Improving Teacher Education Students’ Ethical Thinking Using the Community of Inquiry Approach

Abstract

Introduction:  This paper describes an Australian university teaching development project aimed at improving the quality of student thinking about and for values and ethics in the profession of teaching. The project involves the design, development, implementation, evaluation, and refinement of the teaching methods and materials of a compulsory undergraduate subject for teacher education students at Griffith University. The subject, called Values in Education, uses philosophical inquiry as its core teaching method and draws upon theories and ideas from the study of applied ethics for its content.