Curriculum Studies in Teacher Education & Development

Curriculum Studies in Teacher Education & Development

Maternal Thinking: An Existential Approach to Inspiring Moral Courage in Teaching

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Docent, Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
This study reexamines “maternal thinking” as an ethical and existential basis for pedagogical action. Maternal thinking is rooted in the theory of ethics of care, particularly in Sara Ruddick’s framework, which views the experiences of a mother and her relationship with the child as having an existential nature. It can be studied as a form of epistemic discipline. Based on this, the present article explores the application of this theory in the field of education, especially in teacher education. Employing a reflective autoethnographic appraoch, three lived narratives of teachers in critical situations were analyzed. These narratives were analyzed using episodic methods. Findings revealed that maternal thinking extending beyond professional care and rationalistic theory of ethics, is rooted in caring ethics and involves an ontologictal commitment and affective bond that transforms the teacher into an ethically active agent. These actions are embedded in concepts such as ethical sensitivity, ethical esthetic, and moral courage. In conclusion, the concept of “moral courage in teaching” is introduced as a moment where education transcends technical duty and becomes an existential responsibility.
Keywords

Subjects


Alizade, A. M. (2006). Motherhood in the twenty-first century (First edition). Karnac.
Barnes, M. (2012). Conceptual, philosophical and political perspectives on care. In Care in everyday life (1st ed., pp. 11–34). Bristol University Press; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt9qgvc9.6 
Butler, J. (2009). Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? Verso Books.
Campbell, E. (2004). Ethical bases of moral agency in teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 10(4), 409–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354060042000224142 
De Lissovoy, N. (2010). Decolonial pedagogy and the ethics of the global. Discourse (Abingdon, England), 31(3), 279–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596301003786886 
Fenstermacher, G. (2001). On the concept of manner and its visibility in teaching practice. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 33(6), 639–653. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270110049886 
Fenstermacher, G., & Soltis, J. (2004). Approaches to teaching. Columbia University.
Freeberg, E. (2003). The Subject of Care: Feminist Perspectives on Dependency (Vol. 3, Issue 3, pp. 358–360).
Gholami, K. (2025). Reinterpreting the Pedagogy of Care through Non-Affirmative Theory in the Era of Neoliberal Education. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, in Press.
Gholami, K., & Faraji, S. (2023). Teacher identity: Strong and soft conceptions. In C. J. Craig, J. Mena, & R. G. Kane (Eds.), Approaches to teaching and teacher education (Advances in research on teaching, Vol. 43, pp. 31–46). Emerald Publishing.  https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720230000043007
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press.
Hamington, M., & Flower, M. (2021a). Conclusion. In M. Hamington & M. Flower (Eds.), Care ethics in the age of precarity (pp. 281–304). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv2382dwh.16
Hamington, M., & Flower, M. (2021b). Introduction. In M. Hamington & M. Flower (Eds.), Care ethics in the age of precarity (pp. 1–18). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv2382dwh.4 
Hankivsky, O. (2004). Social Policy and the Ethic of Care. University of British Columbia Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/abo-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3412039
Heidegger, M., & Stambaugh, J. (1996). Being and Time. State University of New York.
Held, V. (2006). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Press.
Hollie, S., & Allen, B. (2018). Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning: Classroom practices for student success (Second edition). Shell Education.
Kant, I., Ellington, J. W., & Wick, W. A. (1994). Ethical philosophy (2nd ed.). Hackett.
Kittay, E. F. (1999). Welfare, dependency, and a public ethic of care. In G. Mink (Ed.), Whose welfare? (pp. 189–213). Cornell University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv5qdh4j.12 
Levinas, E. (1991). Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority (4th ed. 1991). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9342-6 
May, T., & Tronto, J. (2023, June 22). The Philosophy of Care": Todd May in conversation with Joan Tronto [Interview]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNclAG-V1-U 
Merleau-Ponty, M., Landes, D. A., Lefort, C., & Carman, T. (2012). Phenomenology of perception. Routledge.
Miller, S. C. (2021). Neoliberalism, moral precarity, and the crisis of care. In M. Hamington & M. Flower (Eds.), Care ethics in the age of precarity (pp. 48–67). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctv2382dwh.6
Noddings, N. (2013). Caring: A relational approach to ethics & moral education (Paperback ed., 2. ed., updated). Univ. of Calif. Press.
Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass. https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999827893402121 
Rest, J. R. (1983). Morality. In P.H.Hussen; J.Flavell; E.Monkmam (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Cognitive Development (pp. 556–629). Wiley.
Robinson, F. (1999). Globalizing care: Ethics, feminist theory, and international relations. Westview Press.
Ruddick, S. (2021). Maternal Thinking. In A. O’Reilly (Ed.), Maternal Theory (pp. 69–86). Demeter Press; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1s2t0hn.8
Schroeder, S., Currin, E., & McCardle, T. (2020). “We’re kind of at a pivotal point”: Opt Out’s vision for an ethic of care in a post-neoliberal era. Policy Futures in Education, 18(1), 138–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210318758813
Singer, P. (2015). The most good you can do: How effective altruism is changing ideas about living ethically. (pp. xiii, 211). Yale University Press.
Springer, S., Kean, B., & Julie, M. (2016). An Introduction to Neoliberalism. In Handbook of Neoliberalism (pp. 1–14). Routledge.
Tronto, J. C. (1994). Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care (First edition). Routledge.
Wrenn, M. V. (2017). Care and the Neoliberal Individual. Journal of Economic Issues, 51(2), 495–502. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2017.1321438