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EXPLORING THE MORAL HEART OF TEACHING: TOWARD A TEACHER'S CREED by David Hansen. New York: Teachers College Press, 2001. 240 pp. $46.00, $21.95 (paper).
In his preface to Exploring the Moral Heart of Teaching: Toward a Teacher's Creed, David Hansen states his central premise in compelling terms:
Good teaching involves enriching, not impoverishing, students' understandings of self, others, and the world. It means expanding, not contracting, students' knowledge, insights, and interests. It means deepening, not rendering more shallow, students' ways of thinking and feeling. And it entails paying intellectual and moral attention as a teacher. (p. ix)
In the eight chapters that follow, this educational philosopher explores and illustrates his conception of teaching as "a moral and intellectual practice with a rich tradition." The text is loosely divided into three sections. The first focuses on the person in the role of the teacher, the qualities that teachers should cultivate in the growing student, and their interaction with students in the learning environment. The second offers a concrete example of Rousseau's concept of teaching indirectly. The third addresses the place of both tradition and ideals in teaching. This carefully reasoned and clearly written text raises fundamental questions about who should teach, how, and why. Hansen's insights should resonate not only with scholars of Rousseau and Dewey, but also with aspiring teachers seeking a theoretical framework and moral foundation for their art and craft.
Before introducing his own conception of teaching, Hansen reviews current activity-based and outcome-centered conceptions of teaching. The activity-based conception, he argues, focuses on the means of teaching, viewing teaching in one of three ways: as a "job whose tasks are clear cut and obvious" (p. 2); as an occupation with "an established and valued set of activities carried out by a group of people trained and perhaps licensed to perform it" (p. 3); or as a profession in which teachers presumably have "greater autonomy and voice in setting the terms of the work" (p. 3). In contrast, the outcome-centered conceptions focus on ends, such as "academic learning, socialization and acculturation, readiness for work, political agency and understanding, cultural identity and awareness, [or] religious faith and practice" (p. 4).
However, Hansen claims that neither conception is sufficient:
Activity-based conceptions can presume too rigid a...