Perceptions of Moral Agency

Research on moral development has been dominated bythe work of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest who havesought to construct and validate a universal model ofmoral development. Compared with other professions,teachers have shown disturbingly low levels of moralreasoning based on either Kohlberg's Moral JudgmentInventory (MJI) or Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT).This study was designed to test the hypothesis thatteachers' low mean-scores do not give an accuratepicture of their moral development. A Delphi studywas conducted, followed by interviews to gain a broadunderstanding of the perceptions and experience of agroup of preschool special needs teachers. It wasfound that these teachers face a wide range of moralchallenges, use very little moral language, feelisolated, and have few options for assistance inresolving moral dilemmas. The participants showed amarked consequentialist approach to moral reasoning,which helps explain their performance on tests basedon Kohlberg's model and there was some evidence of anethic of care. These findings should be of interestto faculty of teacher education programs and those inapplied ethics.

Autorentext

Stephen K. Pavlovic, Ed.D.: Studied Early Childhood Special Education at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. After receiving his degree, he taught preschool at Jakes Run Early Childhood Center in Fairview, WV for 5 years and currently is on the faculty at Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV.

Klappentext
Research on moral development has been dominated by the work of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest who have sought to construct and validate a universal model of moral development. Compared with other professions, teachers have shown disturbingly low levels of moral reasoning based on either Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Inventory (MJI) or Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT). This study was designed to test the hypothesis that teachers' low mean-scores do not give an accurate picture of their moral development. A Delphi study was conducted, followed by interviews to gain a broad understanding of the perceptions and experience of a group of preschool special needs teachers. It was found that these teachers face a wide range of moral challenges, use very little moral language, feel isolated, and have few options for assistance in resolving moral dilemmas. The participants showed a marked consequentialist approach to moral reasoning, which helps explain their performance on tests based on Kohlberg's model and there was some evidence of an ethic of care. These findings should be of interest to faculty of teacher education programs and those in applied ethics.