TPACK-E: Integrating Ethical Knowledge as a Foundational Domain in Teacher Education

Abstract This study addresses a critical gap in the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework by integrating ethical knowledge (EK) as a foundational domain, resulting in the TPACK-E model. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 teacher education experts in Iran, thematic saturation was achieved, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings establish teaching as fundamentally an ethical endeavor requiring teachers to serve as moral exemplars, while identifying four essential teacher virtues: ethical, intellectual, professional, and civic. TPACK-E implementation requires ethics embedded across curricula, role modeling by teacher educators, pedagogy centered on ethical dilemmas, and institutional policies prioritizing ethical frameworks. Theoretically, TPACK-E redefines teacher knowledge by positioning ethics as foundational, synthesizing virtue ethics, phronesis, and critical pedagogy. This study contributes to the growing body of work on AI-TPACK and Intelligent-TPACK frameworks, which similarly recognize the centrality of ethics in technology-mediated teaching. Practically, teacher education programs must prioritize ethics through mentorship, culturally responsive content, and ethical assessment metrics. Given that findings are contextualized within Iran's centralized educational system, cross-cultural validation is warranted before claiming broader applicability.