Passionate teacher/virtuous teaching: exploring the relationship between teacher passion, teacher calling, and character education.

Inculcating character and morality to our nation's school children has been of vital importance since the beginning of the first public school in America. Questions as to what morals and values should be taught and what the best way to teach these values and morals remain unanswered. Further, there is no explanation as to why some schools and teachers successfully implement character education and why others seem to have little effect on the children. This research study addressed whether or not the passion and calling of the classroom teacher affected the successful teaching of character education. This grounded theory, single case study examined this relationship at a rural school district in central Texas. Twenty-three classroom teachers participated in the research project. Teachers shared their points of view regarding how they perceived teaching — as a calling, job or profession. They then shared their beliefs on the teaching of character to their students. The responses gained from the study were informative as well as insightful. Six propositions for further research are presented from the findings.