Online research in philosophy

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is prohibited in South Africa. Against legal gains, however, are marked increases in homophobic violence. Schools are deeply implicated in the development of a moral education premised on democracy and sexual equality. This paper sought to examine the ways in which parents situated within diverse social contexts define, regulate and entrench the right to sexual equality, analyzing their implications for moral education in schools. The data were derived through an interview-based study of 17 (...) parents of learners across five secondary schools in two provinces in the country. Hetero-morality was found to be particularly powerful limiting the rights of gays and lesbians. The social and cultural processes through which hetero-morality is upheld reproduce negative outcomes for gays and lesbians. Despite this, the paper finds that parents are capable of engendering support for sexual justice and building alliances with schools to promote a new version of morality. The paper presents further warrant for working with parents in the development of moral education premised upon sexual rights. (shrink)

This mixed-methods study explored the moral growth of undergraduates in a recreation management internship experience. The quantitative phase reported moral judgement gains in Personal Interest and Post-conventional schema, and N-2 scores, as measured by the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2), among 33 interns. The case-study method used a pattern matching technique to show congruence between the theoretical patterns of Neo-Kohlbergian theory of moral development and observed patterns of judgement and action among 10 intern cases representing low and high levels of (...) post-conventional reasoning as measured by the DIT-2. (shrink)

The aim of this research was to investigate the attitudes of Israeli Arab (n = 259) and Jewish (n = 259) high school students toward extrinsic and intrinsic values. A questionnaire, which consisted of eight value scales in two groups?extrinsic and intrinsic values?was administered. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with 31 statements on a five-point Likert scale. Jewish students who experience school-based values education endorsed more intrinsic values (e.g. autonomy: Jews M = 4.27, SD = (...) .53; Arabs M = 3.92, SD = .83), whereas Arab students, whose education as a minority group focuses on education towards achievement, endorsed more extrinsic values (e.g. attractiveness: Jews M = 3.56, SD = .82; Arabs M = 3.96, SD = .84). The findings suggest that the use of a more refined and complex analysis of extrinsic?intrinsic scales yields multiple interpretations of moral education in a modern world. This research may contribute to the discussion on moral education for minority groups, especially where they are a distinct minority in a society where they are surrounded by different cultural values. The growing cultural diversity in the Western world requires that through moral and civic education, schools explicitly expose their students, and especially minority groups, to the diverse interpretations of values and to the need to both respect differing interpretations, on the one hand, and to challenge them, on the other. (shrink)

One of the major challenges facing modern-day secular states is the issue of social integration. The issue discussed in this article is how it is possible to arrive at unifying values in a multicultural society that is characterised by secularisation and disintegration of the Christian hegemony of former times on the one hand and by the emergence of cultural and religious diversity on the other. The analysis is centred around Norwegian kindergarten, which represent a key institution for communicating values and (...) morals in contemporary Norwegian society. The objects clause states that the kindergarten is based on the fundamental values of Christian and humanistic heritage and traditions, combined with values that are expressed in different religions and philosophies and that are also clearly expressed in the Declaration of Human Rights. I argue that the objects clause can be understood as a form of ?common ground strategy.? This can be seen as a possible unifying values base and a key strategy for future social integration, across cultural affiliations. (shrink)

Erikson?s construct of generative concern for future generations seems a plausible structure for supporting environmental behavior and socialization in the family. The present study of 44 Canadian middle-class families with a focal child aged 14?16 years, examined variations in generative concern among parents and their children and tested how such variations were related to differences in environmental values and behaviors in the family, as measured by a number of standard and novel scales and self-reports. Results showed that adolescent generative concern (...) on the Loyola Generativity Scale predicted positively adolescent environmental and prosocial behaviors and was, in turn, predicted by an authoritative parenting style and maternal generative concern. Furthermore, an emphasis on environmental-socialization values and practices by parents was associated positively with higher parent-generativity scores, and parents? environmental actions and values, in turn, predicted adolescent behaviors. This study provides preliminary support for the role of generative concern in supporting environmental socialization in the family context. (shrink)

Character education considers teachers to be role models, but it is unclear what this means in practice. Do teachers model admirable character traits? And do they do so effectively? In this article the relevant pedagogical and psychological literature is reviewed in order to shed light on these questions. First, the use of role modelling as a teaching method in secondary education is assessed. Second, adolescents? role models and their moral qualities are identified. Third, the psychology of moral learners is critically (...) examined, using Bandura?s social learning theory as point of departure. It turns out that role modelling is rarely used as an explicit teaching method and that only a very small percentage of adolescents recognises teachers as role models. If role modelling is to contribute to children?s moral education, teachers are recommended to explain why the modelled traits are morally significant and how students can acquire these qualities for themselves. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to explain why and how dispositions can operate as a mechanism for enhancing teacher candidates? moral sensibilities. Dispositions conjoin the knowledge and skills of teaching with the commitments one has to achieve intended purposes. Dispositions build candidates? awareness of their own perceptions (and misperceptions) and how they can best connect their intentions with their practice, given their perception of the specific teaching situation. Teacher education programs foster candidates? moral sensibilities when they help candidates connect (...) their intention with their perception and with their practice. After exploring a conceptual rationale, three teacher candidates? case study analyses are presented, illustrating a window into candidates? inclinations toward particular behaviors and their awareness, or lack of awareness, into how they perceive teaching situations and connect their intention and practice. (shrink)

A mixed methods approach was used to understand moral reasoning and empathy in 12- to 18-year-old adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) compared to same age typically developing (TD) youth. Adolescents completed measures assessing empathy (perspective-taking, personal distress, and empathic concern), and moral reasoning, as well as a qualitative interview asking them to discuss a challenging sociomoral situation and recount their moral competencies and strengths in difficult situations. For quantitative results, both groups demonstrated similar empathic concern, but adolescents with (...) HF-ASD had significantly higher personal distress and lower moral reasoning than TD youth. Qualitative results suggest that adolescents with HF-ASD perceived themselves as having empathic concern but struggled to use these feelings to support their actions in spontaneous challenging sociomoral situations. Results suggest that teachers should be educated in providing specific guidance to adolescents with HF-ASD about how to express empathic concern in ways that promote mutually rewarding relationships. (shrink)

Through socio-cultural analysis of the discourse of bullying, the present article aims to show that moral learning is less about teaching children the difference between right and wrong and more about making available to them what Tappan and Wertsch describe as the mediational means to engage in their own moral learning. Bullying is explained in Bakhtinian terms as a form of ?authoritative discourse?. Both moral education and manipulative adolescent bullying are presented as, in a broad sense, forms of political practice. (...) The same 13-year-old girl was recorded as she talked with peer ?counsellors? about her own bullying and then a fortnight later in the course of directing and featuring in a tutor-group video which aimed to introduce younger pupils to their new school. Through the inter-animation of social voices, new moral ideas are appropriated by the participants. In a succession of ?zones of proximal development?, students support and ?scaffold? each other?s thinking in their progression towards changed levels of moral awareness. (shrink)