Abstract:

Our time of rapid, technologically-driven change, high-stake testing, and consumerist culture led to the reductionist role of pedagogy and teaching profession. Struggling from the pressure from school authorities to deliver test results, teachers often have to ignore the values of pedagogy, teaching their students to the test. The paper argues that the focus of teaching by delivering a subject matter is too limited, it should include other scopes too.

The paper centers on the premise that education is conceived in relation to visions of human happiness and flourishing: we educate students to make their lives better. We believe that happiness, as the highest human value, is the emotional activity of a person, in accordance with virtues. Based on the idea that any professional activity is grounded in the ethical norms and principles that direct its organization and outcomes, this qualitative research aims to find out the most significant ethical values which would promote student happiness through education. The study also seeks to identify the conditions, directions, and strategies that would help teachers in the process of formation of their students’ happiness.

We collected data from a variety of sources to construct the analytical framework for this study. The study is based on pedagogical analysis of teacher practices, the generalizations of the authors’ practical experiences as a secondary school teachers and teacher educators. The paper also employs the findings from the cross-cultural empirical study on the values of learning and teaching which promote students’ happiness and flourishing. We used narrative analysis that promotes the formation and preserving of social-cognition processes. The researchers examined narratives of American (N=21) and Ukrainian (N=27) in-service teachers who were graduate students in their universities. The participants were reflecting in their university classes on the ethical values of teaching which promote students’ happiness in learning. Based on the analysis of the obtained data, the authors identified main conditions for students to feel happy. The study showed that students will feel happy if they gain interest mastering new knowledge and skills; achieve learning success; feel self-confidence in a supportive learning environment. To create such an environment, each student has to be a value for the teacher. The teacher must organize his/her teaching in accordance with the constructivist, phenomenological or activity approaches. Adhering to moral values, the teacher will treat all students without prejudice, believe in the ability of everyone, and respect the dignity of all. In accordance with the pedagogical ethics, the teacher does not put pressure on students and does not force them to learn, but rather involves them in the process of thinking, searching for new knowledge, and constructing own judgments. It is ethical values ​​that do not allow teachers to impose their opinions on students, to make them think like their teachers. We believe that pedagogical ethics not only regulates teachers' behavior and their positive relationships with students, but also directs them to create conditions for each person's happiness. The study also allowed to identify the directions and strategies of formation of teachers' ethical values which would promote students' happiness.

Keywords:

Pedagogical ethics, teacher education, virtues, human flourishing.