On the reasons we want teachers of good disposition and moral character.

Osguthorpe, R.D. (2008). On the reasons we want teachers of good disposition and moral character. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4), 288-299.

Some good questions are asked about dispositions in teacher education: what we mean by dispositions, why teacher dispositions are important, how "good" a teacher needs to be, and what happens when a teacher's dispositions are "poor." The question of how to assess dispositions is only touched on, not explored fully here. Still, there's lots to think about here.

The article describes a couple of tensions in conversations about teacher dispositions. One tension centers around whether one believes in a relationship between teacher dispositions and student dispositions. If a teacher is seen as the model, then the reason for having a "moral" teacher is that this teaches moral behavior to students, and the teacher must be a near perfect model. If one does not accept this relationship, but rather believes teachers should teach in moral ways (as opposed to teaching morality per se), then that sets up more realistic expectations. Another tension centers around whether the purpose of disposition related policies in teacher education programs is to foster good dispositions in teachers or merely to prevent those with "poor" dispositions from entering teaching ("the disposition police").

As a teacher educator myself, though I believe we can be moral models in the classroom (I prefer to think of it as displaying "integrity"), that isn't the main reason I want to see certain dispositions in teachers. Although the idea of teaching morally is closer to my own views, even that doesn't cover it all. For me there are two other aspects that weren't really explored here. First, I am very concerned that teachers "do no harm" to students, and I do not just mean that in terms of being poor role models--I mean actual harm, psychological and maybe even physical. Unfortunately, examples come all too easily to mind. The author touches on this, but I felt the focus wasn't pragmatic enough. Second, I believe dispositions relate to the ability to flourish as a teacher, and to be the kind of person whose attitudes and behaviors further teaching and learning rather than distracting one's students, colleagues, and other stakeholders from doing the important job we have to do. People who are antisocial, or negative, or lazy, or self-absorbed, distract. Some kinds of people may mean well (e.g., an extreme introvert or extremely sedentary person), but they usually don't flourish and their students cannot maximize learning. Their colleagues end up carrying some of their load. That aspect was not really discussed here. Obviously, there still is much to ponder on this topic.