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to caring as an individual virtue (Noddings, 2005, p. 18). If care is not included in
lists of virtues, justice is. The courageous principal could also be regarded as a just
person. Ahlman (1992, p. 11) posited that defining a just person mostly refers to
this person’s moral disposition, her/his permanent characteristic of will, and her/
his virtue. Ilies et al. (2005, pp. 389–390) provided a
four-component model of authentic leadership. Such
leaders show self-awareness, unbiased processing,
authentic behavior, and relational authenticity. One seeking to understand
Our principal here had a positive self-concept and — and practice —
showed emotional intelligence and integrity. She was
low in other-directedness and had high levels of self- educational excellence
esteem. She was open and truthful in relationships
with others. According to Duignan (2003, p. 2), would do well to consider
“Such leadership elevates the actions of the leader their own values and
above mere pragmatics or expediency.”
I had met this principal among the respondents of virtues...
my study but was not sure if she had chosen courage
as her value conception. The word “courage” is
found in the tables of both values and virtues. This
principal accordingly appears as a real Aristotelian representative of virtues: the
courageous one who does not fear disgrace. She independently defended the boy
and opposed the opinions of her skeptical colleagues. Her actions were practical—
but also an example of an excellent educator in the turmoil of today’s school world.

Summary
This article tells a story: starting with perplexed domestic animals and finishing
with a courageous principal. It is also a story of educators, sometimes worried but
mostly feeling all right. They were not observed in action but gave responses to
inquiries into their values—finally finding their 226 value expressions reduced,
clustered, and abstracted into three heuristic-phenomenographic data displays
(Tables 1, 2; Figure 3). Table 2, with practical and idealistic columns, especially
presents excellent educators who appreciate either an ordinary person’s good life
(work, home, religion…) or something idealistic (fairness, justice, resilience,
courage, respect for others, goodness…). As for the numbers of value conceptions,
the Idealistic category is the winner, with 162 conceptions against 64 in the Practical
category. Wouldn’t excellent educators need instrumental values from both categories
in school life?
The concept of virtue is more difficult than value, especially because
phenomenology is a philosophy, not a pure method. The informants were not asked
to define virtues but told about their “lived experiences” of helping, being helped,
and meeting with difficulties. I suggest that virtues here are representatives of the
theory of the right, which specifies which actions are right or which are wrong (cf.
Hurka, 2006). Weren’t the courageous principal’s actions right? And an example of
an excellent educator!
Defining educational excellence is no easy task, but the results of my dissertation
research indicated that, for the Finnish city that was the setting, such excellence
related to ethical considerations involving value and virtue. One seeking to

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