| The dissertation challenges educators involved in teacher education programs to create moral communities. It proposes that pre-service teachers examine relationships of power within the context of larger social structures, especially those of schooling. Individually, and as a community of learners, they explore the consequences of individual and collective decisions.;Moral communities make deliberate choices to substitute care and concern for domination and competition. They emphasize trust, openness, and intimacy in critical reflection and dialogue. These communities, as members within social institutions, influence future attitudes, decisions, and actions.;By examining these connections through selected readings and within an historical and personally contextual framework, this dissertation provides a model for pre-service teachers to question the systemic consequences of the use and misuse of power as reflected within the classroom and the broader society.;A language of critique provides a theoretical undergirding for possibility and practice. Critical reflection and meaningful dialogue are based on knowledge acquisition and understanding relationships of power. As an internal and external process, the critical reflective teacher education model requires a contemplative component with examples of how to integrate a critical/contemplative reflective model.;This dissertation begins with an introduction and examination of relationships of power within systemic structures. It examines literature describing the effects of power and explores a rationale and framework for exercising moral power. The dissertation suggests ways in which children and juvenile literature can be utilized within critical reflective teacher education programs to enhance greater awareness, understanding, and opportunities for transformational change. |
