A case study of public school secondary teachers of English, supervisors of English, and school administrators awareness and implementation of issues of moral education within the canon of literature presented in the classroom setting

This case study was born from an interest in the perceptions of educators, who are charged with the intellectual development and preparedness of young adults, regarding the presence of moral issues in the literature presented at the high school level, and, the methods of implementation they employ for the appropriate instruction with regard to these issues of morality found within the literature presented at the high school level. This researcher is intrigued with the notion of providing students with their own "voice" concerning issues with their community and the community at-large. A review of the literature reflects these issues and provides a rationale for the case study. It is with these concerns in mind that the case study has evolved and has been implemented.;A triangulation study was conducted wherein teachers of English, supervisors of English, and, building principals were interviewed regarding their awareness of and their implementation of issues of morality found within the literature in the high school setting. Through a process of open coding this researcher gathered congruent and non-congruent responses and, vis-a-vis this process, shaped several thematic statements that indicated the depth of the participant responses. Given the results of the open coding process, various conclusions and recommendations were forthcoming. Since this research effort is qualitative in scope and sequence, respondent's perceptions serve as the locus of analysis and conclusions regarding the case study.;The findings of the case study appear to reflect several outcomes: (1) teachers and supervisors of English are more aware of the presence of issues of morality found within the literature and, to some degree more, forthcoming with regard to methods of implementation regarding classroom planning than building principals; (2) by far, the most salient complaint that the respondents have is that departmental meetings do not address these issues, rather, addressing more administrative and testing driven issues instead; (3) educators, as undergraduates, are not exposed to enough coursework and/or discussion regarding these issues thereby rendering educators lacking in the understanding of and tools for the implementation of planning to address issues of morality; (4) most teachers of English interviewed and, to a lesser degree, supervisors of English interviewed indicate the need for curriculum revision concerning the focus on issues of morality within the literature presented, as well as steps to be taken toward some fashion of overall school reform regarding this topic; (5) some teachers of English and some supervisors of English viewed the need to establish a connection between the school community and the larger community regarding these issues in an effort to provide the best learning environment for students; (6) perhaps most salient of all, results appear to show some difficulty with regard to the triangulation of efforts among teachers, supervisors and principals regarding this topic in that building principals' responses, overall, seem to suggest that they are not in sync with teachers and supervisors in both their awareness of and planning for the appropriate implementation by their staff of issues of morality within the literature that they oversee and validate.