Teachers' beliefs, antiracism and moral education: problems of intersection

In this paper we explore potential problems of intersection between teacher s' beliefs about the aims of education, a conceptual requirement of antirac ism education and moral education. Our objective is to show how the reform of moral education to better accommodate antiracism concerns may depend on paying more attention to how teachers understand this intersection. Based o n our analyses of teaching experiences and an exploratory, qualitative stud y of 20 recently certified teachers, we identify a framework for differenti ating three ethical perspectives that teachers often take in articulating a nd justifying their beliefs about the ideal aims of Education. Then, based on our analysis of contemporary programmes of antiracism education, we use illustrative material from our study to identify points of disjuncture that can occur between the aims of such programmes and teachers' beliefs throug h which those aims are filtered. In particular, we seek to illustrate how t he essential political aims of antiracism education that focus on structura l relationships between/among social groups can be, in the first instance, occluded by, an Ethical perspective that centres on the welfare of discrete individuals or, perhaps even more insidiously, reduced to a well-meaning a nd nice-sounding ethical perspective that focuses on the quality of interac tion between/among individuals.