FOSTERING TEACHERS’ MORAL AND ETHICAL CULTURE IN BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

The article addresses the issue of developing the moral and ethical culture of the modern teacher in the context of blended learning as one of the leading components of professional competence and a factor ensuring the quality of education. The relevance of the topic is driven by the transformation of the educational environment, the increasing role of digital technologies, and the need to maintain stable ethical standards of pedagogical interaction under the combination of face-to-face and distance formats. The study уточifies the essence of teachers’ moral and ethical culture as an integral personal-professional quality that encompasses a system of moral values, professional norms, beliefs, responsibility, the ability to make ethical choices, and reflective self-analysis. The structural components of teachers’ moral and ethical culture (cognitive, activity-operational, and motivational-value) are characterized, and their functional significance in pedagogical activity is determined, including ensuring a humanistic orientation of teaching, fairness and correctness of assessment, pedagogical tact, justice, tolerance, and respect for students’ dignity. Particular attention is paid to the specific ethical challenges of blended learning: adherence to principles of pedagogical ethics in online communication, ethical regulation of digital interaction, ensuring academic integrity, confidentiality and psychological safety of participants in the educational process, and preventing discrimination and cyberbullying. The article proposes directions and pedagogical conditions for fostering teachers’ moral and ethical culture in a blended format: integrating ethical content into professional training and in-service development, systematic work with moral-choice cases, modeling professional-ethical situations, developing and implementing local codes of ethics, mentoring, and enhancing pedagogical reflection and a culture of professional communication in the digital environment. It is concluded that teachers’ moral and ethical culture is a key prerequisite for productive pedagogical interaction and for maintaining a positive moral and psychological climate in a blended educational environment. Further research should focus on developing diagnostic tools and practice-oriented programs for teachers’ ethical training for online/offline work.