Online research in philosophy

Abstract The study was designed as a test of an especially constructed series of dilemma discussion methods for an experimental group of female offenders and their guards. The programme conducted on prison grounds, consisted of a five?month programme for the offenders and a separate ten?month programme for the staff. The results indicated that the experimental group of inmates improved on both the Defining Issues Test (DIT), an estimate of moral judgement and the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (SCT), an estimate of (...) ego development, when compared to a random group. The results for the staff programme were similar except that initially the guards? scores were much lower than those of the inmates, especially on the DIT. Two?year, follow?up information indicated that the experimental group of females achieved more positive outcomes than did the controls. Implications for prison reform from an educational and developmental perspective are stressed. (shrink)

Abstract After a brief discussion on the need for more effective teacher education programmes in the United States, the article presents a first attempt to link moral and psychological education with a teacher training curriculum. Employing a sample of pre?service teachers, the course in educational psychology was redesigned to deliberately teach counselling techniques as a means of stimulating ego and moral development. The results indicate positive shifts on both the Loevinger test of ego development and Kohlberg post?conventional moral maturity using (...) the Rest, Defining Issues Test. The relation between teacher training and development is detailed. It is strongly suggested that teacher education should adopt a developmental framework for both goals and instructional strategies. (shrink)

A study of experienced teachers is used to illustrate a developmental methodology for promoting technical performance dimensions and moral and conceptual reasoning based on Sprinthall's and Thies-Sprinthall's (1983) principles of new social role-taking and guided inquiry. Called the learning-teaching framework (LTF), the theoretical and applied approach embeds new role-taking, guided inquiry, balance, support and challenge, continuity and instructional coaching in educational programming across the teacher professional development career span. The study was a 7-month quasi-experimental intervention of expert teachers (...) participating in a professional development program to support peer coaching (e.g. a form of collaborative inquiry which prompts teachers to initiate complex new roles as peer coaches in which they plan, demonstrate and practise new models of teaching). The aims of the study were to encourage new social role-taking, support new learning in effective teaching, encourage new complex performances in coaching and support conferences, and promote gains in moral and conceptual reasoning. Significant positive gains in learning, performance and moral judgement reasoning were achieved. The study highlights the benefits of using the LTF as a framework for educational programming and teacher character development programmes that are based on similar theoretical assumptions. (shrink)

Despite the increased number of moral development programmes on the elementary and secondary school level (Blatt and Kohlberg, in press; Cooney, 1977; Turiel, 1966), there have been few investigations of the effectiveness of college programmes in increasing students? level of moral judgment. The present study examined the influences on moral growth of a combined full?time helping and full?time academic experience for a group of college undergraduates. It was expected that the helping experiences would lead to increased moral judgments since similar (...) programmes on the high school level have produced such growth (Mosher and Sprinthall, 1971). (shrink)