As a teacher within a special needs classroom of students ranging in age from 13 to 22, I observed first-hand the outcomes of unhealthy habits, behavioural issues, and academic struggles. In response to these learning and behavioral difficulties within my high school classroom, I created and implemented a Movement Matters Program consisting of a combined exercise and academic program for my students. The program produced phenomenal results within its first year. This thesis is a manuscript style thesis consisting of two embedded papers as central themes. The first paper highlights the development of Movement Matters and the challenges and successes experienced by myself, the classroom teacher, and my students. The second paper is a narrative inquiry that shares the experiences of two students engaged in Movement Matters and myself, as their teacher, and graduate student researcher. Over the course of two months I inquired into the ways that their school experiences and their relationships with the teacher, classmates, and subject matter influenced the way they composed their stories to live by. Also threaded through this thesis is an abundance of data, such as anecdotal records, pre and post academic and fitness tests, and student journals. Field notes, taped conversations and observations with each of the two youth captured stories and realities of their experiences and are inter-twined with the literature and the theory. These experiences and relationships are negotiated carefully using Noddings ethics of care. Both my experiences and my students experiences are situated alongside Deweys Criteria of Experience within a narrative framework. Using research, I wanted to understand and retell their stories as well as link Clandinin and Connellys commonplaces of narrative inquiry: place, temporality, and sociality.

This thesis focuses on the issue of attention based on Noddings and Weil's perspectives. Inaddition, it describes a fictional example for attention. The fictional example critically examinesthe benefits and potential risks of care and attention in modern education. It uses the 2018 film"The Kindergarten Teacher" as an example to explore the ethical boundaries of providing care andattention. The film revolves around a teacher named Lisa Spinelli, who becomes deeply involvedin nurturing a student's exceptional poetic talent. I examine Lisa's behavior using Nel Noddings'theory of care and Simone Weil's notion of attention. Applying these frameworks aims to assessLisa's motivations and actions and gain insight into her conduct.Noddings emphasizes that attention and caring develop in a relationship is a continuous process,not just a single moment. For the relationship to be strong, it must involve mutual responses fromboth parties. When a strong relationship with attention is established, it aids in the learning processespecially for students and children. However, for this relationship to be effective, it needs to bedeep and trustworthy, with responsive interactions. Noddings also suggests that "modeling","dialogue", "practice", and "confirmation" are essential components that teachers and parents canuse to enhance their students' or children's attention within their relationships.Simone Weil's conception of attention is selfless and others-focused. It involves putting asidepersonal goals to meet the needs of others. Weil introduces "impersonality" through solitude,where individuals suspend their sense of self for the collective. True attention requires thedisappearance of self and focuses beyond comprehension, like an act of prayer. Love and desireare crucial, fostering a willingness to be attentive and forget oneself. Weil explores attention's rolein pursuing truth, beauty, and goodness. It is crucial for making supreme efforts and should be theprimary focus of education. She emphasizes observing visual representations withoutinterpretation to gain understanding. Maintaining attention amidst conflicting desires andobligations is challenging. Weil suggests enduring and resisting negative desires while focusing onthe good and virtuous. Individuals can elevate the quality of their attention by detaching fromtemporal concerns. Ultimately, Weil presents attention as a transformative practice that leads tolove, genuine values, and a deeper understanding of the world.

This thesis is a narrative inquiry into the experiences of two childrens lives in school. I lived alongside the two children in their grade five classroom for eight months of their school year inquiring into the ways that their school experiences and their relationships with the teacher, classmates, and subject matter influenced the way they composed their stories to live by. In this thesis I share a personal reflection on the way my story to live by has been shaped by my experiences, specifically as a student, a teacher, and a researcher. I use field notes and taped conversations with each of the two boys to retell the stories they shared with me and apply them to literature and theory. I use Deweys Criteria of Experience within a narrative framework to help understand and retell the stories of the two boys as well as Clandinin, Pushor, and Murray Orrs commonplaces of narrative inquiry: place, temporality, and sociality. I explore Aokis planned and lived curriculum and Noddings ethic of care and fidelity in teaching as they applied to the inquiry.

This thesis is a narrative inquiry into the experiences of two childrens lives in school. I lived alongside the two children in their grade five classroom for eight months of their school year inquiring into the ways that their school experiences and their relationships with the teacher, classmates, and subject matter influenced the way they composed their stories to live by. In this thesis I share a personal reflection on the way my story to live by has been shaped by my experiences, specifically as a student, a teacher, and a researcher. I use field notes and taped conversations with each of the two boys to retell the stories they shared with me and apply them to literature and theory. I use Deweys Criteria of Experience within a narrative framework to help understand and retell the stories of the two boys as well as Clandinin, Pushor, and Murray Orrs commonplaces of narrative inquiry: place, temporality, and sociality. I explore Aokis planned and lived curriculum and Noddings ethic of care and fidelity in teaching as they applied to the inquiry.

While the story of teaching makes plenty of room for academic and social learning, the telling often leaves out some of the most important details. In this thesis, I tell the stories of four teachers — how they practice and make sense of the caring relationship in the school and how such relationships lead to moral good in people, schools, communities, and the world. The moral is centered in the ongoing dialogue about what is best in schools and the world — the good, and the relationships in which the stories are set. The method is narrative analysis and the format is a series of free verse poems. The characters tell stories of knowing and being known, meaningful dialogue, modeling, authentic care, struggle and tension, individualized attention, hope, and transformation. The conclusion is a deep imagining of possibilities, implications, and outcomes.

Cette thèse traite, dans une perspective philosophique, de l'intérêt éthique du dialogue pour l’éducation morale, en utilisant plus spécifiquement comme cadre théorique l’éthique de la sollicitude de Nel Noddings. Après avoir élaboré une analyse critique du paradigme moral que représente le dialogue « à la Socrate », notre thèse adresse la question de la portée éthique du dialogue dans le contexte spécifique de l’éducation morale contemporaine, en examinant trois théories éducatives spécialement influentes au Québec : celles de Lawrence Kohlberg, de John Wilson et de Matthew Lipman. Notre recherche présente un examen critique des conceptions du dialogue défendues dans ces théories. Elle propose une manière différente d’appréhender le dialogue moral qui devient, à travers l’éthique de la sollicitude, lié autant à un savoir être-en-relation qu’à un savoir raisonner. La thèse vient enfin démontrer la portée du « virage éthique » que la perspective relationnelle de sollicitude détermine pour éduquer au dialogue moral.

Ce mémoire vise à explorer le thème de l’attention au sein de deux corpus théoriques : la philosophie de T.W. Adorno et les éthiques du care. L’attention est ici à comprendre comme une notion à la fois épistémique et morale, comme le moment de connaissance de l’autre et de ses besoins, qui vise et permet une réponse adéquate. Dans un premier temps, nous explorons le concept chez trois penseuses : Simone Weil, dont la notion d’attention a été influente dans les théories du care, qui s’y réfèrent fréquemment, puis Nel Noddings et Joan Tronto, deux éthiciennes du care. Malgré leurs différences, nous défendons que ces trois conceptions se rejoignent sur deux points : 1. l’attention y est considérée comme une disposition morale importante et 2. elle se caractérise par une attitude subjective de détournement de soi, de réceptivité et d’ouverture. Dans un second temps, nous retraçons les thèmes de la pensée d’Adorno à même d’esquisser ce en quoi consiste une attention juste aux besoins d’autrui. Plus précisément, nous abordons ses considérations sur les rapports de connaissance entre sujet et objet, et nous offrons une lecture de ses thèses sur le besoin. Par-là, nous entendons défendre que la philosophie adornienne offre des nuances intéressantes à la manière dont le thème de l’attention est théorisé dans le corpus du care : elle invite à une réflexion critique du sujet attentif sur lui-même, et à une compréhension du besoin comme pointant vers les relations sociales qui le produisent. Ainsi, elle approfondi le potentiel critique d’une théorie de l’attention. / This master’s thesis explores the theme of attentiveness within two theoretical corpuses: the philosophy of T.W. Adorno and the ethics of care. Attentiveness is to be understood here as both an epistemic and a moral notion, as the moment of knowledge of another and of his or her needs, which aims and allows for an adequate response. First, I explore the concept in three thinkers: Simone Weil, whose notion of attentiveness has been influential in care theories, which frequently refer to it, and then Nel Noddings and Joan Tronto, two care ethicists. Despite their differences, I argue that these three conceptions converge in two respects: 1. attentiveness is regarded as an important moral disposition; and 2. it is characterized by a move away from the self, a subjective attitude of receptivity and openness. Secondly, I retrace themes in Adorno's thought which may be relevant in outlining what constitutes a just attentiveness to the needs of others. More specifically, I address his considerations on the relation of knowledge between subject and object, and offer a reading of his theses on need. By so doing, I intend to argue that Adorno’s philosophy offers interesting nuances to the way in which the theme of attentiveness is theorized in the corpus of care: it invites to a critical reflection of the attentive subject on itself, and to an understanding of needs as pointing towards the social relations producing it. In this way, it deepens the critical potential of a theory of attentiveness.

Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να παρουσιαστούν οι ιδέες του Καντ σχετικά με την ηθική αγωγή των παιδιών. Η δομή της εργασίας βασίζεται στην παραδοχή ότι η παιδαγωγική θεωρία του δεν μπορεί να κατανοηθεί αποκομμένη από την ηθική και πολιτική φιλοσοφία του. Μάλιστα, αποτελεί σημαντικό τμήμα της, καθώς διερευνά τη δυνατότητα και τους τρόπους ηθικοποίησης των ανθρώπινων υποκειμένων. Θεωρείται καθοριστική για την επίτευξη του ύψιστου αγαθού για το ανθρώπινο είδος, δηλαδή την ηθική κοινωνία με τη μέγιστη ευδαιμονία και την καθολική ηθικότητα. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται κάποιες γενικές παραδοχές της ηθικής θεωρίας του Καντ σχετικά με το ανθρώπινο γένος. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο αναλύεται η θεωρία του Καντ σχετικά με την ηθική αγωγή των παιδιών. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τρία ερωτήματα που προκύπτουν απ’ την ανάλυση της θεωρίας του Καντ για την ηθική αγωγή. Το πρώτο θέμα που εξετάζεται είναι το πώς συνδυάζεται η πειθαρχία και ο καταναγκασμός με την ελευθερία και την αυτονομία των μαθητών. Ένα άλλο σημείο που χρήζει σχολιασμού είναι το αν η ηθική αγωγή είναι τελικά απαραίτητη για την ηθική τελειοποίηση των μαθητών, μιας και σύμφωνα με τον Καντ όλοι οι άνθρωποι γνωρίζουν a priori τον ηθικό νόμο. Το τρίτο και τελευταίο σημείο προς ανάλυση πραγματεύεται τον ρόλο των συναισθημάτων στην ηθική αγωγή. / The purpose of this study is to present the ideas of Kant on moral education of children. The structure of the study is based on the assumption that his theory on education cannot be comprehended in isolation from his moral and political philosophy. Indeed, it comprises an important part of it, since it examines the possibility and the ways of moralisation of human beings. His theory on moral education is considered as crucial for the accomplishment of the highest good for the human race, which is the moral community with the utmost happiness combined with the universal morality. The first chapter includes some basic assumptions of Kant's moral theory related to the human race. In the second chapter Kant's theory on moral education of children is analysed. Chapter three poses three questions, which derive from the analysis of Kant's theory on education. The first issue discussed is how discipline and necessitation are combined with pupils' freedom and autonomy. An other topic worth of discussion is whether moral education is necessary for moral perfection of pupils, since according to Kant all human beings are a priori aware of the moral law. The third and final point of discussion refers to the role of feelings in moral education.