How Can We Decide Whether Moral Education Works?

Abstract

The range of potential threats to the validity of conclusions about the effects of moral education are discussed, and some of the particular weaknesses of previous evaluation studies in this area are considered. It is argued that up to the present research has relied too heavily upon indirect evidence for the impact of moral education upon such outcomes in behaviour. It does not follow that because an educational intervention produces gains in moral reasoning, currently one of the most commonly measured effects, it will also therefore influence conduct. However, a more extensive broadening of the scope of evaluation is urged in which effects on individual participants as agents of social control are examined in addition to any effects on self control. Finally, the need to identify the relative costs of alternative forms of education is stressed. Without systematic assessment of these, as well as relative benefits, no conclusions about relative merit of any form of moral education will be possible.