| This researcher examines the ethical principles school principals use to make decisions when faced with complex moral dilemmas. The study included a volunteer sample of school principals at the elementary, middle/junior high, and high school levels in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island in New York. Subjects identified which of four principles they believed they used for decision-making: justice, autonomy, nonmaleficence, and beneficence. For the four principles studied, justice was the lowest level principle, followed by autonomy, nonmaleficence, and beneficence. The school principals responded to four hypothetical moral dilemma vignettes indicating which of four principles they would use to make a decision. Two vignettes were student centered and two were staff centered.;Results of the study were that the 237 school principals did apply the principles they believe they use most of the time in responding to the four vignettes. The principles of justice and autonomy, the two lower end principles, were most frequently used and the existence of a socialized bureaucracy influenced principle selection. No significant differences were found in the decision making by principal level, education, gender, tenured or non tenured, or whether or not the district has a code of ethics. Student vignettes displayed a higher level principle selection than employee vignettes. |
