Philosophy of Education and Teacher Professional Ethics in Nigeria’s Basic Education System: A Study of Anambra State

This study examines the philosophy of education as a basis for teacher professional ethics in Nigeria's basic education system, focusing on primary and junior secondary schools in Anambra State, located in the South East geopolitical zone. Teachers occupy a distinctive moral position in society, and the philosophical analysis of their professional obligations, including duties of care, honesty, intellectual integrity, and commitment to the development of students' rational autonomy, has significant practical implications for teacher training and regulatory policy. Using a professional practice design, the study draws on philosophy of education from John Dewey, Nel Noddings's ethics of care, and African educational philosophy, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. Structured interviews with 30 primary school teachers, school inspectors, and philosophy of education academics in Awka and Onitsha provide the primary data. Findings reveal that teacher professional ethics in Anambra State basic education is poorly defined and rarely explicitly articulated, with most teachers relying on informal norms of classroom authority rather than philosophically grounded professional obligations. The study argues that an ethics of care framework provides the most appropriate philosophical basis for primary school teaching because it centres the moral relationship between teacher and student as constitutive of good professional practice. Recommendations include philosophy of education as a compulsory component of teacher training in Anambra State. Keywords: philosophy of education, teacher ethics, ethics of care, Anambra State, basic education.