Moral education in elementary school: judgements of teachers on the virtue of justice

Authors

  • Leandra Lúcia Moraes Couto Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
  • Heloisa Moulin de Alencar Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES
  • Marcelo Menezes Salgado Universidade Federal de Alfenas (Unifal-MG)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18316/dialogo.v0i35.3372

Keywords:

Education in Moral Values, Piagetian Theories, Justice, Elementary Teaching, Teacher’s Conception.

Abstract

We investigate the judgments of moral justice made by elementary school teachers. We conducted interviews, semi structured, with six teachers from a public school in Vitoria, in the state of Espirito Santo. The data were analyzed based on the Piagetian theory and on the systematization proposed by Deval. Most of the examples of injustice mentioned are linked to social injustice, and those of justice, to equality. A great part of the interviewed consider a duty to teach about justice, and they justify their affirmation saying it is a school function. All of the teachers say that the teacher must have an attitude when a student does not respect a rule. Regarding the attitude the teacher should take, they believe the problem should be solved by the direction of the school. Analyzing the data, we found that the participants’ sense of justice has the characteristics of autonomous moral. However, we question if the teachers’ performances favor the development of autonomous individuals.

Author Biographies

Leandra Lúcia Moraes Couto, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES

Doutoranda em Psicologia pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES/Vitória, ES).

Heloisa Moulin de Alencar, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES

Doutora em Psicologia. Professora do Departamento de Psicologia Social e do Desenvolvimento (DPSD) e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia (PPGP) da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES). Coordenadora do Laboratório de Psicologia da Moralidade (LAPSIM) da UFES. Pesquisadora Capixaba da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo (FAPES), bolsa suspensa em março/2017. Bolsista da CAPES do Programa Estágio Sênior no Exterior em março/2017 (proc. nº 88881.118916/2016-01) na University of California, Berkeley.

Marcelo Menezes Salgado, Universidade Federal de Alfenas (Unifal-MG)

Professor do Instituto de Ciências Humanas e Letras (ICHL) da Universidade Federal de Alfenas (Unifal-MG). Doutorando em Psicologia pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da UFES.

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Published

2017-08-30

Issue

No. 35 (2017)

Section

Articles

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