1. Moral Development and Values Education
Sue Walker

2. Moral development
How and when do children develop an understanding of standards and of right and wrong?
How do interactions with parents and siblings in the family contribute to moral understanding?
How do interactions with teachers and peers contribute to moral understanding?
What can parents and teachers do to nurture children’s moral development?

3. Distinguish right from wrong (cognitive component)
Sense of Morality
Distinguish right from wrong (cognitive component)
Prepared to act accordingly (behavioural component)
How we feel about it (affective component)
It is not just prosocial behaviour – sharing, helping
It is not just habits of politeness – please, thank you
It is not just certain character traits – honesty, generosity 3

4. Factors affecting moral development
Cognitive development
Interactions with peers
Use of reasons and rationales
Moral issues and dilemmas
Sense of self

5. Morality in preschool interaction
What moral values and norms do teachers encourage children to develop?
How do teachers attend to the values that children express in their daily interaction with teachers and peers?
Morality is based on concrete experiences and develops as a result of interactions
Moral situations
Moral values and norms

6. Promoting moral development
Clarify which behaviours are acceptable and which are not
Engage children in discussion about moral issues
Help children to understand a friend’s emotional feelings
Help children to understand others’ perspectives

7. “Individuals can realise their potential only within a community
“Individuals can realise their potential only within a community. Participation in any community requires knowledge and understanding of its norms, rules, and values” (Katz & McClellan, 1997, p vii).

8. Values for Australian Schooling
Care and compassion
Care for self and others
Doing your best
Try hard, pursue excellence
Freedom
Enjoy the rights and privileges of Australian citizenship
Honesty and trustworthiness
Be honest, sincere and seek the truth
Integrity
Moral and ethical conduct
Respect
Treat others with consideration and regard
Responsibility
Be accountable for one’s own actions
Understanding, tolerance and inclusion
Be aware of others and their cultures, accept diversity

9. Educating young children for democracy
What kind of education is most suitable in helping children learn to live in a democracy?
Education for a democracy demands that the individual be recognised
Valuing children’s individuality
Valuing different perspectives and opinions
Nurturing independent critical thinking
Ask questions that have many possible answers
Give children time to think and the resources to investigate
(Cincilei, David & Grob, 2000)

10. Benefits of democratic participatory approaches in early childhood
Children can acquire the ability to:
Trust themselves to make meaningful decisions
Learn to trust others
Assume responsibility for their own actions
Acknowledge their own value by learning that opinions count
Build skill competence and independence
Respect authority
Understand that diversity is to be celebrated
Respect themselves and others
Value a sense of community membership
(Erwin & Kipness, 2000)

11. Promoting democratic values
Allow children to make important decisions that affect the whole group
Encourage children to address real challenges by problem solving and negotiating
Teach children to respect uniqueness and appreciate diversity
Assist children in assuming responsibility for the classroom environment
Respect children’s right to decide how they want to spend their time and with whom
Encourage children to try to do things independently even if they may have difficulty
Teach children that others also have rights

12. Values for democratic participation
Respect for diversity
Recognition of multiple perspectives
Welcoming curiosity
Critical thinking

13. religion race language Interests ethnicity age abilities values
Respect for diversity
religion
race
language
Interests
ethnicity
age
abilities
values
gender role
family composition
lifestyle
skin colour

14. Respect for the environment
“Think globally act locally”
Sustainability in early childhood
context-specific
natural play spaces and bio-diversity
water conservation
compost food scraps
waste reduction
(Davis & Pratt, 2005)

15. Helping children to develop empathy
Values in ECE
Helping children to develop empathy
Encourage role playing
Help children understand how other people feel
Helping children learn to be generous, altruistic and able to share
Help children learn to share equipment
Help children learn that being kind to others feels good
Helping is one way of expressing kindness
(Hendrick & Weissman, 2006)

16. Teach children that everyone has rights
Values in ECE
Teach children that everyone has rights
…..and that rules apply to everyone
Emphasise the value of cooperation and compromise
Model cooperation and helping behaviour
Teach the art of compromise
Help children discover the pleasure of friendships
(Hendrick & Weissman, 2006)

17. Moral classroom, moral children
Creating a constructivist atmosphere in early care and education
Organising to meet children’s needs
Physiological needs
Emotional needs
Intellectual needs

18. Constructivist alternatives to discipline
Avoid sanctions/punishments
Encourage children’s ownership of logical consequences
When children suggest a consequence that is too severe, ask the wrongdoer to say how he or she feels (and support this feeling)

19. Constructivist alternatives cont…
Verbalise the cause-effect relation when natural consequences occur
Selectively allow natural consequences to occur
Offer opportunities for restitution
Avoid indefinite consequences

20. Conditions for democracy
Supportive conditions – a commitment to and support of democratic participation
The child is viewed as a competent citizen
Parents are seen as competent citizens
Educators are recognised as practitioners of democracy
Time to reflect upon, interpret and evaluate practice
(Moss, 2007)

21. References
Cincilei, C., David, J. & Grob, B. (2000). Changing to a child-centred approach: Teachers reflect on the Moldovan experience. Journal of the International Step by Step Association, 1 (1), 9-13.
Curriculum Corporation (2006). Implementing the national framework for values education in Australian schools. Curriculum Corporation: Carlton South, Vic
Davis, J. & Pratt, R. (2005) The sustainable planet project: Creating cultural change at Campus Kindergarten. Every Child, 11 (4).
Erwin, E.J. & Kipness, N.A. (2000). Fostering democratic values in inclusive early childhood settings. Journal of the International Step by Step Association, 1 (1), 18 – 21.
Hendrick, J. & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for young children (7th ed.). Pearson: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Moss, P. (2007). Bringing politics into the nursery: Early childhood education as democratic practice. Working Paper 43. Bernard van Leer Foundation: The Hague, The Netherlands.