The Active/Ethical Professional: A Framework for Responsible Educators

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The Active/Ethical Professional proposes an ethical framework for educators and school leaders who find their practice constrained by the demands of policies and structures created in response to accountability legislation. The framework is derived from Michel Foucault's theories of discipline, surveillance, resistance, and care of the self.

Gunzenhauser asserts that an educator's dual position of being normalized (especially in relations with those above them in the education hierarchy) and normalizing (especially in relations with their students) can be troubling and difficult. The book argues that this position requires educators to be both "ethical" and "active." To be ethical, educators not only need to resolve ethical dilemmas in defensible ways, but they also need to recognize themselves as powerful in relation to others. To be active, educators need to be vigilant for moments when they are placed in the position to be "reactive" to normalizing pressures, and they also need to develop clear notions of how they may create opportunities for the cultivation of educational selves - selves that are rich ethically, aesthetically, epistemologically, and politically.

Reviews

"Readers will find The Active/Ethical Professional comes at a startling point in the history of US public education: just as the curtain is pulled back from the Oz-like mandates of NCLB to reveal shameful, unprecedented [yet largely predictable] cheating scandals on high-stakes, standardized exams in major US school systems. Using real-world examples of school leaders' practice, Gunzenhauser argues compellingly that a crushing obligation to accountability dramatically undermines one's philosophy of education. His solution to this ethical dilemma is to offer a new, active vision for educational professionals determined to resist a "default" philosophy of education centered on high-stakes accountability, and renew their focus on responsibility for children. This important text is certain to become indispensable to those who strive to prepare thoughtful, reflective, ethical school leaders in this surveillance-focused, Foucauldian, historic moment." -- Stacy Otto, Associate Professor of Educational Administration and Foundations, Illinois State University, USA
"This is the book that will make Foucauldian critique accessible for educators, specifically applicable to current data-obsessed policy environments and the pervasive discourse on accountability. It does not refuse teacher accountability for student achievement but embraces a more authentic and robust responsibility for student, school and community success and well-being. Michael Gunzenhauser provides us with an ethically constituted vision of educator professionalism, a project that he has patiently crafted from years of teaching and mentoring education scholars and school leaders. It is a vision that is useful for working on positive change within systems of public education, using professional knowledge and elegant theoretical tools." -- Andrea M. Hyde, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational & Interdisciplinary Studies, Western Illinois University, USA

Author Bio

Michael C. Gunzenhauser is associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a philosopher of education and qualitative research methodologist, and studies epistemology and ethics as they relate to social justice projects in education and educational research.