Abstrakt
Morality can be linked with education in the broadest sense in connection with the various topics associated with this phenomenon. Th is manuscript focuses on the decision-making processes in contemporary teachers' work that are connected with morally dilemmatic situations.
Th e text deals with the problematics of moral dilemmas in teachers' work. It specifi cally focuses on the situation in Czech basic education.
Th e second half of the 20th century was characterized by an eff ort to professionalize various occupations, among them also teaching. If we are to accept the rather problematic concept of the professionalization of teaching, it is necessary to (constantly) fulfi l the attributes of the profession.
Th ese include professional autonomy. Its boundary is disputed and relativized.
Social pressure on schools, manager-like styles of running schools, and the increasing infl uence of parents on schools pose risks of improper interventions into professional decision making in teachers' work. In his work a teacher is often confronted with situations which require him to make a professional moral choice.
Th ese are confl ict situations that require the teacher to make a fundamental decision and, depending on his professional and personal characteristics, they have signifi cant consequences for his subsequent work. Within his professional fi eld the teacher then has to give in to social pressure and to adopt his approach to something that he does not identify with, or he has to speak out against this pressure and confront the situation.
In these situations in which the teacher has to act against his own convictions and gives in to pressure from his environment, the culture of his own institution, or his colleagues and parents, the long-term eff ect and constant presence of these dilemmas may lead to him suff ering from professional moral distress. It is possible to assume that the emergence of professional moral distress is also dependent on the individual characteristics of each teacher.
Th ese include, for example, the length of his professional career in the institution and his experience or personal characteristics. As Mareš (2017a) states, so far only scholars from abroad have dealt with the theoretical identifi cation and diagnostics of moral distress.
Th is manuscript declares that the prevailing sources of professional dilemmas among teachers in basic schools come from the management, parents, colleagues, and increasing (unsolvable) demands from education policy.