Encouraging Justifiable Variability in the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model to Address Contextual Needs

The Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model has been field tested for over 50 years and continues to evolve. Adapting the model to fit purpose in a teacher or instructor’s specific environment aligns with Hellison’s lifelong assertion that teaching personal and social responsibility be viewed as a flexible and adaptable process. Practitioners are empowered to interpret and implement the model in a way suited for their specific teaching or instructional contexts. The purpose of our paper is to highlight flexibility within the structure of teaching personal and social responsibility and to encourage justifiably different applications in addressing different situations. Adaptations to the model are discussed through the lens of justifiable variability and with the goal of maintaining fidelity to key components of the model rather than causing toxic mutations. We further differentiate between the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model, programs, and aligned approaches.