Subtopic Deep Dive

Ethics of Teaching
Research Guide

What is Ethics of Teaching?

Ethics of Teaching examines the moral responsibilities of educators in classroom practice, curriculum design, and student character formation, grounded in virtue ethics and Aristotelian traditions like phronesis.

This subtopic analyzes ethical decision-making and role modeling by teachers. Key works apply MacIntyre’s practice concept and phronesis to education (Sinnicks 2017, 36 citations; Kristjánsson 2021, 23 citations). Over 10 papers from 2004-2021 explore these themes, with Nixon (2004) leading at 66 citations.

Curated Papers

Key Challenges

Why It Matters

Educators use these frameworks to resolve dilemmas in diverse classrooms, such as balancing accountability with moral goods (Nixon 2004). Nixon argues universities must reclaim language reflecting moral ends in research and teaching. MacAllister (2016) counters efficiency-driven policies by orienting education toward the good. Kristjánsson (2021) provides 22 testable hypotheses on phronesis to guide empirical studies in teacher training.

Key Research Challenges

Scope of Practice Concept

MacIntyre’s practice concept faces scope problems in applying to business and education ethics. Sinnicks (2017) addresses critiques by showing its applicability to moral education at work. This limits transfer to teaching contexts without adaptation.

Phronesis Testability

Phronesis fascinates but frustrates due to vague educational discourses. Kristjánsson (2021) outlines 22 testable hypotheses to launch a research program. Empirical validation remains underdeveloped.

Evidence-Based Dominance

Evidence-based policymaking harms coherent educational practice. Malone and Hogan (2019) argue it distorts evidence notions and undermines moral coherence. Balancing metrics with ethical goals challenges educators.

Essential Papers

Education for the Good Society: the integrity of academic practice

Jon Nixon · 2004 · London Review of Education · 66 citations

This paper argues that universities need to reclaim a public and inclusive language for education that reflects the moral ends and purposes of academic practice. It claims that there are certain mo...

Moral Education at Work: On the Scope of MacIntyre’s Concept of a Practice

Matthew Sinnicks · 2017 · Journal of Business Ethics · 36 citations

This paper seeks to show how MacIntyre’s concept of a practice can survive a series of ‘scope problems’ which threaten to render the concept inapplicable to business ethics. I begin by outlining Ma...

What should Educational Institutions be for?

James MacAllister · 2016 · British Journal of Educational Studies · 26 citations

In this article, I respond to the work of Gert Biesta regarding the question of what education should be for. He maintains education ought to be oriented towards the ‘good’ rather than measurement,...

Twenty‐two testable hypotheses about phronesis: Outlining an educational research programme

Kristján Kristjánsson · 2021 · British Educational Research Journal · 23 citations

The concept of phronesis enters educational discourse at various levels of engagement, and it continues to fascinate and frustrate educational theorists in equal measure. This article begins by cha...

Evidence and its consequences in educational research

Anthony Malone, Pádraig Hogan · 2019 · British Educational Research Journal · 18 citations

We begin by arguing that the continuing dominance of ‘evidence‐based’ thinking in educational policymaking does serious harm to the notion of evidence itself; also that it brings a loss of coherenc...

Furthering the “Theory Debate” in the Scholarship of Teaching: A Proposal Based on MacIntyre’s Account of Practices

Carolin Kreber · 2015 · Canadian Journal of Higher Education · 15 citations

Initiatives intended to support and advance the scholarship of teaching have become common in Canada as well as internationally. Nonetheless, the notion of a scholarship of teaching remains contest...

Neoliberalism, emotional experience in education and Adam Smith: reading<i>The theory of moral sentiments</i>alongside<i>The wealth of nations</i>

Christopher Hanley · 2015 · Journal of Educational Administration & History · 4 citations

This paper examines some critical accounts of emotional life shaped by neoliberalism. A range of literature concerned with neoliberalism and emotional experience in educational contexts is reviewed...

Reading Guide

Foundational Papers

Start with Nixon (2004) for moral goods in academic practice (66 citations), then Kvernbekk (2008) on MacIntyre’s argumentation practice. These establish integrity and teleological bases.

Recent Advances

Kristjánsson (2021) for phronesis hypotheses; Sinnicks (2017) extending practices to moral education; MacAllister (2016) on education’s good-oriented purpose.

Core Methods

MacIntyre’s practice theory (Sinnicks 2017; Kreber 2015); phronesis testing (Kristjánsson 2021); critiques of evidence dominance (Malone & Hogan 2019).

How PapersFlow Helps You Research Ethics of Teaching

Discover & Search

PapersFlow's Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph to map MacIntyre-influenced works from Sinnicks (2017), revealing 36 downstream citations on practice in teaching ethics. exaSearch uncovers phronesis applications beyond listed papers, while findSimilarPapers links Nixon (2004) to integrity-focused ethics.

Analyze & Verify

Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to extract phronesis hypotheses from Kristjánsson (2021), then verifyResponse with CoVe checks claims against abstracts. runPythonAnalysis with GRADE grading scores evidence strength in Nixon (2004) versus neoliberal critiques (Hanley 2015); statistical verification quantifies citation overlaps in virtue ethics.

Synthesize & Write

Synthesis Agent detects gaps in phronesis empirics post-Kristjánsson (2021), flagging contradictions between MacIntyre practices (Sinnicks 2017) and evidence-based harms (Malone & Hogan 2019). Writing Agent uses latexEditText, latexSyncCitations for Nixon et al., and latexCompile to produce ethics frameworks; exportMermaid diagrams Aristotelian decision trees.

Use Cases

"Find empirical tests of phronesis in teacher ethics."

Research Agent → searchPapers('phronesis teaching ethics') → citationGraph(Kristjánsson 2021) → Analysis Agent → runPythonAnalysis(citation trends) → CSV export of 23+ related studies.

"Draft LaTeX review on MacIntyre practices in education."

Synthesis Agent → gap detection(Sinnicks 2017, Kreber 2015) → Writing Agent → latexEditText(structure review) → latexSyncCitations → latexCompile → PDF of 10-paper synthesis.

"Discover code for analyzing ethical decision models in education."

Research Agent → exaSearch('phronesis simulation models') → Code Discovery → paperExtractUrls → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → Python sandbox verification.

Automated Workflows

Deep Research workflow conducts systematic review of 50+ MacIntyre-related papers, chaining searchPapers → citationGraph → structured report on teaching practices. DeepScan applies 7-step analysis with CoVe checkpoints to verify phronesis hypotheses from Kristjánsson (2021) against Nixon (2004). Theorizer generates ethical decision theory from Sinnicks (2017) and MacAllister (2016) abstracts.

Try Doxa for Ethics of Teaching Research

Frequently Asked Questions

What defines Ethics of Teaching?

Ethics of Teaching covers moral duties of educators in practice and curriculum, drawing on virtue ethics and phronesis (Kristjánsson 2021). It addresses role modeling and character cultivation.

What methods dominate?

Analyses use MacIntyre’s practice concept (Sinnicks 2017; Kreber 2015) and Aristotelian phronesis frameworks. Empirical approaches test 22 phronesis hypotheses (Kristjánsson 2021).

What are key papers?

Nixon (2004, 66 citations) on academic integrity; Sinnicks (2017, 36 citations) on practices; Kristjánsson (2021, 23 citations) on phronesis hypotheses.

What open problems exist?

Testability of phronesis lacks empirics (Kristjánsson 2021). Evidence-based policies conflict with moral coherence (Malone & Hogan 2019). Adapting practices to neoliberal pressures remains unresolved (Hanley 2015).