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School Ethics with Student Teachers in South Africa: An Innovative Educational Intervention

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The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education

Abstract

Each year I teach Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students a short course on school ethics. A core part of the course is to analyse a case study—a moral dilemma that the students themselves have drawn from their own experiences during teaching practice in one of the university’s local partnership schools. In 2014 it involved a disclosure of violence in the classroom. The dilemma was leaked to the school, and as a direct consequence, the school decided not to take in future student teachers from the university where I work. I use the case study constructively to explore democratic governance involving ethical issues.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term “coloured” is not derogatory in South Africa, but the official term to describe a certain ethnic group, mainly of Malay descent.

  2. 2.

    That involves some kind of free choice and independent judgment.

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Acknowledgements

The opinions and ideas expressed herein are my own and I take sole responsibility for any error; any endorsement by my university employer is neither intended, nor should be presumed. I would like to thank integrity consultant Jos Delnoij from Leiden Dialogue Centre, Netherlands, for her critical comments on an earlier draft of this chapter. I thank the student who volunteered the dilemma that featured in this chapter for his permission to use it and Helen E. Lees for drawing the symbols in the table of steps.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Karin Murris

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  1. Karin Murris
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Correspondence to Karin Murris .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newman University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Helen E. Lees

  2. Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Nel Noddings

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Murris, K. (2016). School Ethics with Student Teachers in South Africa: An Innovative Educational Intervention. In: Lees, H., Noddings, N. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41291-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41291-1_13

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-41290-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-41291-1

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