Professor bases study on pedagogical intervention carried out with undergraduate students
Evaluating the effectiveness of a pedagogical intervention with a view to building the competence of moral judgment in young university students was what Professor Antonio Douglas de Moraes proposed, based on theoretical references from Jean Piaget's Genetic Psychology. Moral competence is assessed by the approximation between what the person judges to be correct and their action related to that judgment. In this way, competence is a skill more than an attitude. For example, although a person considers it wrong to take the place of an elderly person, there are those who do not act in accordance with what they believe is correct.
Studies show that basic education and secondary education do not always simultaneously favor cognitive and moral development. As a result, a large proportion of young people arrive at university without achieving the expected moral and ethical development. When, including in undergraduate courses, the concern is focused only on the syllabus, it is very likely that the development of morality does not accompany cognitive development, which leads to interpersonal and social losses, which has worried several academic areas such as pedagogy, psychology, health. The question that arises then is: is there still a possibility of minimizing the problem among this public?
Hence the idea of carrying out a pedagogical intervention, consolidated through research carried out with 30 students from undergraduate courses in philosophy and theology at a private university, selected by draw from a universe of 300 students. The intervention, carried out at the Genetic Psychology Laboratory of the Faculty of Education (FE) at Unicamp, was based on experienced techniques and procedures and was inspired by the so-called Environment Request Process, authored by professor Orly Mantovani de Assis, advisor work, which draws on situations faced by students in their daily lives.
This intervention, carried out over the space of a year, revealed quantitatively and, above all, qualitatively, significant progress by the participants towards moral autonomy. These results surprised the author because previous research, carried out with the same objectives, did not result in progress in the construction of autonomy, which is why many researchers concluded that in the moral field, pedagogical interventions are only efficient when used with children and pre-adolescents.
The motivation for the research arose from the observation that higher education students were afraid when expressing themselves in class, revealing themselves to be uncomfortable with initiatives related to their daily experiences, preferring to accept what the teacher said without contestation or criticism, perhaps because they were not used to doing so in their previous school life, due to a lack of incentives that would lead them to think, give opinions and make decisions. That was when the researcher, based on studies he had already carried out, raised the possibility that this behavior could be related to the issue of moral autonomy. For him, it is up to the educator to help future professionals also progress in achieving intellectual and moral autonomy.
Given this, the research intended to verify whether in an environment whose relationships are based on reciprocity, generosity and mutual respect, students would have the opportunity to progress in the development of moral judgment competence. This is nothing more than an individual's ability to see the implications of a moral situation, organize it and apply moral and ethical rules and principles in concrete situations, as ethical behavior is related to moral judgment.
The pedagogical intervention used several procedures. One of them puts the student in front of moral dilemmas. For example, between two patients who successively arrive at the emergency room, needing immediate care, which one should be seen first? Either decision generates doubts and conflicts. This procedure makes students analyze and think, position themselves, perceive themselves, feel like participants, leading them to propose solutions and mainly to develop the awareness that they need to respect the other's decision. In this case, what matters most is the quality of the argumentation used to support the decision, based on analyzes of what may happen and which involves ethical issues that require moral positioning.
Another strategy uses interpersonal conflicts. When they arise, it is common for an authority to impose a solution, preventing those involved from resolving them themselves. Encouraging students to discuss and resolve their own conflicts contributes to moral development. Should we give alms or not? It is a dilemma that generates a conflict that is not resolved by an external decision, and it is up to each person to resolve it. The person is led to think through stimuli, hence the importance of pedagogical intervention.
Results
By the way, Douglas states: “Morals and ethics are constructed. The results show that it is possible to promote moral and ethical development and that this does not happen naturally, but needs to be learned and developed through active methods”.
Using already validated instruments, he observed behavioral changes in the group's members, such as greater spontaneity, creativity, a spirit of cooperation, empathy, more availability to help peers, self-awareness and productivity. He particularly drew attention to the search for values not linked to self-promotion, proven quantitatively by statistical means, but also qualitatively by observation. All evidence was established by comparing data and observations collected from participants in the studied group and other students from philosophy and theology courses who did not participate in the interventions.
For the researcher, the great difference of the research is that it has shown that the intervention can be used successfully even in young adults, as these procedures are much easier and more common to be used in children or pre-adolescents and the few reports with adults In general, they did not reveal good results.
He argues that, through the pedagogical practice he uses, the educator can contribute to the development of moral competence. To build moral autonomy, relationships between teachers and students must be based on mutual respect, reciprocity and cooperation. It is also necessary that students have the opportunity to develop self-regulation, respect for the negotiable rules established jointly with colleagues and educators, as well as those of the educational institution, which are non-negotiable. It is, therefore, an education that values initiative, responsibility, choice, decision-making, discipline and sanctions for reciprocity.
