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Documenting the Influence of Noddings's Theory of Care in Moral Documenting the Influence of Noddings’s Theory of Care in Moral Education and Philosophy of Education: 2003-2013 By © 2017 Gözde Eken M. Ed., Rutgers University, 2012 B. Ed., Gazi University Kastamonu School of Education, 2007 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Suzanne Rice, PhD. Committee Member: John L. Rury, PhD. Committee Member: Jennifer C. Ng, PhD. Committee Member: Argun Saatçioğlu, PhD. Committee Member: Philip McKnight, PhD. Date Defended: September 27, 2017 ii The dissertation committee for Gozde Eken certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Documenting the Influence of Noddings’s Theory of Care in Moral Education and Philosophy of Education: 2003-2013 Chair: Suzanne Rice, PhD Date Approved: November 17, 2017 iii Abstract Educational research has a broad scope of interest; and, since Ancient Greece, it has constantly interacted with other fields such as ethics, social work, and psychology. For centuries, scholars and researchers have struggled to answer the questions: What is moral knowledge? How do we acquire moral knowledge? What does education mean? The need to answer these questions has motivated educational theorists and philosophers to construct new and thought-provoking educational theories. Many educational theorists and philosophers have improved and/or challenged the theories of interest over time, but few have constructed their own theories. Nel Noddings, a well-respected educational philosopher and a moral theorist, has provided comprehensive answers to these questions through the Theory of Care she constructed. The Theory of Care has been influential in different fields of research, and scholars have paid attention to her theory since Noddings has first discussed it in 1984. The influence of Theory of Care (TC) has been documented in certain fields of research; however, its influence in the fields of moral education and philosophy of education, the fields harboring the essential research on this theory, has gone undocumented. The aim of this dissertation was to fill this gap in educational research while providing insights regarding the influence of Noddings’s TC and how several authors have used TC in the fields of moral education and philosophy of education from 2003 through 2013. Drawing on the articles published in two journals representative of the fields of interest, an analysis was done about how Noddings’s TC has influenced and potentially contributed to the educational problems discussed in these fields of research and its influence through the issues discussed in these journals is described. Because Noddings is one of the most frequently cited authors in the theoretical fields of education, for the sake of manageability, the sample for this project only included the articles, which mainly discussed Noddings’s TC and iv were published in the Journal of Moral Education and the Journal of Philosophy of Education from 2003 through 2013. There exist two different, yet interactive, phases in the analysis of these articles in addition to being able to read TC using a critical and systematic lens. The analysis of articles for this dissertation revealed that TC has been mostly influential and contributed to the discussion of particular concepts, including school culture, relational thinking in/of moral education and philosophy of education, theories of moral philosophy and education, student’s needs, and the practical implications of theoretical knowledge. Noddings’s Theory of Care has been discussed in connection with each one of these concepts, sometimes only in one field of interest, sometimes in both fields of interest. These concepts indicated that the influence of TC in the fields of moral education and philosophy of education has been significant and has contributed to educational research by either beginning the conversation or changing the way it is. v Acknowledgements I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who have supported the writing and construction of this dissertation, and it is impossible for me to thank all of them here. I apologize for that, and I would like to thank those nameless individuals for their support. I am grateful for the splendid supervision of Dr. Suzanne Rice, without whom I would not have been able to finish this dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Rice for the time she took to answer my questions about Nel Noddings’s Theory of Care and explain this theory in a clear perspective. Both her answers and detailed explanations were crucial to the completion of this dissertation, and she continued to believe in me, even if at the times I did not. I also want to take my time to thank the other precious members of my committee (Drs. Argun Saatçioğlu, Jennifer Ng, John Rury, and Philip McKnight) who offered their time along the dissertation process. My family was nothing but supportive throughout my graduate education in the United States, and they became an important part of the dissertation writing team. I also want to thank my Turkish friends Canan Yörük, Hatice Uyanık, Sevgi Coşkun, and Ümran Betül Cebesoy for their continued support. Without their motivating conversations, this dissertation would be incomplete. I am also grateful for the financial scholarship provided by the Ministry of National Education and the Turkish Republic. It is my sincere hope that the scholarship continued and will help other Turkish students to receive the quality education I have received. vi Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Overview of the Chapters ............................................................................................... 3 The Concept of Care and Noddings’s TC ....................................................................... 5 Essential Components of the Ethical Caring Relationships Promoted in Noddings’s TC .............................................................................................................. 16 Noddings’s TC and A Care-Based Approach in Education ......................................... 22 The Elements of Noddings’s Philosophy of Care-Based Teaching .............................. 22 Aims and Restructuring of the Educational System Based on Noddings’s TC ............ 26 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 31 Research Questions Guiding This Dissertation: ........................................................... 33 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 34 Collection and Analysis of Data ................................................................................... 34 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 40 Noddings’s TC and Its Influence in Moral Philosophy ................................................ 41 Noddings’s TC and Its Influence in Educational Research .......................................... 65 The Case of Moral Education and Philosophy of Education ........................................ 65 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER 3:THE INFLUENCE OF NODDINGS’S TC IN MORAL EDUCATION: 2003-2013 ......................................................................................................................... 87 What is Moral Education? ............................................................................................ 87 Themes Present in JME in Relation to Noddings’s TC ................................................ 92 Noddings’s TC and School Culture .......................................................................... 92 vii Noddings’s TC and Teaching Through Culture/Teaching as a Culture.................. 101 Noddings’s TC as a Theory in The Field of Moral Education ............................... 112 Noddings’s TC and Educating Morally .................................................................. 117 Noddings’s TC and Relational Thinking in Moral Education ................................ 125 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 134 CHAPTER 4: THE INFLUENCE OF NODDINGS’S TC IN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION: 2003-2013 .............................................................................................. 138 What is Philosophy of Education? .............................................................................. 138 Themes Present in JPE in Relation to Noddings’s TC ............................................... 145 Noddings’s TC and Moral Thinking Through Relations ........................................ 145 Noddings’s TC, Relational Teaching, and Students’ Needs ................................... 149 Noddings’s TC and Student Thinking .................................................................... 160 Noddings’s TC as A New Perspective and Theory on Educational Policy ............ 168 Conclusion .................................................................................................................
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