Making the implicit explicit: Values and morals in Queensland teacher education

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the role of the teacher has expanded to include overseeing and intervening in the moral development of students. In Australia, this expectation of teachers was generated largely by the national coalition government, and has been continued by the Labor government. As a result, it is essential that pre-service teacher education courses skill pre-service teachers in appropriate ways to educate students about values and morals. Additionally, education degrees must provide opportunities for preservice teachers to analyse and reflect on their own values and morals. Professional Standards for Queensland Teachers (Queensland College of Teachers, 2006) takes the view that teachers must be reflective practitioners who are aware of their own morals and values. This paper argues that while Australian teacher educators integrate values into the units they teach and demonstrate values through what they teach and how they teach it, they often fail to address values and morals explicitly. Some ways in which teacher education degrees could be reshaped to provide an explicit focus on values and morals are discussed.