Virtue Ethics, Care Ethics, and The Good Life of Teaching

In The Good Life of Teaching: An Ethics of Professional Practice, Chris Higgins (2011) reminds people that self-interest and altruism, personal freedom and social roles, and practical wisdom and personhood have been ancient philosophical topics that remain vitally important in the practice of contemporary teaching and learning. One of the most fundamental questions Higgins raises is this: How do we reconcile self-regard and concern for others? Higgins echoes John Dewey\u27s concern for balancing the distinctive capacity of an individual with his social service. In other words, and educationally speaking: What does it mean to live the good life as an educator? And what occurs when educators connect their answer to two related questions: Why teach? and How should I live? In answering these questions, Higgins combines arguments put forward by MacIntyre, Arendt, Dewey, Gadamer, and others, and considers human flourishing ( eudaimonia ), ethics, and the internal goods of practices--combined concerns that music and music education philosophers often neglect. While Higgins is centrally concerned with the quest for the good life, he is equally concerned with the idea that professional ethics should concern the needs, desires, aspirations, and welfare of practitioners themselves. The author is extremely supportive of the general claims of Higgins\u27s detailed and erudite discussion, and she finds quite persuasive his emphasis on the importance of virtue ethics in education. In this essay the author focuses primarily on his claim that virtue ethics...needs teaching as much as teaching needs virtue ethics (italics added, 10). She wishes to proffer sympathetically that additional concepts of selfhood and ethics may have a place in Higgins\u27s project, in discussions of educational ethics, and in ethics for music education. Specifically, the author introduces key themes from the relatively recent fields of enaction and care ethics, explaining what she thinks they might contribute to one\u27s understandings of ethics (and virtue ethics) in music education

Critical Pedagogy as a Pedagogy of “Love”

Thanks in part to the research and scholarship of Frank Abrahams (e.g., 2005, 2006, 2007, 2019), his welcoming of scholars into the field, as well as his dedication to the development and growth of the music education profession, music teaching and learning maintains particular positions connected to critical pedagogy and the work of Paulo Freire. The purpose of this paper is to extend Abrahams’ work by examining critical pedagogy as a pedagogy of “love” (e.g., Darder, 2000, 2011, 2017, hooks, 2004, Martin, 2004). Additionally, this paper examines personal and political natures of critical pedagogy as love for music teaching and learning

Equally Able, But Unequally Accepted: Gender Differentials and Experiences of Community Health Volunteers Promoting Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Morogoro Region, Tanzania.

Despite emerging qualitative evidence of gendered community health worker (CHW) experience, few quantitative studies examine CHW gender differentials. The launch of a maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) CHW cadre in Morogoro Region, Tanzania enlisting both males and females as CHWs, provides an opportunity to examine potential gender differences in CHW knowledge, health promotion activities and client acceptability. All CHWs who received training from the Integrated MNCH Program between December 2012 and July 2013 in five districts were surveyed and information on health promotion activities undertaken drawn from their registers. CHW socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, and health promotion activities were analyzed through bi- and multivariate analyses. Composite scores generated across ten knowledge domains were used in ordered logistic regression models to estimate relationships between knowledge scores and predictor variables. Thematic analysis was also undertaken on 60 purposively sampled semi-structured interviews with CHWs, their supervisors, community leaders, and health committee members in 12 villages from three districts. Of all CHWs trained, 97 % were interviewed (n = 228): 55 % male and 45 % female. No significant differences were observed in knowledge by gender after controlling for age, education, date of training, marital status, and assets. Differences in number of home visits and community health education meetings were also not significant by gender. With regards to acceptability, women were more likely to disclose pregnancies earlier to female CHWs, than male CHWs. Men were more comfortable discussing sexual and reproductive concerns with male, than female CHWs. In some cases, CHW home visits were viewed as potentially being for ulterior or adulterous motives, so trust by families had to be built. Respondents reported that working as female-male pairs helped to address some of these dynamics. Male and female CHWs in this study have largely similar knowledge and health promotion outputs, but challenges in acceptance of CHW counseling for reproductive health and home visits by unaccompanied CHWs varied by gender. Programs that pair male and female CHWs may potentially overcome gender issues in CHW acceptance, especially if they change gender norms rather than solely accommodate gender preferences

“Being Guided”: What Oncofertility Patients’ Decisions Can Teach Us About the Efficacy of Autonomy, Agency, and Decision-Making Theory in the Contemporary Critical Encounter

Recent research on patient decision-making reveals a disconnect between theories of autonomy, agency, and decision-making and their practice in contemporary clinical encounters. This study examines these concepts in the context of female patients making oncofertility decisions in the United Kingdom in light of the phenomenon of “being guided.” Patients experience being guided as a way to cope with, understand, and defer difficult treatment decisions. Previous discussions condemn guided decision-making, but this research suggests that patients make an informed, autonomous decision to be guided by doctors. Thus, bioethicists must consider the multifaceted ways that patients enact their autonomy in medical encounters

Program assessment of efforts to improve the quality of postpartum counselling in health centers in Morogoro region, Tanzania

BACKGROUND: The postpartum period represents a critical window where many maternal and child deaths occur. We assess the quality of postpartum care (PPC) as well as efforts to improve service delivery through additional training and supervision in Health Centers (HCs) in Morogoro Region, Tanzania. METHODS: Program implementers purposively selected nine program HCs for assessment with another nine HCs in the region remaining as comparison sites in a non-randomized program evaluation. PPC quality was assessed by examining structural inputs; provider and client profiles; processes (PNC counselling) and outcomes (patient knowledge) through direct observations of equipment, supplies and infrastructure (n = 18) and PPC counselling (n = 45); client exit interviews (n = 41); a provider survey (n = 62); and in-depth provider interviews (n = 10). RESULTS: While physical infrastructure, equipment and supplies were comparable across study sites (with water and electricity limitations), program areas had better availability of drugs and commodities. Overall, provider availability was also similar across study sites, with 63% of HCs following staffing norms, 17% of Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) providers absent and 14% of those providing PPC being unqualified to do so. In the program area, a median of 4 of 10 RCH providers received training. Despite training and supervisory inputs to program area HCs, provider and client knowledge of PPC was low and the content of PPC counseling provided limited to 3 of 80 PPC messages in over half the consultations observed. Among women attending PPC, 29 (71%) had delivered in a health facility and sought care a median of 13 days after delivery. Barriers to PPC care seeking included perceptions that PPC was of limited benefit to women and was primarily about child health, geographic distance, gaps in the continuity of care, and harsh facility treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Program training and supervision activities had a modest effect on the quality of PPC. To achieve broader transformation in PPC quality, client perceptions about the value of PPC need to be changed; the content of recommended PPC messages reviewed along with the location for PPC services; gaps in the availability of human resources addressed; and increased provider-client contact encouraged

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder