unethical behaviors, offering valuable insights for teacher education.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Hothali, H.M. 2018. Ethics of the teaching profession among secondary school teachers from school leaders’ perspective in Riyadh. International Education Studies 11 (9): 47–63.
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners [ACFE]. 2018. Report to the Nations, 2018 Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf. Accessed 18 Jan 2023.
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners [ACFE]. 2020. Report to the Nations, 2020 Global study on occupational fraud and abuse. https://acfepublic.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/2020-Report-to-the-Nations.pdf. Accessed 18 Jan 2023.
Barak, M., and G. Green. 2021. Applying a social constructivist approach to an online course on ethics of research. Science and Engineering Ethics 27 (1): 1–24.
Bazzul, J. 2018. Ethics, subjectivity, and sociomaterial assemblages: two important directions and methodological tensions. Studies in Philosophy and Education 37: 467–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-018-9605-8
Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.
Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/. Accessed 18 Jan 2023.
Clarke, V., and V. Braun. 2017. Thematic analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology 12 (3): 297–298.
Ehrich, L.C., M. Kimber, J. Millwater, and N. Cranston. 2011. Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 17 (2): 173–185.
Fischman, W., J.A. DiBara, and H. Gardner. 2006. Creating good education against the odds. Cambridge Journal of Education 36 (3): 383–398.
Frischhut, M. 2019. Normative theories of practical philosophy. In The ethical spirit of EU law, 21–30. Cham: Springer.
Geach, P.T. 1956. Good and evil. Analysis 17 (2): 33–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/3326442.
Göçen, A. 2021. Ethical leadership in educational organizations: A cross-cultural study. Turkish Journal of Education 10 (1): 37–57.
Good Work Project. (n.d.). https://www.thegoodproject.org/.
He, D., C.I. Workman, X. He, and A. Chatterjee. 2022. What is good is beautiful (and what isn’t, isn’t): how moral character affects perceived facial attractiveness. Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000454.
Hofstede Insights (n.d.). https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison. Accessed 12 March 2023.
Hursthouse, R. 1999. On virtue ethics. OUP Oxford. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/on-virtue-ethics-9780199247998?cc=tr&lang=en& .
Karataş, S., M. Caner, R.B. Kahyaoğlu, and S. Kâhya. 2019. Perceptions of preservice teachers on ethical teacher and professional ethics course. Journal of Qualitative Research in Education 7 (1): 29–49.
Katz, J.J. 1964. Semantic theory and the meaning of ‘good.’ The Journal of Philosophy 61 (23): 739–766.
Kohlberg, L. 1969. Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In Handbook of socialization theory and research, ed. D.A. Goslin. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Lee, A.C.M., D.I. Walker, Y.H. Chen, and S.J. Thoma. 2022. Moral thinking and communication competencies of college students and graduates in Taiwan, the UK, and the US:A mixed-methods study. Ethics and Behavior 1–17: 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2022.2155823.
Little, A.C., D.M. Burt, and D.I. Perrett. 2006. What is good is beautiful: Face preference reflects desired personality. Personality and Individual Differences 41 (6): 1107–1118.
Mackenzie, J.S. 1911. The meaning of good and evil. International Journal of Ethics 21 (3): 251–268 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2376991).
Malone, D.M. 2020. Ethics education in teacher preparation: A case for stakeholder responsibility. Ethics and Education 15 (1): 77–97.
Maxwell, B., and M. Schwimmer. 2016. Professional ethics education for future teachers: A narrative review of the scholarly writings. Journal of Moral Education 45 (3): 354–371.
Maxwell, B., A.A. Tremblay-Laprise, M. Filion, H. Boon, C. Daly, M. van den Hoven, and S. Walters. 2016. A five-country survey on ethics education in preservice teaching programs. Journal of Teacher Education 67 (2): 135–151.
Mill, J.S. 1859. Essay on liberty. Longman, Roberts & Green Co. https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=uWAJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=tr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Mill, J. S. (1863). Utilitarianism, Ontorio: Batoche Books. https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/mill/utilitarianism.pdf
Minkov, M., and G. Hofstede. 2011. The evolution of Hofstede’s doctrine. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal 18 (1): 10–20.
Moore, G.E., and T. Baldwin. 1993. Principia ethica. Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=ZLpcgAQvr_gC&printsec=frontcover&hl=tr&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Mucinskas, D., and H. Gardner. 2013. Educating for good work: from research to practice. British Journal of Educational Studies 61 (4): 453–470.
Mulgan, T. 2014 [2007]. Understanding utilitarianism. Routledge [Acumen Publishing]. https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-Utilitarianism/Mulgan/p/book/9781844650903. https://books.google.com.tr/books?hl=tr&lr=&id=kbLCBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Mulgan,+T.+2014.+Understanding+utilitarianism.+Routledge.&ots=cYdUI4b8hI&sig=JWMy-96x0ATgrV-1hLZE0YStbws&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Mulgan%2C%20T.%202014.%20Understanding%20utilitarianism.%20Routledge.&f=false.
Osguthorpe, R.D. 2021. Historical perspective on the moral character of teachers. In The international handbook of teacher ethos, 9–24. Cham: Springer
Parrott, J. 2017. Al-Ghazali and the golden rule: Ethics of reciprocity in the works of a Muslim sage. Journal of Religious & Theological Information 16 (2): 68–78.
Rosenthal, S. B. 2019. Situation ethics. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/situation-ethics. Accessed 17 Jan 2023.
Şahin, F., and İ. Yüksel. 2021. Meaning and uniqueness of ethics and ethical teacher behaviors in the teaching profession. i e : Inquiry in Education 13(2):2. https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/vol13/iss2/2/. Accessed 15 Jan 2023.
Sandel, M. J. 2010. Justice: What’s the right thing to do? Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Sandel, M. (n.d.) Justice. https://scholar.harvard.edu/sandel/justice. Accessed 5 Jan 2023.
Schauber, N.E. 2014. How bad can good people be? Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 17 (4): 731–745.
Schlick, M. 1939. Problems of ethics. Prentice-Hall. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1939-04787-000
Seider, S., K. Davis, and H. Gardner. 2009. Morality, ethics and good work: Young people's respectful and ethical minds. In Morality, ethics, and gifted minds, 209–222. Boston, MA: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89368-6_16.
Shapira–Lishchinsky, O. 2019. The implicit meaning of TIMSS: Exploring ethics in teachers’ practice. Teaching and Teacher Education 79: 188–197.
STATISTA. 2021. Duration of full-time education and training in selected European countries in 2018/19. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085710/length-of-education-in-europe/. Accessed 28 Feb 2023.
Stevenson, C.L. 1937. The emotive meaning of ethical terms. Mind 46 (181): 14–31.
Velasquez, M., C. Andre, T. Shanks, and M.J. Meyer. 1987. What is ethics? Journal of Issues in Ethics 1 (1): 623–635.
Warnick, B.R., and S.K. Silverman. 2011. A framework for professional ethics courses in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education 62 (3): 273–285.
White, T.A., and M. Mua. 2022. The mandatory ethics and governance courses in Fiji’s universities: Institutional ecologies, teaching philosophies and the (ethical) future of tertiary education in the Pacific. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 44 (2): 138–150.
Williams, D.C. 1937. The meaning of good. The Philosophical Review 46 (4): 416–423. https://doi.org/10.2307/2181104.
Wood, A. 2003. The good will. Philosophical Topics 31 (1/2): 457–484.
Wulf, C. 2006. Praxis. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3734792.
YÖK [Higher Education Council]. 2018. Yeni öğretmen yetiştirme lisans programları [New teacher training undergraduate programs]. https://www.yok.gov.tr/Documents/Kurumsal/egitim_ogretim_dairesi/Yeni-Ogretmen-Yetistirme-Lisans-Programlari/SSS.pdf. Accessed 10 Mar 2023.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
This study was approved by the Social and Human Sciences Ethics Committee of Harran University.
Conflict of interest
I declare there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Göçen, A. Exploration of ethics, good, and unethical acts. International Journal of Ethics Education 9, 119–137 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-023-00180-y
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-023-00180-y