Making the case for moral development education

Abstract

The importance of education in developing ethically sensitive individuals who use principled moral reasoning when facing dilemmas has been widely acknowledged (Pascarella and Terenzini 1991; Rest et al. 1999b). However, ethics is typically omitted from the higher level curriculum and, if raised at all, comprises a very minor element of the course content of a small minority of modules. This paper makes the case for including deliberate moral reasoning interventions within higher education programmes. In doing so, it draws on the concepts of professionalism, citizenship and social capital and explains how moral reasoning development would encourage serving the public interest, active citizenship and the development of social capital. To illustrate the critical need for this to be achieved urgently, the paper refers to evidence from two recent studies carried out in Ireland, demonstrating a clear lack of principled moral reasoning among the respective cohorts tested.

Keywords:

• higher education
• social capital
• active citizenship
• professionalism
• moral reasoning
• defining issues test
• ethical interventions