Homeroom teachers’ professional judgments: Analysis of considerations, justifications, and structure

This collective case study examines Israeli homeroom teachers' professional judgment considerations, justifications, and structure. Findings reveal three key considerations shaping judgments: student-centered (needs, welfare, motivation), teacher-centered (professional style, values, and beliefs), and organization-centered (school structure and division of labor). Justifications include technical (designing effective practices), moral (adhering to ethical principles and values), and normative (factoring efficiency and teachers’ beliefs) rationalizations. A branched judgment structure emerged, illustrating how these considerations and justifications interrelate in a situated, multi-optional, and practice-oriented process. The findings challenge the typical technical-moral dichotomy concerning teacher judgment, providing a nuanced and context-dependent understanding of professional judgment in education. • Teachers' judgment considerations focused on the student, teacher, and school. • Teachers' judgments included technical, moral, and hybrid normative justifications. • Judgment justifications varied in scope and content across the focal considerations. • Judgments were structured with situations, contextual grounds, reasoning, and means.