SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDEDENTS’ MORAL JUDGMENT COMPETENCE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SAMSUN-TURKEY AND LANCASHIRE-ENGLAND
Journal Name:
- Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
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Keywords (Original Language):
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Abstract (2. Language):
Introduction and Purpose: Piaget's theory of moral development was established based on the positive relationship between the present status of cognitive development and biological maturation, as well as the cognitive and moral development. Kohlberg, who reconsidered and expanded Piaget's theory of moral development, based the moral development on the development of moral judgment rather than moral action.
Kohlberg's moral judgment competence is based on the principle of finding the fairest solution in a dilemma situation in which there is evidence of conflicting values and judgments. This is defined as an individual's moral principles degree or moral concerns. Two of the most important studies, developed to measure ethical competence or moral judgment competence based on Kohlberg's theory of cognitive development, are the Defining Issues Test (DIT) by James Rest and Moralischer Urteil Test (MUT) by Georg Lind. Lind says that the moral judgment competence forms the "democratic personality" as well. Likewise Lind defines the MUT as "Democratic Personality and Attitude Scale" and indicates that the MUT is compatible with the structural-dynamic personality model and it is an objective, rational, and an experimental scale.
During the process of Turkey's integration into the European Union, intercultural comparative education studies played an important role particularly in the perceptions and implementations of the education and teaching. This study was undertaken to compare the moral-cognitive development of students similarly structured secondary schools in Samsun-Turkey and the Lancashire-UK regions, in terms of gender, type of school, and grade levels. The goal was a cross-cultural comparison of the performance of students in the United Kingdom and Turkey schools within the context of Lind’s C-score based Moralischer Urteil Test (MUT), which includes dilemmas relating to workers and physicians, including two ethical dilemmas of moral judgment competence or moral competence.
Method: The project was a descriptive study to determine the capabilities of moral judgment competence for the students attending secondary schools in Lancashire-UK and Samsun-Turkey. The Moralisches Urteil-Test (MUT) was used because it is a highly preferred scale in cross-cultural comparison studies. The certified English version
of the MUT validated by Lind, and the certified Turkish version of the MUT translated
and validated by Nermin Ciftci, were implemented
This study was conducted in June 2012 with 10th, 11th, and 12th degree
students in 4 similarly structured different types of secondary schools in
Lancashire-UK and Samsun-Turkey.
Conclusion and Suggestions: For students in Turkey and in the United
Kingdom, there was no significant difference when total scores of moral judgment
competence were compared. However, there was a significant difference between
the two countries in the responses to dilemmas involving of workers and
physicians. When examining the means of the scores (C-score) from the Moral
Judgment Test from Turkey and the United Kingdom, the moral judgment
competence of the English students was higher than that of the Turkish students.
When examining the means of total scores (C-score) from the Moral Judgment
Test between Turkey (M =17 ) and the United Kingdom (M =18), both
countries scored in the low range. However, the C-scores corresponding to
dilemmas of workers and physicians were observed at high levels (between 30 and
40). These results lead to following conclusions: (1) the acquisition of moral
principles in secondary school curricula were not internalized; (2) judgment and
assessment based on universal moral principles and rules were not performed;
and (3) the students did not develop sufficient democratic attitude. Moral
Judgment Test studies conducted in Turkey have yielded very low arithmetical
averages of the total points (C-score), while Moral Judgment Tests in other
countries have also yielded a large proportion of low scores.
In comparison by gender, there was no significant difference in scores of moral
value judgment in either of the two countries, as observed in the previous studies.
The mean MJT scores of female students were higher than the mean scores those
of male students in the UK, while there was no such a difference in Turkey. This
finding is consistent with research findings in the literature.
When the mean scores of moral education judgment competence were compared
based on the types of high school in Turkey and the United Kingdom, the total
score of Moral Judgment Competence for public high school students was higher
than that for students in the religious and Anatolian high schools in the UK, but
there was no differences found between the public high school and the science high
school. In Turkey, there was no difference among the students in the science high
school and the Anatolian high school. However, science high school students had
a higher level of moral judgment competence than students in public schools and
religious schools.When the mean scores for moral education judgment competence were investigated based on the class level in Turkey and the UK, while there was no difference among students on grade level in the scores relating dilemmas of physicians.
Based on the results of the study, the following undertakings are suggested:
1. Training programs should be prepared for the development of moral judgment competence at different educational levels, and the effectiveness of these programs need to be tested in experimental studies.
2. School environments that contribute to the moral judgment competence of students, educators and administrators should demonstrate democratic attitudes.
3. Students should be supported in their moral development processes through discussions of concrete moral dilemmas in society starting with their own situations.
4. Comparative studies of different variables in determining the level of moral judgment should be made.
5. Cross-cultural comparative studies which affect and support the moral development process should be continued.
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Abstract (Original Language):
Bu araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye (TR) ve İngiltere (UK) ölçeğinde ortaöğretim öğrencilerinin ahlâkî yargı yeteneklerinin ampirik olarak karşılaştırılmasıdır. Bu kapsamda, Türkiye ve İngiltere’de ortaöğretim öğrencilerinin ahlâkî-bilişsel gelişimleri; ülke, cinsiyet, okul türü ve sınıf düzeyi açısından karşılaştırmalı olarak ortaya konulmuştur. Çalışma, araştırıcı tarafından 2012 yılı Haziran ayında Türkiye-Samsun ile İngiltere-Lancashire bölgesinde bulunan benzer yapıya sahip 4 ayrı ortaöğretim okul türünde okuyan 10, 11 ve 12. sınıf öğrencileri üzerinde yapılmıştır.
Araştırmada, Kohlberg’in bilişsel gelişim teorisine dayanan (Çağdaş ve ark.2002; Çiftçi, 2003a, Ekşi 2006) ve Georg Lind (1978) tarafından geliştirilen, temel olarak işçi ve doktor olmak üzere iki ahlâkî ikilemden oluşan ahlâkî yargı yeteneğini veya ahlâkî yeterlilik ölçüsünü C-skora göre ölçen Moralischer Urteil Test (MUT)’un yine Lind tarafından İngilizceye uyarlanan versiyonu olan Moral Judgament Test (2009 yılı versiyonu) (MJT) kullanılmıştır. Nermin Çiftçi (2001a) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan “Ahlâkî Yargı Testi” (AYT) uygulanmıştır. Böylelikle İngiltere ve Türkiye ortaöğretim kademelerinde öğrencilerin performansları MJT/AYT kapsamında ele alınmıştır.
MJT/AYT’nin Lind tarafından geliştirilen değerlendirme ölçütü, Ahlâkî Yargı Puanı olan bilişsel/yapısal C-puanı hesaplanmış, verilerin analizinde ölçeğin ikili karşılaştırmalarda bağımsız gruplar için t testi; çoklu karşılaştırmalarda ise tek yönlü varyans analizi (ANOVA) kullanılmıştır. F değerinin anlamlı olduğu durumlarda post-hoc test olarak HSD kullanılmıştır. Araştırmada hata payı, 05 olarak alınmıştır.
Araştırmanın sonucunda öğrencilerin ahlâkî yargı yeteneği puanlarının cinsiyet, okul türü ve sınıf değişkenlerine göre farklılaştığı belirlenmiştir. Araştırma bulguları, daha önce yapılan yerli ve yabancı çalışmaların bulguları doğrultusunda tartışılarak yorumlanmıştır. Araştırma sonunda elde edilen çıktıların kültürlerarası değer ve ahlâkî eğitim karşılaştırmalarına, eğitim öğretim süreçlerine, ortaöğretim programlarının geliştirilmesine ve ahlâkî gelişime ilişkin yapılacak çalışmalara kaynaklık etmesi açılarından önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir.
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