Mentoring as ethical care: trust, responsibility, and student flourishing in Sri Lanka

This conceptual paper theorizes teacher mentoring as ethical care, grounding its philosophical and moral foundations in the Sri Lankan context. This paper addresses a theoretical gap in the literature by moving beyond empirical practice to philosophically interrogate mentoring as a means of achieving holistic student flourishing. The study engages in philosophical and conceptual inquiry and draws on multiple ethical frameworks. Through conceptual decomposition and comparative synthesis, the study constructs a cross-cultural ethical framework applicable beyond the Sri Lankan context. A Western framework for the use of ‘care’ and ‘ethics’ in mentoring (Noddings, Aristotle) is synthesized with Eastern and Religious moral frameworks (Buddhist Karuna, Hindu Guru-Shishya, Islamic responsibility, Christian Agape) . This interdisciplinary corpus is thus rooted in the socio-cultural realities of multi-ethnic Sri Lankan classrooms and post-conflict reconciliation efforts. The study proposes a conceptual model in which ethical care is realized through three interconnected cornerstone components: establishing relational trust, moral responsibility, and students’ flourishing. This study argues that mentoring is essentially a moral act, rather than a professional one. The study contends that, as ethical care, mentoring emphasizes the need for a strong foundation for teacher education reform and school policy in Sri Lanka. It serves to foster social cohesion and guide teachers to become genuine moral exemplars who can ensure that education serves the holistic well-being and social renewal of the nation.