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Ethical and Moral Competences of Upper Secondary Students: A Comparative Study - Zhengmei Peng (彭正梅), Dietrich Benner, Roumiana Nikolova, Stanislav Ivanov, Tao Peng (彭韬), 2021 (sagepub.com)
Article Information
Article first published online: December 16, 2020; Issue published: December 1, 2021
Received: June 24, 2019; Accepted: October 27, 2020
Author
Zhengmei Peng (彭正梅)
East China Normal University
Dietrich Benner
Humboldt University of Berlin
Roumiana Nikolova
Institute of Education Monitoring and Quality Development
Stanislav Ivanov
Institute of Education Monitoring and Quality Development
Tao Peng (彭韬)
Nanjing Normal University
Abstract
Purpose: This article presents the theoretical framework, research design, methodology, and main findings of the comparative measurement of ethical–moral competences of 15-year-old upper secondary students in Shanghai, under the ETiK-International-Shanghai project.
Design/Approach/Methods: By dividing the ethical–moral competences into the categories of basic ethical–moral knowledge, ethical–moral judgment competence, and competence in developing ethical–moral action plans, a survey of 2,036 students was conducted, using a reliable and valid testing instrument.
Findings: In general, 15-year-olds from homes with more educational resources perform higher in all three scales across all countries taken under consideration in our study. Furthermore, school practices, teaching, as well as quantity and quality of instruction play a very important role in the moral education process and especially in developing students’ proficiency levels of ethical–moral knowledge, reasoning competence, as well as students’ high abilities in developing moral action plans. When relevant educational background factors are held constant, Chinese students show lower average scores on basic ethical–moral knowledge and moral judgment competence. With exception of the tested Vienna students, all other European samples scored better than the Chinese students—also on the test for developing ethical–moral action plans. However, Chinese students are especially able to display outstanding empathy when dealing with suffering, misfortune, and sorrow, as well as in their willingness to help others.
Originality/Value: The findings of this article can foster thinking about which topics should be further discussed to improve the ethical–moral knowledge and competences of Chinese students and highlight requirements for the further development of moral education in China at the levels of teaching, curriculum, teacher education, and research.
Keywords
Basic ethical–moral knowledge, competence in developing ethical–moral action plans, ethical–moral judgment competence, ETiK, moral education
