A Paradox of Care: [re]-Examining Education for Students with Diverse Needs (Charter Schools Analysis‪)‬

Introduction Whether explicitly or implicitly identified, caring for children is commonly used as the rationale for why teachers choose to teach, which pedagogical approaches are used, and which school reforms are popularized. Choices that are moral and ethical, according to Carol Gilligan (1982) are not primarily based on rationality. Gilligan asserts that ethical choices are informed by norms of care and relationship, describing care and justice as, "two moral perspectives that organize both thinking and feelings and empower the self to take the different kinds of action in public as well as private life" (p. 209). Her examination of the relational in moral reasoning combined with the work of scholars such as Nel Noddings (1984, 1992), has lead to a body of literature that examines the role that caring has specifically played in the context of schooling (Beck, 1994; Eaker-Rich & Van Galen, 1996; Larrabee, 1993; Miller, 1990; Prillman, Eaker, & Kendrick, 1994). This work has led to the conclusion that caring is both necessary for and in education (Noddings, 1992; Grumet, 1988; Eaker-Rich & Van Galen, 1996).