TY - JOUR
T1 - Irish student teachers’ levels of moral reasoning
T2 - context, comparisons, and contributing influences
AU - O’Flaherty, Joanne
AU - Gleeson, Jim
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/1/2
Y1 - 2017/1/2
N2 - The moral role of the teacher has long been recognised and this has implications for the selection and education of student teachers. There is growing recognition of the importance of teachers’ capacity to make sound moral judgements and of the influence of teachers’ levels of moral reasoning on their professional practice. The paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of 102 undergraduate student teachers who completed the DIT 2 measure of moral reasoning, at the beginning, mid-point and end of their four-year degree programme at an Irish university. While these students’ levels of moral reasoning were found to be higher than those of their international peers, more than half of graduating students were reasoning at the conventional level as defined by Kohlberg. These findings are located in the context of Irish education policy and practice. Some possible explanations for the students’ performance are suggested and discussed including their entry characteristics, the status of the teaching profession in Ireland, the nature of their teacher education programme and participation in the Transition Year option.
AB - The moral role of the teacher has long been recognised and this has implications for the selection and education of student teachers. There is growing recognition of the importance of teachers’ capacity to make sound moral judgements and of the influence of teachers’ levels of moral reasoning on their professional practice. The paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of 102 undergraduate student teachers who completed the DIT 2 measure of moral reasoning, at the beginning, mid-point and end of their four-year degree programme at an Irish university. While these students’ levels of moral reasoning were found to be higher than those of their international peers, more than half of graduating students were reasoning at the conventional level as defined by Kohlberg. These findings are located in the context of Irish education policy and practice. Some possible explanations for the students’ performance are suggested and discussed including their entry characteristics, the status of the teaching profession in Ireland, the nature of their teacher education programme and participation in the Transition Year option.
KW - Defining Issues Test
KW - longitudinal study
KW - moral reasoning
KW - Student teachers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84979082306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13540602.2016.1203777
DO - 10.1080/13540602.2016.1203777
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84979082306
SN - 1354-0602
VL - 23
SP - 59
EP - 77
JO - Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
JF - Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
IS - 1
ER -