Educational Leadership for Teaching and Learning Doctoral Program Ed.D.

Ethical and Moral Leadership Framework for the Doctoral Program

The Educational Leadership for Teaching and Learning doctoral program is distinctive in its ethical and moral leadership orientation. We have taken the concepts of ethical and moral leadership and clearly defined them in regards to education, teaching, and learning. We believe ethical leadership is the study of what constitutes the rationale for acting morally and is grounded in clear obligations, principles, and virtues. Moral leadership is actually leading in a moral way as well as leading an enterprise that is intrinsically moral in itself. The core work of the school is learning; both intellectual and moral learning. Leadership flows out of this deep understanding of learning and a deep commitment to cultivate and sustain the integrity of learning.

We believe there is a moral character to learning that is based on the ethics of authenticity. We believe we are all unique and we have a moral obligation to be who we are. We have moral choices to be true to oneself or not. If we chose to copy others and do what others want, we have surrendered ourselves and have missed the whole purpose of life. Authentic learning requires authenticity and includes a dialogue between students, teachers, and the curriculum. Teachers need to understand as much as they can about the students, where the students are in relationship to the curriculum, and what they need to continue to learn. Teachers need to have an authentic relationship with the curriculum and interact and question why and how to teach certain units. Teachers should only establish learning activities with the learner when there is authenticity among the learner, teacher, and curriculum. We believe learning generates life, community, and relationships and moral educational leaders need to be proactive in making this happen.

These themes and conceptions of ethical and moral leadership are woven into the entire program, not just the ethical and moral leadership class. For example the class Examining Diversity for Teaching and Learning, focuses on the need to understand diversity in terms of race, class, culture, gender, age, ability, and sexual orientation and the implications for teaching and learning. Without this understanding, teaching and learning could not be authentic. All educators need to know how to see oneself in the other and see the other in oneself. This occurs when we can actually know each other deeply. The Learning Theory class explores what we know about learning and learners and this clearly contributes to authentic learning and relationships which is in our view a moral activity. The Curriculum for Teaching and Learning course examines what we need to know about curriculum theory so as to assure students are being provided with powerful and purposeful authentic learning opportunities.

The Instructional Design and Assessment course investigates how we personalize instruction and assessment for all learners which is critical component of authentic learning. The Program Evaluation and Assessment course teaches how to understand evaluations related to educational reform as well as issues related to accountability and classroom assessment. Moral educational leaders are to be proactive and promote the good and this understanding supports their ability to be moral educational leaders. The Educational Transformation and Reform class is about being proactive for the success of all learners. The Educational Leadership Responsibilities in a Global World examines what it means for moral educational leaders to assume responsibilities to prepare students for success in a global world.

The Advanced Educational Law class prepares moral educational leaders to be concerned about issues related to equity, social justice, and equal educational opportunities in relation to the legal system. The Organizational Theory for Teaching and Learning class examines how school structures, policies, and procedures can best be designed to support authentic learning for all students. The Economics of Education class studies issues related to equity, liberty, the distribution of resources, and how this relates to the work of moral educational leaders. The Policy and Governance for Teaching and Learning class explores how policy formulation and implementation can impact the authentic learning opportunities for all students.

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