Development Of Moral Competence Research Articles

Improving moral competence in adolescents through non-linear pedagogy in the context of physical education and sport.

The development of moral competence seems to be an important factor in the context of youth development. The problem with lack of moral competence among youth has often been observed. Physical education (PE) as a subject in school seems to provide space in the curriculum where moral development can and should be experienced and practiced. The participants were high school students (N.=235), divided into 4 groups: two experimental and two control groups. The difference between the experimental groups was the frequency of the experiment. The first group carried out two units a week for one semester, and the second group one lesson unit throughout the school year. As a research tool the Moral Competence Test was used. The results indicate statistically significant positive changes between the score of Community Index (C-Index) in pretest and post-test for both experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.04), and between pretest and follow-up in second experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.05). Whereas in the control groups, there were no significant changes in the comparison of terms (pretest, post-test, follow-up) (P>0.05). Based on the study, it can be determined that the curriculum of physical education, based on the model of non-linear pedagogy, can increase the level of moral competence among young people.

The Role of Sports Practice in Young Adolescent Development of Moral Competence.

The study examined the moral competence levels in adolescents participating in individual/team sports compared with those not undertaking sports at all. In total, 827 students aged 15–17 years old (45.4% boys, 54.6% girls) from randomly selected secondary schools in the Wielkopolska region in Poland participated in the study. The moral competences were assessed using the Lind’s Moral Competence Test. The students also answered questions concerning their statues of involvement in sport (not involved; amateur; professional), years of involvement, and the type of sport they partook in (individual/team). The results highlight that the moral competence level in most of the examined adolescents (71.6% girls, 76.8% boys) was low. Those who presented a high moral competence level were 10.4% in girls, 8% in boys. There was no interaction between modes of involvement in sport and moral competence when comparing adolescents. The moral competence levels were not correlated with years of training in either mode of involvement or with type of sports. Therefore, we assume that, at this age, the type of sport and the level of engagement do not differentiate moral competence level and that there must be more factors contributing to this. This opens new directions for further research on the role of external factors stimulating the socio-moral growth of youth.

Learning Global Citizenship Skills in a Democratic Setting: An Analysis of the Efficacy of a Moral Development Method Applied in China

To reduce the limitations of current measures of morality, and to focus on an effective approach to moral development among university students, the researchers adopted the Konstanz Method of Dilemma Discussion, to probe whether this type of method can also be applied among Chinese students, regarding the development of moral competence. ‘Moral Competence’, also known as ‘moral-democratic’ competence, is a concept developed by German psychologist, Professor Georg Lind. It is built upon the theories of Kohlberg, yet focuses on moral judgment and democratic decision-making competence. Lind designed a scale based on his dual-aspect theory, and suggested a follow-up method for building up moral competence. KMDD has been used in Germany and other countries for many years and has achieved positive results when applied. The initial application of this type of method in China started in 2012. After more than two years’ of planning and research, we used this method with different groups of Chinese | 37 | Learning Global Citizenship Skills in a Democratic Setting university students and tested its efficacy. Participants were set as the control and experiment groups. After analysing the preand-post-test data from all the participants, the result shows that the intervention effect with experiment groups was very significant with a noticeable Absolute Effect Size of C-score, while the competence score of control group regressed sharply due to reasons to be identified. Data from the experiment were analysed and intervention results were compared, to examine the efficacy of the method and to evaluate further application and research of KMDD in China.

An Evolutionary Route for the Moral Development of Nursing Students: A Constructivist Grounded Theory.

Developing moral competency is a main aim of educational systems, especially in healthcare-related disciplines. The aim of this study was to explore the moral development process in nursing students. This study used a constructivist grounded theory. Twenty-five semistructured, face-to-face interview with 22 participants were conducted to gather the data. The participants were nursing students and educators attending three nursing schools in Tehran. Moral development evolves within nursing students following a stepwise progression. Within each step or phase, students experience specific changes with regard to both their practical skills and their moral capabilities and competencies. Three main steps were identified: moral transition, moral reconstruction, and moral internalization. Techno-scientific competence, biomedical competence, and nursing competence are developed in each step, respectively. Moral competency in nursing students develops along with their competency as nursing practitioners. To facilitate progress through each phase, it needs to be ensured that the learning experiences that students are exposed to during each consecutive year of study facilitate as much as possible the development of moral competence.

Moral Competence, Personality, and Demographic Characteristics: A Comparative Study

The development of moral competence is affected by both internal and external factors and has been researched by many scientists. The present study investigated a) whether the five factors of personality, gender and geographical area would affect ones’ moral competence, b) whether the personality factors Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness would be correlated positively with moral competence in everyday life, whereas Extraversion and Neuroticism would be correlated negatively with morality, c) if there will be differences in students’ moral competence exhibited in everyday life and that expressed in PE/sports framework and d) whether type of school, factors of personality, as well as moral competence exhibited in sports-framework would all be significant factors for the interpretation of a student’s moral competence. The sample consisted of 331 junior high students (7th and 8th graders) (Mage = 12.47, SD = 0.740), who were given the Moral Competence Test Greek Version (Mouratidou et al. 2003), the Moral Judgment Test in Physical Education(Mouratidou et al. 2008), and the Inventory of Child Individual Differences (Besevegkis &amp; Pavlopoulos 1998). The results indicated that of the five-factor personality model only Conscientiousness can affect moral reasoning ability in everyday life and that the type of school can account for less than 5% of variance when predicting moral competence in high school students.

Competência Moral e Espiritualidade na Educação Médica: Realidade ou Desafio?

RESUMO Estudantes de Medicina iniciam a faculdade idealistas, mas muitos consideram sair indiferentes: este é o maior desafio da educação médica. Estudos ratificam uma involução da competência moral durante o curso. Outro interesse crescente no meio acadêmico é a espiritualidade. Objetivo Avaliar a relação entre competência moral e espiritualidade dos estudantes de Medicina. Métodos Estudo descritivo transversal, com 121 estudantes. A coleta foi realizada por meio do software limesurvey, contendo o TCLE e três questionários: sociodemográfico, teste de competência moral de George Lind, calculado em planilha do Excel, e escala de espiritualidade de Pinto e Pais-Ribeiro. Utilizou-se o software Stata 12.0 na análise. Resultados Ter religião está associado a maior espiritualidade. Em relação ao gênero feminino e a ter pais médicos, houve tendência de associação com espiritualidade elevada. O escore C manteve-se crescente durante o curso. Na relação entre espiritualidade e competência moral, estudantes com baixa espiritualidade apresentaram tendência a escore C maior. Conclusão Estudantes mais espiritualizados apresentam tendência a ter competência moral menor. O questionário de espiritualidade, contudo, está intrincado com dimensões religiosas, que tendem a limitar o desenvolvimento da competência moral na população estudada.

Development of Ethical Expertise: A Question of Courage

This article originates in my doctoral dissertation, Trust and Power: A Moral Challenge, published by Munksgaard, Copenhagen, in 1999. The dissertation, an exploratory study, contributes to a practical understanding of a philosophy of care and ethics. This article builds on the previous research, develops theory, and stands as a philosophical and theoretical contribution. With practical understanding of an ethic of care and its limitations, I have worked to develop some aspects of Patricia Benner’s formulations of how to act skillfully and ethically in nursing practice. Using a phenomenological/hermeneutic approach, I focus on the development of moral competence and, in this context, on specific personal qualifications such as significance of experience, situational understanding, sensing the concrete, and the need for courage.

O significado e medida da competência moral revisitada: um modelo do duplo aspecto da competência moral

O presente artigo enfoca as questões metodológicas envolvidas na mensuração da competência moral, conforme definida por Lawrence Kohlberg. Compara o Moral Judgment Test (MJT) com a entrevista de juízo moral elaborada por Kohlberg (MJI - Moral Judgment Interview) e com o DIT (Defining Issues Test) de James Rest. Os aspectos cognitivo e afetivo são contemplados no MJT de forma a não se confundirem, o que possibilita sua utilização na avaliação de processos de intervenção. Nestas situações pode-se verificar com maior clareza, através do MJT se as mudanças alcançadas referem-se a atitudes ou de fato ao aspecto da competência moral. O papel dos processos educacionais nas famílias, escolas e universidades é valorizado no desenvolvimento da competência moral.