Moral Dilemmas in Intercultural Encounters – Implications for ESD

Author(s):

Louise Sund(presenting / submitting)Johan Öhman(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

08. Research on Health Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

08 SES 03, Looking ahead – Challenges and Dilemmas in Education for Sustainable Development

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-18

17:15-18:45

Room:

FFL - Aula 11

Chair:

Jutta Nikel

Contribution

Investing in cultural diversity and an intercultural dialogue is today regarded as one of the guiding principles within education for sustainable development (ESD) (Unesco 2009). A popular way of increasing intercultural understanding in order to deal with cultural diversity is by meeting – at eye-level – with people coming from other cultural backgrounds.

We have studied teachers taking part in a Sida-funded in-service training programme called the Global Journey wherethe aim of the program is to foster intercultural dialogue and education in global issues for sustainable development in preschools, schools and adult education. Global Journeys provide opportunities for groups of Swedish teachers and educational professionals to spend an intense period of time in a developing country. The visits are part of a structured process of learning, planned a year in advance and evaluated four months after each journey.

We believe that this aim to strengthen the linkage between culture and ESD can be seen as a turn to ethics in so far as it involves thinking about the ways in which we respond to otherness. Ethical issues arise in relation to others, between bodies – and there we also face our moral dilemmas. The aim of this paper is to study teachers’ moral meaning-making in a lived cultural encounter that involves moral and ethical judgements. We also would like to discuss the educational implications of cultural encounters such as Global Journeys and the educational value of traveling to meet the other.

Method

The paper is based on empirical data from interviews and observations of two teacher teams when visiting a country in Central America. The interviews were transcribed and analysed. In order to analyse meaning-making in an actual encounter that involves moral and ethical judgements we draw on ideas developed by Dewey and Wittgenstein. Dewey takes the process that occurs in an encounter as a point of departure and in line with his reasoning, meaning is possible to observe in peoples’ actions. The philosophical issue of how we should live, or respond to moral situations is for Dewey a question of experience. Dewey and the later Wittgenstein are in agreement that ethics is revealed in encounters between people – in a particular practice where we enquiry into the meanings of “good” and “right”.

Expected Outcomes

The findings indicate that teachers make moral judgements on the basis of experienced and particular situations, and that meaning of a situation emerges out of earlier experiences and the actual lived situation. When teachers re-actualize their prior experiences that affects the present event and the way they handle moral dilemmas. Our analyses of teacher interviews show that there is reason to speak of different types of responses to illustrate teacher’s moral meaning-making in an actual encounter.

References

Dewey, John. (1922/1988). Human Nature and Conduct. In Jo Ann Boydston (Ed), The Middle Works, 1899-1924, Vol 14: 1922. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. Dewey, John (1929/1958) Experience and Nature. New York: Dover Publications. Dewey, John (1932/1985). Ethics. In Jo Ann Boydston (Ed), The Later Works, 1925-1953, Vol 7: 1932. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. Unesco (2009). Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue. Unesco World Report. Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1993). A Lecture on Ethics. In James Carl Klagge & Alfred Nordmann (Eds.). Philosophical Occasions 1912-1951 (pp. 37-44). Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett. Öhman Johan & Östman, Leif (2007). Continuity and Change in Moral Meaning-making: A Transactional Approach. Journal of Moral Education, 36(2), 151-168. Öhman, Johan & Östman, Leif (2008). Clarifying the Ethical Tendency for Sustainable Development Practice: A Wittgenstein-Inspired Approach. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 13(1), 57-72.

Author Information

Louise Sund (presenting / submitting)

Mälardalen university

School of Education, Culture and Communication

Eskilstuna

Johan Öhman (presenting)

Örebro University, Sweden

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