A reconceptualisation of Vygotsky’s ZPD into ZCD in teaching moral education in secondary schools using real-life dilemmas

Figures & data

Figure 1. Process in ZCD.

Note: A caring, safe environment is assumed.

Table 1. Brief overview of the research design

PAR Process
Phase	Brief description
1	Approval and recruitment of participants: the comprehensive process started with obtaining approval from the nation Educational Planning and Research Department, then approval from the state and district education divisions for research and finally from the school principal, teacher-in-charge and students themselves. Written consent was obtained at every stage. Since the research was based on a certain subject taught in school, students in that particular subject were briefed about the research and they chose to be in the research based on their own will
2	Rapport building with PAR participants—ice-breaking activities to build the mutual trust and respect between researcher and participants. Also a stage where working agreement (WA) is constructed between students and students and students and researcher as a collaborative research team. Here, the ethics of research was adhered where students were students who volunteered to be part of the research were given an information sheet, a written consent form (individual and group), written permission from their parents were obtained and WA constructed and closely followed throughout the research to safeguard. Participants were free to leave the research at any time if they were not comfortable. Participants were informed that the role of researcher was neutral, as a facilitator and data collector
3	Problem formulation by PAR participants—students write their moral dilemmas and researcher types them all out to safeguard privacy and confidentiality of students
4	Procedures
	Real-life moral dilemma discussions—within this phase there are reflective cycles at the end of each real-life dilemma discussion
	For example:Moral Dilemma 1 Real-life dilemma discussion (Cycle 1) in groups Reflection/Journal writing individually Real-life dilemma discussion (Cycle 2) in groups Reflection/Journal writing individually
5	Reflective cycle in groupsFinal reflective cycle based on the whole PAR research process

Table 2. Description of participants, participating schools, data gathering and analysis

School	Kekwah	Seri pagi	Orkid
Number of participants	8	8	6
Gender	All girls	4 boys, 4 girls	All boys
Age group (years)	16–17	16–17	16–17
Withdrew from research	None	None	None
Data gathered	Eight cycles of discussion and one final reflection through journals, field notes, audio and video recording	Eight cycles of discussion and one final reflection through journals, field notes, audio and video recording	Eight cycles of discussion and one final reflection through journals, field notes, audio and video recording
Transcription	Data collected was transcribed in the original form (Malay language, English language and mother tongue languages) and then translated into English language. The translation was done by the researcher herself as she is multilingual. For validity and reliability purposes, translated text was shown and verified to participants to ensure that the translated narratives were same as the original text. The translation process was very comprehensive. Firstly, the whole dialogic process was transcribed and shared with research participants. Then the translated version was also shared with the participants to ensure that there was no researcher biasness
Interpretation of data	Data were interpreted based on the themes verified (see below)

Table 3. Examples of dilemmas presented by PAR participants

Conflicting themes	Dilemmas presented
Respect vs. authority	My parents are busy at work every day. Sometimes, we siblings hardly see them for days due to their work schedule. My brother is always playing computer games while my sister is 24 h hanging on the phone. They don’t respect me as a younger child at home and I wish my parents spent more time with us than at work. (Dilemma 6# Seri Pagi)
Trust vs. mistrust	I can’t manage my time and I can’t even keep to my own schedule. I spend most of my time playing football and other things. When it’s time to study I don’t feel like studying. If I do study, I will do Mathematics, Additional Mathematics and subjects that have something to do with calculation. I really hate subjects such as Biology and Sejarah (History). I spend most of my time on subjects I like and I neglect the subjects that I don’t like. My parents trust me and hope I’ll do well academically. (Dilemma 3# Orkid)
Freedom vs. responsibility	My parents don’t understand me at all. I want more freedom in my life. I don’t know whether it is good to think wrong of my parents. I wish they were more understanding of my individual needs. I feel whatever they think good for me is actually demoralising me. (Dilemma 1# Orkid)
Tolerance vs. care	My friend likes to gossip. She was in my class but now we are in different classes. Beginning of this year, we were okay and as usual during recess, we will talk until the bell rings. As time passed, I realised that every time she came to me, she started with “Do you know this girl/guy ….?” I used to tolerate her habit earlier but I just don’t like the way she keeps on gossiping about someone else. In my opinion, we don’t need to care about others - like what they wear and what they do. I try to avoid her nowadays even though I still want to be her friend. I still meet her every time I go for tuition and this conflict is really bugging me. (Dilemma 2# Kekwah)
Autonomy vs. authority	My parents do not give me priority. They force me to study for long hours but I only can concentrate and study for an hour. They must not force me to study. I know when to study. They won’t let me make any decisions on my own such as going out in the evenings to play football and many more. (Dilemma 7# Orkid)