Rob T . M . Gertsen

This article discusses the personal stories of Dutch novice teachers, explicating their internal moral dialogues about their daily work in primary schools. Aside from their didactical work, novices must address sociocultural frictions in school, which seems too little or not developed in teachers' initial education. Using an interview protocol at the Dialogical Self Theory and ethics intersection, novice teachers are challenged to discuss moral involvement with their work. The study reports findings regarding the moral themes that novices discussed when asked about coping with the destabilising aspects and how novice teachers express their reflexivity in narrating the disbalances generated by unexpected experiences during their induction. Results show that novices can handle the contradictory fluctuations in the daily routines and problem-solving issues they were taught about in their initial education by alternating involvement and distanciation of practice. However, they show more discomfort about the interplexity of the cooperation with colleague professionals, forcing them to make tradeoffs between the different perspectives and possibilities that do not always fit their ideas of good work. The conclusion is that a change in perspective on induction from trained problem-solving towards reflexive problem-finding makes novices embrace the uncertainty and move it from dread to the gift for professional development. Conclusive remarks show that teacher education should educate students more consciously about the different results of problem-solving versus problem-finding strategies. Novices should gain more critical thinking skills that facilitate their reflexive practice.

Abstract Novice teachers working in primary school experience in their practice, impact the contemporary multicultural, knowledge-based society. This article aims to gain insight into novice teachers' retrospection on their actions, using the modes of Moral Involvement, based on a post-modern stand on morality and a dialogical narrative approach to teachers' moral meaning-making. The modes describe the “mixed moral atmosphere” as the congruities and incongruities between two perspectives, the “I” and the “Other” of the dialogical “Self.” Moral Involvement frames the reciprocity of influences of the workplace, the others and teachers' inner argumentation to balance self-interest, mutual interest and personal attachment to principles. Transcripts of interviews with novices in primary education were analyzed to categorize how novices reflect on their work and how they use different perspectives to explore their Moral Involvement. The results show that novice teachers mainly discuss their achievements from the I-position and use the Other-positions when elaborating on collaborating, alignments or uncertainty about their work. The conclusion is drawn that retrospection on moral issues during Teacher Education and workplace learning supports learning to deal with complex moral issues experienced in school practice.

Abstract
Background When novice teachers start working in a school, it is vital that they are aware
of the moral aspects of the work environment and can use their moral abilities to make
their work not only successful, but also right. To map these moral abilities, we developed
the Moral Authorship Questionnaire for self-assessment. Objective: This paper reports the
initial test of the structural validity and reliability of the developed self-assessment questionnaire.
Setting: Dutch student teachers, novice teachers and more-experienced teachers
in primary and secondary education participated in this research. Method: To test the psychometric
qualities of the attitude scales, we used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
and Pearson correlations. Results: The initial test resulted in reliable and valid subscales
consisting of 69 Likert items in the renewed questionnaire. Next, the Pearson correlation
between the subscales was calculated. Finally, the Pearson correlations between the
domains were calculated to validate the construct of Moral Authorship. Conclusion: The
test results show that the six tasks of moral authorship can be measured using Likert items.
The questionnaire can be used as a tool for self-assessment and reflection on one’s moral
abilities in one’s professional learning environment. Further testing to adjust the questionnaire
is needed to improve the personal moral authorship profile, or ‘the moral selfie’.

Abstract Background When novice teachers start working in a school, it is vital that they are aware of the moral aspects of the work environment and can use their moral abilities to make their work not only successful, but also right. To map these moral abilities, we developed the Moral Authorship Questionnaire for self-assessment. Objective: This paper reports the initial test of the structural validity and reliability of the developed self-assessment questionnaire. Setting: Dutch student teachers, novice teachers and more-experienced teachers in primary and secondary education participated in this research. Method: To test the psychometric qualities of the attitude scales, we used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Pearson correlations. Results: The initial test resulted in reliable and valid subscales consisting of 69 Likert items in the renewed questionnaire. Next, the Pearson correlation between the subscales was calculated. Finally, the Pearson correlations between the domains were calculated to validate the construct of Moral Authorship. Conclusion: The test results show that the six tasks of moral authorship can be measured using Likert items. The questionnaire can be used as a tool for self-assessment and reflection on one’s moral abilities in one’s professional learning environment. Further testing to adjust the questionnaire is needed to improve the personal moral authorship profile, or ‘the moral selfie’.

Posterpresentatie ORD 2014 Deze studie is onderdeel van het promotieonderzoek aan de Universiteit Utrecht onder de naam "Grip krijgen op moreel auteurschap van beginnende leraren in het primair onderwijs". De metafoor “moreel auteurschap” wordt gebruikt om vanuit een narratief perspectief het intentioneel moreel leren door de beginnende leraar te kunnen beschrijven en te kunnen onderzoeken. Deze deelstudie is een verkennende studie naar de morele orientatie van de beginnende leraar in het primair onderwijs.

In this presentation, we offer a conceptual analysis on the notion of Moral Authorship and explore in what ways the notion is promising in the field of Teaching and Education. We compare Moral Authorship with other notions, namely ‘normative professionalism’, ‘the good professional’, ‘reflective professionalism', ‘professional autonomy’, ‘professional responsibility’ and ‘moral craftmanship’. The comparison shows that each concept has a particular focus and use in practice. The notion of Moral Authorship seems promising in at least two ways: the association with authorship leads to a renewed attitude towards professional agency, and it can combine (the most) promising aspects of other concepts. Paper presented at the AME 2017 Conference

ABSTRACT This article focuses on moral authorship as an element of the professional development of novice teachers in the Netherlands. Moral authorship refers to the ability of teachers to observe, identify, verbalize and reflect on the moral aspects of their work in a proactive and dialogical manner. We elaborate on moral authorship by theoretically exploring six interdependent tasks of moral meaning making: moral commitment, awareness, orientation and positioning, moral performance and evaluation. Narratives of 19 novice teachers were analyzed to explore moral authorship in teachers’ talk. The results show the opportunities of moral authorship to support, navigate, and reinforce the professional development of novice teachers. This study suggests professional self-dialogs for enhancing the development of moral authorship.