Just Caring? Supervisors Talk About Working With Incompetent Teachers

Abstract

The administrative strategy of inducing the exits of teachers whose performance has been judged incompetent has received little scholarly attention. Because of the complex moral issues involved, we view situations in which induced exits are the means to removing incompetent teachers from classrooms as a crucible for ethical questions about the enactment of caring and just administrative leadership in education. We take as the framework for our analysis the contention of some scholars that there is a necessary complementarity between - or integration of - caring and justice in both theory and practice. Drawing on data, particularly interviews, from a recent study that explored the supervisory processes leading to forced resignations, our purpose is to show how some supervisors' accounts suggested a blend of caring and justice while others did not. We hope this analysis invites reflection on what constitutes ethical supervisory practice in a difficult and morally perplexing area of administrative leadership.