Becoming a moral self through a community of ethical enquiry: a study of a class group from middle to late childhood in an Irish primary school
Russell, Josephine
(2005)
Becoming a moral self through a community of ethical enquiry: a study of a class group from middle to late childhood in an Irish primary school.
PhD thesis, Dublin City University.
This qualitative research study examines moral responsiveness and thinking in a mixed
gender class of primary school children over a period o f four and a half years. It sets out
to track development in children’s moral awareness, looking at gains and losses from
middle to late childhood, and focusing on cognitive skills, notions of moral rectitude,
and interpersonal relationships and friendship.
The first part of the study is designed to offer a theoretical background to inform
interpretation of the data in the second part. It examines major issues in morality and
moral education in the context of significant recent debates across several disciplines,
including developmental psychology, philosophy, sociology and education; it also
offers a theoretical perspective on children’s ability to think together about morality in a
community of enquiry and on related issues of pedagogy.
Through interpretation of transcripts, the second part o f the study analyses the
children’s thinking, in response to a wide range of content, on issues of justice,
freedom and responsibility, rights and duties, inclusiveness, and friendship. Gender
differences, most notably the reticence of girls to express themselves in a mixed gender
group after about age ten, are also examined.
The study demonstrates how, through participation in a community of ethical enquiry
such as Thinking Time - Philosophy with Children, children become more thoughtful
and develop respect and responsiveness to others as well as other traits of character that
are central to democratic citizenship.