For instance, if we are trying to impart sound values to primary school students ( p1-6) l, it might be more effective to find out the specific reward ( tangible rewards) for the student as a whole and used that as a means to positively reinforce certain values. 

However when the student proceeds to secondary school and become an adolescent, we might stand a greater chance in building sound character values if we could leverage on peers to steer a student in the positive directions.  For instance, I have witnessed the implementation of  the Circle of Friends (COF)  intervention during my stint, my mentor has managed to solicit help and support from a group of peers who are interested in helping student N curb his tendency to use profanities ,racist comments that are rude in inappropriate settings. Within a 2 week period, my mentor notice a gradual reduction in the frequency of profanities that were used by this student when he sought for feedbacks from the group of peers. Through this observation, it is apparent that peers play a more critical role than an authority figure in shaping behaviours and in this situation effective planning and collaboration becomes crucial. 

 

I have used social story to teach a primary student with autism to keep hands to self when playing/ interacting with friends. I also provided the student with a reward chart, and provided positive reinforcements/ tokens when she displayed the expected positive behaviour.

 

The social story was effective in promoting student’s understanding on social conventions of keeping hands to self and respecting personal space. According to Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, at pre-conventional morality (Stage 2: Personal-Reward Orientation), a lower primary student would typically conform to rules to gain rewards. Therefore, the reward system was effective in motivating the student conform to the rule of keeping hands to self in order to gain her reward.  

Some discussions got me thinking especially on the difference in punishment/consequence on students and how they will compare about the unequal treatment. And what if it is an SEN student, do we take into consideration on that. Back then, I thought that regardless of their learning needs, we should treat them fairly. But I realized that those who has needs will be at a disadvantage. But when we practiced equity, students may feel that we are bias towards another group of students.

I think regardless of needs, moral development should be made available to students so that they can make better actions or choices. I guess to make a more compassionate environment, awareness should be introduced to the students on the different needs so that they can be considerate, mindful in their actions and not think about their self like in Gilligan’s preconventional stage. At the same time, instead of comparing, they should take ownership of their actions. As for SEN students, during my stint, although they recognized their learning needs however when it comes to self-discipline, they were not spared. Like in Kohlberg’s level three, they should be aware that rules and law are not made to make things difficult for them but there is a purpose behind it. As much as we do not want them to get hurt, they should made to understand the cause and effect of their actions so that they can make better decisions and be a better learner.

In a 1 to 1 withdrawal session that I conducted last year, the student was undiagnosed, however, he portrays several ASD traits. This student has had socio-emotional needs. The student may know basic regulations; however, he may be unsure of the necessary steps that he needs to take to ensure that he will need to do several things for his help to be answered.

In many of our cases, we often assume that a student may understand a simple instruction of “if you are not sure what to do, ask for help.” A student may just come across this and start shouting for help as they are not sure what to do. In a normal circumstance, another student may raise their hand and wait patiently for the teacher to come by and address the question the student may have.

Hence, during withdrawal session, I broke down the steps for him. Firstly, ensure that he needs to keep his emotional regulation in check. Secondly ensure that he does not need to scream for help, and check if the question can be answered by his friend rather than teachers (who may not be available at that point of time). Thirdly, if the question cannot be addressed by his classmate, then he may proceed to raise his hand and wait patiently for the teacher to come over and address his issue. Lastly, if his issue is solved, then he may continue with his task at hand.

The above are the steps that we took to inform him to ensure that he knows what he needs to do. Besides that, we also gave visual cues to him, placed on his table so that it acts as a reminder for him before screaming for help. We also initiated a card visual for the teacher to be placed on her lanyard so that whenever the student screams for help, the teacher will show the card visual for him to act as a reminder that he’ll need to raise hand to ask for help.

The strategy was effective as the student can see the visual card and is able to act responsibly. The teachers also consistently use it and address the same expectations throughout the whole class. The student sees that the teacher is expecting the same rule for everyone, and hence, the student reacts positively towards the cues. The visual cues were slowly faded from the teachers to just the student’s table, and by this year, he does not even need any visual cues to remind him of raising hand when he needs help.

This also ensures that the student did not stand out differently amongst his peers and as a result, the friends around him will see him less differently. Thus, ensuring that the student will be able to adapt socially while still being in control of his emotional regulations.

Applying in the context of working with primary school students, I am now able to understand that for lower primary students, they regard rules as fixed and cannot be changed, and behaviour is judged by observable consequences. They view the function of punishment is to make the guilty suffer as per the severity of the wrongdoing. If the rule is broken, punishment is immediate and automatic. Given their realism view on morality, it is important for educators to constantly reiterate the behavioural expectations, classroom rules and consequences of misbehaviour explicitly to students as a reminder to show good behaviour. For any misbehaviours, educators can redirect the student to the class rules to remind and explain that the student did not follow rules. It is also important for educators to abide by the rules and follow through the consequences. For misbehaviours, it is important for educators to follow up immediately with the student (e.g., process with the student on the incident and get them to reflect) instead of delaying the consequence (e.g., “punishment”, time-out) while the incident is still recent in their mind. For example, one of the classroom rule is to follow teacher’s instructions. The consequence for students not abiding by the rules after two warnings are given will be staying back for 5 minutes during recess time. Teachers must ensure that they keep track when a student is not following teacher’s instruction and to prompt with two warnings. If student is still not following teacher’s instructions after two warnings, teacher must follow through with the “punishment” and ensure that the student stays back for 5 minutes while the class goes for recess time. 

Understanding the stage of moral development that the students are in allows me to adapt my communication and teaching style accordingly and thus, enhances my connection with the students. 

During my stint, there was a sec 1 student who became the “talk of the town” because of profanities he used casually on his peers and teachers. He was notorious , and totally had no respect for adults and authority. He was profusely using those inappropriate words especially when he became upset. But to him it wasn’t wrong because that’s how his parents talked to him too. These steps were introduced to student to make him understand that swearing is an undesired behaviour.

So teachers and SENO have to communicate to update and monitor on student's progress.

 

It is important for us educators to know the conditions that influence students’ moral development. This helps will help us to understand their background & behaviours better. Then, we will also be able to nurture the correct values in them. With strong partnership between teachers, it will lead to success eventually. 

 

Through the group presentations of the 3 different theories on Moral Development, I have a clearer understanding now on how to teach & instil moral values at the different stages of development effectively. Strategies used for primary & secondary school may be different. Even lower and upper primary levels! 

 

Behaviours that are out of the ordinary can be misconstrued as misbehaviour or the need to seek attention from others. We need to be wary of these kinds of assumptions as it may hinder us from providing the right intervention. Gaining the knowledge from different theorists on moral development, I realized the information provided me with the understanding of unique values of a student. The information can be one of many that helps me analyze the function of behaviours displayed. We also need to do our part to impart the knowledge of rules and consequences to promote a sense of responsibility in the students.