FEX2162 Chap.5 Whole-Person Development and Moral Reasoning
Whole-Person Development and Moral Reasoning
Three parts of whole-person development
Session three describes whole-person development in a school through three things: a wide range of student activities, positive values and attitudes, and catering for different learning needs. The last is the subject of the previous chapter.
This one takes the first two through a single invented classroom case, because values education is easier to reflect on when you can watch it happen than when you try to define it.
Positive values as a process
The session's description of values education is a sequence: help pupils at different stages recognise the values involved in a difficulty, analyse it objectively, make a reasonable judgement and act on it, so that they can face the challenges of later life.
That sequence gives you a way to describe a moment in your own teaching. The question is not whether you handled it perfectly, but what reasoning you offered pupils and what it made possible.
Kohlberg's stages
The session sets out Kohlberg's stages of moral development in three levels. At the pre-conventional level, judgement centres on avoiding punishment and then on satisfying one's own needs.
At the conventional level, pupils seek approval and then follow rules as fixed. At the post-conventional level, judgement rests on understanding rules as social agreements and then on universal ethical principles applied consistently. Used carefully, the stages let you say which kind of reason a response to an incident appeals to.
Structures, not only moments
An incident is half the story.
The session lists who supports development during the placement: the Principal, the academic affairs team, the discipline and guidance team, the co-curricular activities team, subject and class teachers and the school social worker. It asks you to photograph a teacher, or yourself, taking part in an activity with pupils and to caption it, and to draw a mind map of how the school supports development.
Those tasks produce exhibits for the second portfolio task and for the sharing sessions.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Activities, values and diverse needs
- 02
Values education as recognise, analyse, judge and act
- 03
One invented incident, three possible responses
- 04
Kohlberg's pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional levels
- 05
Offering a reason one step up
- 06
Who supports development in a school
- 07
Photographs with captions as reflection
- 08
Where an incident fits in the portfolio
Worked example · free
Name the reasoning behind a response
- 2Identify the kind of reason offered.
- 1Place it against Kohlberg's levels.
- 2Write the reflective sentence.
Key terms
- Moral Development
- The growth of the reasoning people use to judge right and wrong, described by Kohlberg as a sequence of stages.
- Pre-conventional Level
- Kohlberg's first level, in which judgement rests on avoiding punishment and then on satisfying one's own needs.
- Conventional Level
- Kohlberg's middle level, in which judgement rests on seeking others' approval and then on following established rules.
- Post-conventional Level
- Kohlberg's highest level, in which rules are understood as agreements and judgement rests on consistent ethical principles.
Whole-Person Development and Moral Reasoning FAQ
Is a behaviour incident suitable evidence for the portfolio?
It can be, if you describe it without identifying anyone and focus on the reasoning you offered and what pupils did with it. A values moment is evidence of the caring cultivator role and of support for moral development, not a story to be told for its own sake.
Who in a school supports whole-person development?
Session three lists the Principal, the academic affairs team, the discipline and guidance team, the co-curricular activities team, subject and class teachers, and the school social worker. Observe which of them are involved in an activity you can document, rather than listing them all.
What kinds of student activity count?
The session mentions religious, academic, sports, music, uniformed and interest groups. Any activity counts if you can show how it serves development in the areas the task names, such as values, multicultural awareness or an entrepreneurial spirit.
Assessment move
Keep a short incident note for any values moment in your lessons: what happened, the reason you gave, and what pupils said back. After two weeks, choose the note where you can best explain your reasoning with Kohlberg's levels and draft it as a paragraph for the second task or for your sharing.
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