Moral Development in the Classroom

Print this article

The school can be a place for academic and moral education. Flag this photo Teachers take on many roles in the classroom. They are instructors, but also at times must act as surrogate parents, friends, coaches, motivators, drill sergeants or counselors. A teacher's job is much more than simply passing on information about a subject area. Teachers are responsible for the well-rounded growth of their students as well, including the moral development of those children. Moral development in the classroom can be a gray area for parents and teachers alike, as it can be easy to over-step boundaries or upset people. If teachers follow a basic standard for moral education, moral development can easily become part of the classroom experience. Related Searches: Education Teaching Children Education

1. Definition
o

Morality is hard to define, and some might say that everyone operates by his own individual moral code. According to Larry Nucci, education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, "moral considerations stem from factors intrinsic to actions: consequences such as harm to others, violations of rights, effects on general welfare." Teachers can teach these moral codes in the classroom because they are generally accepted by people in society and unlikely to offend parents or students.

Conventions

Morals have to do with an action being right or wrong, whereas conventions have to do with violations of rules. In the classroom, it may be against the rules to yell; this is probably a result of the teacher's desire to keep a quiet and orderly classroom. It is not morally wrong to yell; in fact, it is perfectly acceptable in settings outside of the classroom. A classroom rule against hitting, however, is also a moral lesson because it is morally wrong to hit anyone at any time, regardless of the setting. Therefore, some of what teachers pass on in the classroom has to do with conventions of behavior while other lessons lean toward moral themes.

Method
o

In order to teach morality and enhance the moral development of her students, a teacher must set up classroom rules that require moral behavior. These rules should be fair in their creation and execution; everyone needs to be held to the same standards. They should reinforce positive behaviors and seek to eliminate negative or amoral ones. Rules of this nature involve respect for people and property, as well as responsible behaviors. When students follow the rules and buy into the reason behind the rules, they help one another follow them as well. Educational psychologist Jean Piaget noted that, "schools should emphasize cooperative decision-making and problem solving, nurturing moral development by requiring students to work out common rules based on fairness," reports the University of Illinois at Chicago. When students have to think about classroom rules, they also think about the reasons behind the rules and they begin to use those reasons to inform their decision-making.

Purpose
o

As children learn to follow classroom rules, they also learn why it is important to behave morally in general. In this way, teachers follow Nucci's instructions that, "moral education should move students through progressively more adequate forms of resolving conflicting claims to justice or human rights." As students learn to apply classroom morality to the real world, they form an understanding of the overall concepts of morality and justice.

Results
o

The reason for promoting moral development in schools is to train children to grow up to be morally grounded adults. Children who learn to follow rules in school will eventually follow similar rules in society. They learn to behave themselves in school, and treat classmates with fairness and caring; then they eventually treat other adults this way as well. While theories may differ about the ways that children develop morally, moral education in the classroom contributes to this development and fosters a moral society as a whole.