Moral Education for Post‐Conventional Thinking

Abstract:

Concern for values in education is growing. In Canada and other countries, educationalists are becoming more aware of the need for providing for full and open discussions about moral matters. Kohlberg in the United States, Beck in Canada, and Wilson in Great Britain are three leading theorists who are involved in experimental work in moral education. In this paper, some of the ideas of these theorists are compared with reference to the development of post‐conventional moral thinking in people.     

The pedigree of the modern school

Abstract:

The article draws upon the work of two people, Lawrence Stenhouse and Derek Morrell, who in the 1960s offered a vision of education based upon, first, the moral conviction that a liberal and humane education was essential for all and for society, second, the belief in a curriculum agenda in which such moral conviction might be reconciled with moral uncertainty, and, third, the recognition of the indispensability of a democratic approach to making that reconciliation possible. The article shows how that vision has been dimmed by a prevailing social philosophy and political practice, sadly abetted by some in universities who should know better.     

Exemplarity,expressivity, education

ABSTRACT

This article proposes that Catherine Elgin and Nelson Goodman’s work on exemplification is relevant for discussions within moral philosophy and moral education. Generalizing Elgin and Goodman’s account of exemplification to also cover ethics, the article develops a two-factor account of moral exemplarity. According to this account, instantiation and expressivity are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for someone or something to function as a moral exemplar. Applying this two-factor account of exemplarity to discussions within the philosophy of moral education the article then argues that it is the expressive aspect of moral exemplars, which explains and justifies the educational significance of such exemplars. The article concludes by discussing the similarities and differences between the expressivity account and the transparency criterion formulated by Michel Croce and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza in a recent paper.     

Catastrophes and primary school drawing course design for moral education in China

Abstract

This paper examines how drawing classes can contribute to moral education in primary schools. This paper uses class observation, interviews with teachers and students, and analysis of students’ work to highlight how the students articulate moral concerns by drawing and designing future-oriented architectures, which aims at preventing natural and social catastrophes. It suggests that the design of this drawing class provides new possibilities of doing moral education in China’s primary schools. The drawing class made possible the articulation of becoming moral subjects, which is able to integrate ‘harmony’ into the younger generation’s value system, world views and the possibilities they envision for themselves and human-nature relationships.     

Moral and Religious Education for Nigeria

Abstract

The paper considers moral and religious education programmes appropriate for Nigeria. Starting with a brief analysis of the current crisis in moral, spiritual and political beliefs, the paper progresses by analysing traditional Nigerian education and the approach to moral education which it advocated. It then analyses the epistemological underpinnings of traditional moral education as well as the social institutions supporting it. A brief section outlining certain shortcomings in traditional education follows. This is then followed by a consideration of contemporary approaches to both moral and religious education by focussing on the question of the possible independence of moral from religious education. Having agreed with certain writers that the two are independent, the paper concludes with a sub‐section on the aims of moral education as a distinct activity.     

Review Article: John Wilson as moral educator

Abstract

John Wilson's work as moral educator is summarized and evaluated. His rationalist humanistic approach is based on a componential characterization of the morally educated person. Such a person consistently manifests a unity of reflection, feeling, belief, and acting under the logically structured rubrics of PHIL, EMP, GIG and KRAT, and exemplifying the formal features of ‘moral opinion’. The rationale and conceptual status of the components is discussed, as is the view that the concept of education entails that teachers be moral educators. This involves cultivating autonomous rationality with respect to the unconscious, motivation, day‐to‐day moral decision‐making, and the emotions; in the latter case there are extensive applications in religious education. Finally, certain weaknesses and pre‐eminent strengths of Wilson's position are indicated, and comparisons briefly made with the views of McPhail, Peters, Frankena and Kohlberg.     

Moving beyond: narratives of higher educational aspirations among descendants of immigrants in vocational training

Abstract

While the scholarly work on the second generation of immigrants has scrutinised both high educational achievers and marginalised groups, less attention has been paid to those in between and their aspirations. In this article, we draw on interviews with 35 adolescents pursuing vocational education in Norway. Our analysis takes as its point of departure a seemingly recurring paradox throughout the interviews. While all the interviewees are in their second year of vocational training, the majority express aspirations of moving beyond vocational occupations and attaining higher education. Building on the scholarship on class and moral worth, we argue that classificatory struggles about value represent an important but often overlooked context of integration. When the students position themselves as individuals who will move on to higher education, their aspirations can be understood as acts of self-constitution and moral boundary work.     

The Professional Approach to Moral Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer a definition of the professional approach to moral education and to contrast it with what will here be called the commonsense approach. The labels ‘professional’ and ‘commonsense’ are to be taken as evaluatively neutral. They are chosen simply for convenience; what is important is the two conceptually distinct ways of approaching moral education to which they refer. As will be emphasized later, they are not alternative conceptions of moral education. The commonsense approach, in some form, is necessarily part of moral education in any context; the question is whether, in schools, we move beyond it and become professional as well..     

Education as a Moral Practice

The interest in moral education has focused largely on the teaching of morality or on nurturing moral qualities and virtues or on the "moral atmosphere" of the school; but little, comparatively speaking, has been written about education itself as essentially a moral practice. Failure, in this respect, has damaging results. First, the practice of education goes adrift from its moral roots — and serves particular ends such as economic well-being or citizenship as conceived by those in power. Secondly, the programmes of moral or personal and social education are isolated from the moral context in which they make sense. These issues are addressed in the lecture.     

Some Old Wine and Some New Bottles: Religious and Moral Education in New Zealand

Abstract:

This article briefly describes and accounts for the present resurgence of interest in moral education in New Zealand. The tendency has been for moral education to be equated with sex education or religious instruction and the present debate stems in part from the former and spills over into the latter of these and is further complicated by a suggested merger between Church and State schools. The development of present legislation regarding religious instruction is traced and the current situation outlined. Religious and moral education in schools have, in the past, been matters of generally ineffective compromises which are likely to be perpetuated under a highly centralised situation with debate on a national, political level.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the current situation and problems of moral education in Canada today. After a brief summary of some multicultural dimensions of the Canadian context, three difficulties in point of view are discussed. The first concerns the status and nature of official policy on moral education within Canadian educational jurisdictions. The second identifies two general directions of contemporary change in Canadian society with high potential to affect moral education in incompatible ways. Finally, it is argued that the most crucial problems revolve around the central role of the teacher in moral education efforts.     

Deceptiveness in Co‐operation and Competition

Abstract:

The need for a new role for guidance in secondary schools is stressed. Guidance through the curriculum is presented as a means of stimulating cognitive, moral and ego development by secondary school pupils. An experimental curriculum in moral education is described and evaluated. Highlights of the different phases are presented along with a rationale for this new approach. High school pupils learned the process of moral dilemma discussions, developed counselling and teaching skills and then lead moral dilemma discussions with younger children. The results indicated positive changes by the teenagers on estimates of moral maturity employing the Kohlberg Interviews and Ego Development through the Loevinger test. The results are compared to other current studies and general implications for curriculum development, guidance and moral education are drawn.     

Moral Theory and Educational Practice: a Reply to Ian Gregory

Abstract

Taking terminological questions as a starting point the authors give an overview of the theory and practice of moral education in Germany. Special emphasis is given to the historical background of current theories of moral development as well as to legal and political questions concerning the present state of moral education in W. Germany. The authors are clear about the ways which should be chosen and the issues which should be dealt with if moral education is to meet the tasks and challenges posed by modern society and by problems of democracy, peace, and ecology. Nevertheless, they are sceptical whether these will be attempted by moral education in W. Germany.     

Self-determination theory,morality, and education: introduction to special issue

ABSTRACT

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is an empirically based organismic theory of human motivation, development, and well-being that shares many points of interest with the fields of moral development and moral education. Yet, SDT has been largely disconnected from these fields so far. How can we define and empirically assess autonomous moral motivation? How is moral autonomy achieved in the course of development? And what are the relationships between leading a moral life and happiness? These questions have been occupying moral psychologists and educators for a long time. They are focal for SDT, as well. This special issue highlights various lines of intersection between SDT, morality and education. Contributions either expand SDT into the moral domain or incorporate elements of SDT into moral theory with the ultimate goal of integrating fields that inherently belong together.     

A Survey of Primary School Teachers’ Understanding and Implementation of Moral Education in Trinidad and Tobago 1

Abstract

Results from a survey of teachers’ understanding and implementation of moral education in primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago are presented here, against consideration of the role of moral education in schooling. The paper discusses the range of moral curricula available for the implementation of moral education in schools and constraints on implementation in the classroom. It also compares the need for and applicability of moral education programmes in developing and developed countries. In Trinidad and Tobago, noted for its population and religious mix, the role of moral education has been given importance from the highest levels at the Ministry of Education and elsewhere in government. The survey of a representative sample of teachers in primary schools throughout the country showed that they largely felt themselves responsible for introducing moral education to their pupils, although they rarely drew upon any specific curriculum. They tended to take a ‘virtues’ approach in their teaching of moral education, and were generally satisfied with the results of their efforts. There were few differences between understanding and implementation of moral education that could be attributed to age, sex, experience or responsibilities of the teacher, or the age of the pupils. These results are not just characteristic of a developing country as they mirror earlier findings in England and elsewhere.

     

Moral beauty and education

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to rekindle a version of the age-old view that aesthetic education can contribute to the development of virtue. It proceeds as follows. First, it introduces the moral beauty view, whereby the moral virtues are beautiful, and the moral vices ugly, character traits. Second, two ways in which moral beauty and ugliness can manifest themselves are considered: in people and in artworks. Third, it is argued that character education couched partly in aesthetic terms, and coupled with the cultivation of a sensitivity to moral beauty and ugliness, promise a solid and motivationally robust anchor for moral character development. It is suggested that introducing the notions of moral beauty and ugliness in our conceptual repertoire, coupled with the presence of moral beauty in our surroundings, can undergird more traditional pathways to virtue, whilst being congenial to the maintenance of virtue. Before closing, three objections against these suggestions are addressed, and some avenues for exploring the notion of moral beauty vis-à-vis moral motivation and education are proposed.     

Transforming Moral Education

Abstract

The anomalous character of approaches to moral education that focus on love and an ethic of care is explained in this paper. It is then argued that if moral education is to foster generative love, education itself must be redefined and moral education as we know it must be transformed.     

Moral Decision‐Making,Religious Reinforcement and Some Educational Implications

Abstract

There is a fundamental gap between people's assertions as to what is right or wrong and their actual behaviour. This has been traditionally attributed to akrasia or weakness of the will. This paper examines this concept, and the related positive concept of KRAT, and considers what moral education can do about it. Claims by R.B. Braithwaite and others that religious traditions can provide reinforcement are examined and attention is directed to some important qualifications. The implications for moral education are considered, and it is argued that attempts by moral educationists to get to grips with this weakness must involve their own participation in moral debate and in decisions concerning the moral ethos of society.

Anyone who observes human behaviour through moral spectacles soon discovers that there is a significant gap between people's assertions as to what is right or wrong and their actual behaviour. This gap is traditionally attributed to akrasia or weakness of the will. Any attempt to get to grips with moral education must (a) take cognizance of this phenomena and (b) consider what, if anything, can be done about it. In this paper I aim to do three things: (i) to draw attention to some significant factors associated with akrasia, (ii) to explore claims that religious traditions can help to overcome such weakness and (iii) to draw some general conclusions from these points for moral education.     

The Punishment of Children: a review of experimental studies

Abstract

This paper argues that punishment and moral education are compatible and attempts to refute the arguments put forward by J. D. Marshall in an earlier article in this journal to the effect that they are not. It is also argued here that punishment can assist moral education by providing necessary pre‐conditions for its success and can on occasion actually teach the child morally relevant information.