Teachers stand in the interface of the transmission of knowledge, skills and values. They are accepted as the backbone of education system. Some serious questions arise after analyzing the current teacher education status like: What training implications stem from the conceptions of teachers regarding ethics and the way it is learned? We need to explore the answer of above said problem. Therefore, in this chapter an attempt has been made to analyze the present status of ethics of teachers. Qualitative and quantitative method was used for analyzing data. It was found lack of accountability, political intervention in selection of teachers, lack of interest in hard work, lack of code of conduct and professional ethics are major factor responsible for the degradation of teaching value in society. There is find difference between male and female teachers regarding professionalism, teachers' individual quality and difference between more experience and less experience teachers regarding poor relationship with students, and evaluation related quality.
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Education is not simply imparting knowledge in a particular faculty or subject or making one fit for securing jobs or fair well in exams, but at the same time is also a training in logical thinking which helps the coming generations adjust to the ever changing environment. It also means opening the doors of the mind, cleansing the soul and realization of the self (Pabla, 2011). Education should aim at making human life better not only through economic upliftment of individual but also through social, moral and spiritual strengthening. This will not only improve human life but also realize the “higher truth” i.e. “Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya” from darkness to light. Thus education is not only a way of earning but it also helps to develop human personality with skills, values, morals and enhancement of different attributes of man. So education is a vital means for the potentialities of a human being to emerge in a positive direction so that a man can live in society with full of dignity (Bordoloi,2011). Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the morality; the word ethic has been derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’ which means character (Pabla, 2011). Aristotle was one of the first great philosophers to define the ethics. To him, ethics was more than a moral, religious or legal concept. Ethics begins with each individual self. It comes from an individual’s inner feeling which subsequently translates into his or her moral behaviour. Rationally, one learns to adapt to ethics and moral principles through his or her upbringing, socialization, experience and critical reflections on those experiences and the explicit and implicit standards of culture (Shaw, 2008). In addition, ethics is also acquired from religious teachings. All religions provide its believers with strong composition of conduct, part of which involves moral instructions, values and commitments. For example, the Islamic term corresponding to the concept of ethics, though different in scope and nature, is ‘ilm al-akhlaq’. Al-Akhlaq is derived from the root word khulq, which means to create, to shape and to give form. Accordingly, ‘ilm al-akhlaq’, as a branch of knowledge is a science which deals with the ways to maintain virtues at the optimum level, i.e. to avoid wrongdoing and to do what is right and desirable (McDonough, 1984). Akhlaq in a broad sense, therefore, subsumes all actions that are characterized as ‘amal salih’ (virtuous deed) in the terminology of the Qu’ran. Moreover, the exemplary moral life of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., according to the Qu’ranic account, had articulated the various applications of Islamic morality and ethics to be followed and emulated by Muslims as mentioned in the Al Qu’ran, verse 4 of Surah al Qalam, “And surely you have sublime morals.” There are three basic approaches to the teaching of ethics according to Illingworth:
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A pragmatic approach which relies on teaching students about codes of ethics. In this approach, the emphasis is on elaborating what it means to be a professional in terms of behaviour which accords with an agreed code of conduct.
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An embedded approach which bases ethics on the students’ emerging sense of identity. In this approach, ethics is taught as part of a more general understanding of morality and so ethical issues in a particular area are embedded in more general concerns. In this way, students are able to exercise greater autonomy in their ethical decision making.
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A theoretical approach in which students are introduced to ethical theories which can then be applied to a variety of situations and contexts. Each of these approaches can be supported by the use of case studies, which lend themselves to a variety of learning and teaching styles. Significantly, Illingworth also argues for collaboration between ethical theorists and professional practitioners if students are to receive the best possible ethics education. (Illingworth, 2004).