Philosophical Perspectives on Trustworthiness and Open-mindedness as Professional Virtues for the Practice of Nursing: Implications for he Moral Education of Nurses

morally neutral education will take steps to ensure pupils Ieam not just about core
curriculum subjects but also about acceptable moral behaviour. In such schools attempts
are made to show in operation, amongst other things, justice as fairness and respect for
others. Teachers are expected to behave in ways that demonstrate commonly held
values (McLaughlin 2005), so the teacher awards marks to work on the basis of merit of
work presented rather than on some personal characteristic of the student, does not
victimise or bully pupils, and so on. These sorts of expectations underpin the values
held in high esteem in liberal democracies and form the basis of the moral education of
our children. It would be odd to imagine that there should be different expectations of
lecturers in higher education. Lecturers who do not exhibit these sorts of characteristics
earn our censure because they ‘set a bad example’. In other words, it is acknowledged
that a lecturer’s failure to act in morally acceptable ways has the potential to be a
negative influence. This supports the view that teaching is not a value free activity and
illustrates that moral education continues beyond compulsory schooling. However, this
is not to be confused with indoctrination, the thought of which, as Carr (1991) points
out, leads some teachers to avoid their moral obligations to students for fear of being so
accused. Thus it is not only the school that provides a legitimate vehicle by which a
liberal democracy attempts to educate for citizenship which is, in part, a moral
education (Callan 1997, White 1996); that role is also a function of the institution of
higher education.

By far, the majority Ofliterature on the subject of moral education is about the moral
education of children and the implication is that by the time an individual has reached
the age of majority the general shape of their moral sensitivities has been established.
This concentration on moral education in relation to children is understandable for it is
during the developments of childhood that individuals are thought to be at their most
receptive to ideas about how people ought and ought not to behave towards others (and
this is precisely why indoctrination is seen as a harm rather than a good in liberal
democratic societies). Yet the enthusiasm with which some 18-21 year olds (the
traditional age of students in higher education) embrace causes they later come to reject
is evidence writ large of precisely the sort of receptiveness to moral issues that we hope
to inspire in school children. And this receptiveness in 18-21 year olds suggests that
moral education should not be restricted to those in compulsory schooling. While issues
in the moral education of 18-21 year olds (those who might be described as
experiencing Tate adolescence’) is of general interest, it is with the moral education of

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