We recently reported, with supporting figures, a significant increase in violence in our schools.
The number of teachers and employees in the education network compensated following injuries attributable to this violence would be, for example, according to the Standards, Equity, Health and Safety Commission ( CNESST), increased from 360 in 2012 to… 911 in 2021!
Other data collected points in the same direction, and everyone agrees that several factors are involved, including the pandemic and its effects on mental health, the integration of students in difficulty and the shortcomings of the training offered for this TO DO.
By chance, I became aware of all this when I learned of the death of Nel Noddings (1929-2022), an influential educational philosopher. I could not avoid talking about it here, especially since his work remains largely unknown in the French-speaking world.
Faced with this outbreak of violence, Noddings would certainly speak to us of ” care », a concept that refers to one of his most important contributions to the theory and practice of education.
From mathematician to educational philosopher
Trained in mathematics and first a teacher in this discipline, Noddings then moved on to the philosophy of education. She will be a professor in this field at Stanford University.
When she began her career, work in psychology (led by Carol Gilligan) suggested that women approached ethical issues in a different way from men. To go very quickly, Gilligan will argue that women have, typically, another way of thinking about ethics, of talking about it (the very famous book she will write on this subject is called A different voice) and to practice it, in a way that is less focused on consequences or principles than on what she will call the ” care “, which is sometimes rendered in French, if translated, by “solicitude”.
Noddings will take this from there and extend this concept to education. She will speak from this point of view of moral education, of course, but also of education for citizenship and happiness as the end of education. She would later call her approach “relational” rather than “feminine”.
This solicitude, in interpersonal relationships, is made up of receptivity, rapprochement, reciprocity: in his words, it is ” care for » ; in the field of social relations, more abstract and vast, it becomes care about “. This perspective invites us not to think of ethics in the limiting terms of utilitarianism and deontological morals which would like to reduce moral life to considerations elaborated by an isolated, calculating and reasoning subject.
care in class
Concretely, this leads to thinking of moral education in the classroom — and therefore also the fight against violence — in terms of concrete relationships through which being a good person will be perceived as possible and desirable. Paraphrasing it, we can say that to a large extent, it’s the way we treat others that makes him or her a good person… or not.
This moral education, central in education and which should begin at home, has four components.
Modeling. “We must show, by our behavior, what it means to be capable of caring. We don’t just tell students to be caring or have them read about it, but we show them our care in our dealings with them. »
The dialogue. Through him, “we learn more about others and this knowledge is essential for us to exercise our concern, since our efforts benefit from the feedback that we receive from those to whom it is addressed”.
The practice. “If we want to train people who will be caring, then we need to allow students to practice caring and to reflect on it. »
The confirmation. ” When [pour ses actions] we confirm someone, we identify a better self and encourage their development. »
One last idea. Noddings suggested that all of this would be made easier and more efficient if the students stayed in the same school and if the primary students stayed as long as possible with the same teacher, the same teacher.
The joys of teaching
Martin Lavallée trains future plumbers. He wrote to me: “What brings me happiness (and which I was able to fully appreciate when I returned to work after a long leave) is to equip these students to allow them to practice their profession and to see them proud of them when they make their first montages or learn to master a particular tool or technique. Often, these individuals have their self-confidence shaken for all sorts of reasons and regain their confidence thanks to the new skills they have learned. They are literally blossoming before my eyes and I feel the gratitude they have for taking my task seriously… When I realize this, which doesn’t happen all the time, then my job as a teacher takes everything meaning and really brings me happiness. »