Moral Competence Research Articles

Giving Moral Competence High Priority in Medical Education. New MCT-based Research Findings from the Polish Context

Nowadays, healthcare and medical education is qualified by test scores and competitiveness. This article considers its quality in terms of improving the moral competence of future healthcare providers. Objectives. Examining the relevance of moral competence in medico-clinical decision-making despite the paradigm shift and discussing the up-to-date findings on healthcare students (Polish sample). Design and method. N=115 participants were surveyed with a standard Moral Competence Test to examine how their moral competence development was affected by the learning environment and further important factors. Results. The sample allowed the identification of a regress in moral competence during students’ pre-clinical curriculum, and progress during their clinical curriculum. A gender-related bias, a segmentation effect, and a pronunciation effect were noticed. Explanations. Scholarly literature usually reports a linear decrease of medical students’ C-scores resulting from, e.g., competitive trends in education. We identified such trends in terms of gender-specific competitive tactics. Religious and ethical affiliations were discussed to explain the unexpected gender bias and the related segmentation and pronunciation effects. The findings can be regarded as predictive for similar developments in educational institutions regardless of cultural contexts as the sample examined in this article represents medical education in a country facing a transition from a non-competitive to competitive tertiary education model, and between presecular and monocultural to secular and pluralist social ethics.

Health vs. Conscience Clause: Examining Access to Contraceptives and the Observance of Women’s Reproductive Rights in Poland

This paper advocates for educating the moral competence in the health and pharmacy professions to enable them to respect reproductive and sexual health as core public values and human rights. In certain cultures, doctors and pharmacists follow their conscientious objection (religious conscience clause) and decline to perform certain health services, including the provision of legal contraceptives in cases protected by legal and human rights. This may violate patients and purchasers rights. The paper also presents new findings obtained in Poland with N=121 women experimentally interviewed to examine their experiences as contraception purchasers, to assess their preference with regard to facing human vs. robotic pharmacist, to manage to manage the risk of refusal argued by the conscientious objection, and to score their moral competence with one of dilemmas included in the Moral Competence Test by G. Lind. It concludes that public values in reproductive health contexts must be better balanced and managed by democratic procedures and institutions.</br></br> Key Words: conscience clause, reproductive and sexual human rights, women s rights, value and principle plurality, moral competence, contraception, Moral Competence Test, thought experiment

The Reason of Conflict between Public Value and Individual Value of High School Student in China

Public value is a moral value system that social its members and enhances the development of society. It is also a code of conduct for each member of society. In recent years, moral decadence in high school students has witnessed a steady rise and their moral competence level can be confirmed though moral education s success or failure. This paper employs the moral competence test (MCT) as a state-of-the-art method that can simultaneously measure moral competence and moral orientation. Participants in this study were 279 senior high school students from grade one to three. The study finds that though their moral competence are similar, their moral orientation is considerably different. Participants moral value shows an external reverse to public value. Three main reasons that could possibly explain the conflict between individual value and public value; these include the low-value cognition ability, the severe influence of traditional lousy culture, and the lack of moral education.</br></br> Key Words: Public Value, Personal Value, Moral Competence Test (MCT), C-score, Moral Orientation, Moral Education

Validation of the Lithuanian Version of Moral Competence Test and Application of KMDD in Language Teaching / Learning Process at Vilnius University, Lithuania

The findings obtained by G. Lind using his original research instrument – the Moral Competence Test – suggest that universities lack the capacity to foster students’ moral competence development. The MCT has been translated into 39 languages, all of which have gone through the necessary validation procedure. The article reports on the MCT validation study for the 40th language, namely Lithuanian. The research sample consisted of 526 students of English/German/French languages, future foreign language teachers, in the 1 st to 4th years of study at two universities in Lithuania: the former Vilnius Pedagogical University and the Vilnius University. The majority of the respondents demonstrated low or medium level of moral competence. On the basis of this cross-sectional study (2019–2020), the MCT for Lithuanian has been successfully validated and certified. In the following article, we present and discuss all the validation criteria and revisit the theoretical background of MCT. We also argue for educating students in moral competence and evaluating the effects of moral competence promotion in academic contexts.

What, If Anything, Most Memorable Personal Moral Dilemmas Can Tell Us About Women’s and Men’s Moral Competence?

Most all popular moral reasoning or moral judgment tests are based on presenting subjects with two or more hypothetical moral dilemmas and asking them to make judgments on the moral quality of arguments supporting and questioning a protagonist’s decision (e.g., the Moral Competence Test by G. Lind). Although these tests have been insightful by tapping some aspect of individuals’ moral-cognitive schemas, moral maturity, or moral development, they also have limitations. Hypothetical moral dilemmas may be too abstract and impersonal, thus failing to create enough emotional salience. Learning more about real-life personally recalled moral dilemmas may reveal more about the individual’s moral mind and experiences. Objective. The current study was conducted to learn more about the personally experienced moral dilemmas, and how they relate to subjects’ level of moral competence and gender. Method. Subjects were asked to recall the most challenging personal moral dilemma; subjects completed the MCT test to measure moral competence. Results. Among some of the findings was that for both, men and women, higher moral competence scores were positively correlated with recalling personal moral dilemmas where the choice had to be made between some altruistic (care for others) and selfish actions. For men, it was the risk of compromising one’s status, whereas for women it was the risk of personal safety.

Moral Competence and Foundations of Moral Judgment. An Empirical Exploration of Concepts and New Possibilities for Understanding

The present study examines the relation between the moral intuitions proposed by the ‘Moral Foundations Theory’ according to J. Haidt and the moral orientations in relation with moral competence, as described by the ‘Dual-Aspect Model of Moral Behaviour’ according to G. Lind.It is an empirical exploration of the relation between the five foundational domains (and/or the corresponding two higher-order clusters) and the moral orientations, as this results from the theoretical assumptions of both theories, and the influence on and of the moral competence on these aforementioned relations. The shared affective and, at the same time, habitual characteristics of moral intuitions and moral orientations, although based on different theories (intuitionism, respectively, cognitivism) should converge in a dynamic relationship. The basic motivation is the need to overcome the affective-cognitive disjunction in the study of moral judgment, which is artificial. The human (moral) reasoning is always a situated and situating one, in a symbolic narrative universe, in which the cognitive-affective dichotomy forms a dynamic unity. This overstated dichotomy is only a methodological necessity, but unfortunately hypostasized in an explanatory mechanism that leads to the impermissible simplification of the phenomenon that it seeks to understand.The empirical results confirm the limits of both cognitive and intuitions paradigms and advocates for a more nuanced and dynamic approach in understanding the moral judgment within a more comprehensive conception on human personality. Finally, the implications for the contemporary psychology’ paradigm are discussed.

Panic and the Lack of Moral Competence. How We Can Help to Prevent Panic Pandemics

Often we have to decide on difficult problems and conflicts. For this, a certain level of moral competence is needed, in order to solve them as quickly and adequately as possible. Otherwise these problems and conflicts can overwhelm us, triggering a feeling of fear and panic, and making us react too slowly or inadequately, or both. Fear and panic can make us ignore problems and conflicts, attempt to “solve” them through brute force or deceit, or declare them to be beyond our responsibility and let an authority decide what to do. Often such makeshift solutions seem to work, but, more often, they have damaging effects. Therefore, society tries to curb criminal and anti-democratic activities through coercion, that is, through laws, law-enforcing institutions, and correction facilities – at high costs, and often with little efficacy. In this article I show that such coercion would not be needed if we gave all citizens an opportunity to develop their ability to solve conflicts and problems through thinking and discus-sion. Moral competence would immunize us against fear and panic, and thus also against immoral practices. Moral competence is not inborn in us, and it does not develop unless it is fostered through proper learning opportunities. Therefore, if we want to live together peace¬fully in a democratic society, we need to provide proper learning opportunities for everyone, not only of a few people. If the masses are infected by panic, a few rational people cannot stop this pandemic.

Introduction

It is a pleasure for me to introduce papers presented at the 14th InternationalSymposium „Moral Competence: Its Nature, Relevance, and Education” hosted by theInstitute of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University, Lithuania,on 23-24 July 2020, in collaboration with several academic institutions from abroad, suchas Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Due to the pandemic restrictions, asymposium was organized in an online mode. Six papers were revised and submitted tothis special issue as symposium proceedings, completed by two additional and relatedpapers. The contents offer a thorough insight into the concept of – and reasearch into – themoral competence defined by Georg Lind (Institute for Moral-Democratic Competence;formerly: University of Konstanz) and visualized by his Moral Competence Test (formerly:Moral Judgment Test) certified in 41 languages. In certain papers research findings andmethods based on further measuring instruments, as well as the alternative approaches tomoral judgment and decision making were applied and discussed (e.g., moral foundationsapproach).

Making Human Traits Visible, Objectively and Validly, through Experimentally Designed Questionnaires

Researchers who need valid and objective data for evaluating their theories or the efficacy of educational methods and programs have to choose between two equally undesirable alternatives: either they can use “objective” methods which have a questionable validity, or they can turn to “subjective” assessment methods with better validity. In other words, while subjective approaches to the study of human traits may be, or really are, valid, they lack objectivity, that is, they may be biased toward the researcher’s theory. On the other hand, objective approaches to the study of psychological traits often lack psychological underpinning but are solely designed to fit a certain statistical model. Thus, we cannot know what these instruments really measure. Here I present a new approach to the study of human traits, which claims to be objective as well as psychologically valid, namely the concept Experimental Questionnaire (EQ). An EQ lets us make traits visible without relying on dubious statistical assumptions. Thus, it makes it possible for the researcher to test the psychological theory underlying its designs. The EQ methodology is not only an idea, but it has been applied for constructing the Moral Competence Test (MCT) and for testing the assumptions about the nature of moral competence which were used to design it. So far, all the studies have clearly confirmed their validity. This makes the MCT suitable for testing hypotheses regarding the relevance and teachability of moral competence, and, therefore, also for evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of educational methods of fostering this competence. Experimentally designed questionnaires can also be used in other fields of educational and psychological research in which testable theories about the nature of its objects have been developed.

Reforming Tool to Measure MEDICAL ETHICS CONSCIOUSNESS of Korean Young Students

Purpose: This study complements some of the limitations of the past developed tool for measuring medical ethics consciousness of Korean young students. Method: This study was based on the past tool which was developed according to G. Lind of Germany. The validity process followed the verification procedure of Moral Competence Test (MCT) proposed by G. Lind. To get much higher validation, this study got advices from 3 specialist in the sphere of moral education. Results: This study adopted the result of the past medical ethics consciousness measurement tool. Its whole validation did cover three major processes, preference hierarchy by moral development, affective-cognitive par-allelism test, quasi-simplex structure of inter-correlations between the six moral orientations test by L. Kohlberg. This past tool showed weakness in the point of preference hierarchy test. Especially the tool got some strange situation at 1st stage and 4th stage. To back up this weakness, we made a decision to receive specialists’ advices. So we interviewed 3 people who is professor or research fellow in the sphere of moral education. We could arrived at more advanced level for medical ethics consciousness. Conclusion: This study showed the more advanced medical ethics consciousness tool. Next time it is necessary to generalized through deep research using much broader topics in the medical ethics.

AKHLAK DAN ADAB GURU PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM DALAM PERSPEKTIF KH. M. HASYIM ASY’ARI

Abstract: Islamic Religious Education is the most important part of the education system in Indonesia. This is because Islamic Religious Education is education, which contains moral, intellectual, and spiritual education. Meanwhile, teachers are the main component in the continuity of Islamic Religious Education (PAI). The number of PAI teachers continues to increase along with the number of schools and scholars of Islamic Education. However, the issue of the quality of basic competencies is the main problem. In the book Adab al ‘Alim wa al Muta'llim by Hadratussyaikh Hasyim Asy'ari explained that after faith and takwah, morals and ethic are very important foundations in the educational process. The purpose of this study is to determine the moral and ethic competence of teachers according to Hadratussyaikh Hasyim Asy'ari seen from the point of view of Islamic Education Philosophy. This study employed a qualitative approach to literature study with descriptive analytical data analysis. From this research, an ideal concept of basic competence can be generated according to KH. M. Hasyim Asy'ari Thought, which consists of 9 points. All of these points are in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers Chapter IV Articles 1, 2, and 10 which confirms that teacher competence includes pedagogic competence, personality competence, social competence, and professional competence obtained through professional education. In addition, it is also in accordance with the basic competencies of teachers, namely personal competence and social competence. These basic competencies can also be applied in all Islamic-based educational institutions to improve the quality of morals, ethics and adab of education personnel, especially for teachers. Keywords: Moral Competence, Hasyim Asy'ari, Teacher, Islamic Education, Islamic Education Philosophy.

Computing morality: Synthetic ethical decision making and behaviour

We find ourselves at a unique point of time in history. Following over two millennia of debate amongst some of the greatest minds that ever existed about the nature of morality, the philosophy of ethics and the attributes of moral agency, and after all that time still not having reached consensus, we are coming to a point where artificial intelligence (AI) technology is enabling the creation of machines that will possess a convincing degree of moral competence. The existence of these machines will undoubtedly have an impact on this age old debate, but we believe that they will have a greater impact on society at large, as AI technology deepens its integration into the social fabric of our world. The purpose of this special issue on Computing Morality is to bring together different perspectives on this technology and its impact on society. The special issue contains four very different and inspiring contributions.

Dominant Management Logics of Siyasetnamas – A Moral Management Perspective

This article examines the management perspectives in Islamic political history, which can contribute to the contemporary management and organizational knowledge (MOK). It attempts to find out the taken-for-granted assumptions and arguments that shape the Muslim scholars’ management perspective in history. To this end, political treatises in Islamic history (namely, 'siyasetnamas') and their managerial arguments are scrutinized through content analysis. By determining underlying dominant logics -assumptions that most siyasetnamas refer to- this article allows us a mental exercise to step out of the Western mindset, which is thought to be the best, and the only way to understand MOK and tries to introduce a moral management perspective from the history of Islam. Our results indicate that siyasetnamas’ dominant management logics could provide valuable implications to MOK with their emphasis on (i) considering society as the real owner of entities, (ii) having additional societal responsibilities, and (iii) moral competency of organizational actors.

What Morality and Religion have in Common with Health? Pedagogy of Religion in the Formation of Moral Competence

The aim of the article is to discuss how pedagogy of religion can contribute to the formation of moral competence and how this competence is in turn conducive to a new quality of life. Such analysis seems to be extremely important for modern educational theory. There are controversies concerning the role of morality in human life and its relationship with religion, and at the same time there is an increasing body of research that highlights the place and importance of religion in the formation of healthy individuals and societies. At the same time, the problem of the relationship between morality, religion and health is by no means new. The biblical writers already pointed out the connection between good and life, and between evil and death on the other hand. Both health and illness were taken to have their physical, inner, and spiritual dimensions. While Kulikova and Malchukova (2019) review the pedagogical and psychological subject literature, they lack references to the pedagogy of religion as a scientific discipline. This article aims to outline the Christian perspective on the formation of moral competence and its relationship with human health, understood as physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. The understanding of this relationships is built on anthropological and transcendent foundations. Christian anthropological perspective means the acceptance of the so-called “personalistic norm.” Christian transcendent framework of moral education refers to the divine reality of the only God, the Creator and Redeemer of man. Moral competence is the result of moral education, which aims at engaging all human faculties—reason, emotions, and will—in discovering, accepting and internalizing values. One way of fostering moral competence based on the pedagogy of religion is to use the principles of the so-called pedagogy of accompaniment and testimony.

Relations among social, emotional and moral competencies, reading and mathematical competence in students of secondary education

This research aims to study the relationship among social, emotional and moral competencies, reading comprehension, and mathematical competence. The study is cross-sectional and ex-post-facto, with a convenience sample of 209 students in 7th grade (1st level of Spanish Compulsory Secondary Education) in three schools. Reading and mathematical competence no significant differences were found with other variables. The data highlights significant differences in social, emotional and moral competencies. The lack of significant relations among the three key competencies has educational implications.

Exploring relational and moral features in medical students

ObjectivesWe aimed to explore empathy, moral competencies, callous traits, and temperament in a sample of medical students. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate differences in our variables across the 1st and 5th years of medical education and possible correlations between them. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study with 138 medical students. We resorted to self-reported instruments that were given at the end of classes: Barrett-Lennard Relational Inventory, Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa and San Diego Auto-questionnaire, Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, and Moral Competence Test. For the statistical analysis, we resorted to descriptive and inferential statistics, using non-parametric tests when data didn't follow a normal distribution. ResultsWe found no statistical difference between empathy scores in 1st (N=104, Mean=41.42, SD=22.48) and 5th year students (N=34, Mean=37.35, SD=23.35), t(136)=0.908, p=0.366. Callous traits were negatively correlated with empathy (r(136)=-0.444, p=0.000) and no correlation between moral competences and empathy (r(96)=0.029, p=0.779) was observed. We found a negative correlation between empathy and cyclothymic, anxious and irritable temperaments (r(136)=-0.334, p=0.000, r(136)=-0.281, p=0.001, r(136)=-0.400, p=0.000). ConclusionsOur scores corroborate previous evidence that medical students are empathic, have good moral standards and low callous traits. We saw no differences in empathy scores between the two years and future studies could explore the particulars of medical curriculums impacting this variable. In our study, empathy was negatively correlated with callous traits and linked with specific temperaments. Considering these variables at admission to medical school as well as preserving and improving them in medical education might offer better standards of care.

The relationship between resilience, moral sensitivity, and cultural competence among nurses

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the relationships between resilience, moral sensitivity, and cultural competence among nurses. A descriptive correlational design was employed. The study comprises 120 nurses. The resilience total scores and most of its domain scores were significantly and positively associated with the cultural competency total and domain scores. Additionally, the resilience total scores and some of its domain scores were significantly in relation to the moral sensitivity total and domain scores. Resilience total and domain scores were significantly and positively related to the moral sensitivity total and domain scores. The emergent correlations underscore the role that resilience plays in nurses’ moral sensitivity and cultural competence. The emergent correlations underscore the role that resilience plays in nurses’ moral sensitivity and cultural competence. The present findings suggest that nurse managers should develop delivery models that nurture resilience in nurses.

Pemikiran Pendidikan Islam al-Zarnuzi: Analisis Kritis Penghormatan Terhadap Ilmu dan Guru

A person's moral is reflected in morals. This can be obtained from education, especially Islamic education as al-Zarnuzi's thought is known for his moral messages in his Ta'lim al Muta'allim work, but so far many students have found failures in terms of moral competence, then this paper is discussed using library research that is by searching to collect, read and analyze the research problem in the books. The findings show that learning must intend and have a goal to seek the pleasure of Allah, written, repeated lessons that have been learned, deliberation, Taammul. In addition, al-Zarnuzi also explained some of the requirements in seeking knowledge in order to succeed. The students must be smart, have high curiosity, be patient, have money, listen to the instructions from the teacher, and have time to study. Furthermore, when viewed from the area of ​​time setting and the place where Shaykh al-Zarnuji lived, distance and time stretch between the past and the present. The problem that may occur today that it can be called weakness is that the instruments and tools used to develop education certainly cannot be applied just like that in the present. One example is the role and behavior of respecting teachers. If what al-Zarnuji says is explained exclusively, what ultimately happens is unconditional obedience. This is where future education will lose its significance. So a possible weakness arising from al-Zarnuzi's thought is a textual understanding of his work.

Does life skills development within sport predict the social behaviours and sports values of youth futsal players?

ABSTRACT The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether life skills development in sport helps predict the social behaviours and sport values of youth futsal players. Participants included 113 Brazilian male futsal players (Mage = 13.52 years, SD = 1.32). Data collection was conducted via the Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS), the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale (PABSS) and the Youth Sport Values Questionnaires 2 (YSVQ-2). Multiple regression analyses found that all eight life skills combined influenced participants’ behaviour towards teammates, moral values, status, and competence in futsal. Goal setting, emotional skills, and communication skills negatively predicted antisocial behaviours towards teammates. Teamwork, goal setting, and communication positively predicted participants’ moral values and competence; whereas, emotional skills and leadership negatively predicted moral values and competence. Both teamwork and time management positively predicted participants’ status in futsal. In practice, the results suggest that coaches and parents should encourage youth sport participants to develop their life skills through sport. Developing life skills through sport should help prevent antisocial behaviours towards teammates and generally promote participants’ moral values, status and competence in sport.

Education, collaboration and pedagogical phronesis: essential dimensions in professional learning and development

ABSTRACT This article aims to elaborate multiple dimensions of ethical perception in professionalism and introduces novel didactic viewpoints on educational routes through which professionals learn and develop the moral competencies essential to praxis. Results are discussed from recent innovative research projects on professional didactics, education and work practice. The article explores new research pathways through which to learn and develop professional ethics for teachers and social educators in collaboration between several agents in the field: students, teachers and educational leaders, as well as public institutions. Through lifelong learning trajectories, professionals are enabled to skilfully confront ethical challenges in reality, to develop concrete ethical perception and discernment based on practical wisdom, here defined as pedagogical phronesis. Based on a synthesis of empirical findings and theoretical perspectives, we argue that an interchanging dynamic between subjective experiences and dialogical learning constitutes several dimensions of tacit practical wisdom, which is accentuated in the perception of practice. These are: 1) the existential-phenomenological dimension, 2) the life-historical dimension, 3) the dimension of inter-relational competence, and 4) the social dimension of learning. Our findings have significance and applicability for policymaking, professional training, and educational development, as well as wider research projects on professional learning and development.