Moral Development

What is Moral Development?

The foundation of moral development is based on the theory that human beings develop philosophically and psychologically in a progressive fashion. In this paper, we'll take a close look and discuss the aspects of moral development and moral reasoning. We will also dissect and examine some of these key features and discuss the implications that these ideas have on the school systems in Singapore. We'll take a look at the theories of Piaget and following that, Kohlberg who developed his stages of moral development on the foundation of Piaget's studies.

Piaget's theories

Piaget is best known for his direct observations of children in various activities and it was from these observations that he arrived at his theories. Although better known for his cognitive developmental stages, Piaget also investigated moral development.

Piaget's theory is split into 2 areas, Heteronymous Morality and Autonomous Morality. With regards to the former, Piaget theorizes that egocentric thoughts and imminent justice are the bases of this stage. This egocentricity, meaning that the child is not able to think beyond themselves; imminent justice meaning that if one was to be disobedient and flout the rules one would get punished. This type of morality is evident in 5- 10 year olds. The rules came from adults and had a concrete permanence that didn't allow for change or discourse. The next stage would be that of Autonomous Morality. This marks the point where one begins to develop his or her own set of moral principles. The rules in this case are more flexible and societal structure and acceptances decide what rules are kept and desired and what rules are not of importance and can be manipulated.

Role-taking within the family unit plays a significant part in moral development; according to Piaget. He believed this aspect was so essential that moral development