The purpose of this study is to contribute to contemporary debates aboutalternative ways of teaching Moral Education (ME) in Malaysia by including thevoice of students. ME in the Malaysian setting is both complex and compulsory.This study explores alternatives to the current somewhat dated approach. Itseeks to discover what young adolescents describe as moral dilemmas, how theyapproach them and what they find useful in resolving these moral problems.The research is founded on a modified version of Vygotsky's Zone of ProximalDevelopment (ZPD), extended to suit the multicultural, multiethnic Malaysiansetting, and here called the Zone of Collaborative Development (ZCD). Thisstudy uses qualitative research methodology consisting of a modified frameworkof participatory action research (PAR) as the methodological framework. Datawas gathered for textual analysis through a modified form of participantobservation, focus group transcripts, interviews, and student journals.The research trials a process of resolving reallifemoral dilemmas in the MEclassroom. It critically analyses the types of reallifemoral dilemmas that aselected group of secondary students face. It also indicates the moral choicesthey make and the moral orientations they use. Participants in this study were 2216-17year old adolescents from three different types of secondary schools in aForm Four ME classroom in Malaysia. They were from different ethnic andcultural backgrounds, but within a nonMuslimcommunity of students. ME inMalaysia (MEM) is designed to cater for this group while Muslim students studyIslamic Studies.Findings show that students were concerned about moral issues and values notcovered in the current ME curriculum. The moral dilemmas that they identifiedwere relational and context dependent. Multiple factors contributed to theproblems they described. These factors included national legislation, Malaysianculture, ethnicity, and religion as well as the effects of history, in particular theJapanese occupation. Students named autonomy, self and mutual respect, trust,freedom, and tolerance as main conflicting themes in their reallifemoraldilemmas. They found their peers helpful in providing support, advice, anddirection. Students also appear to find the process trialled in the researchinteresting, interactive/collaborative, meaningful, and reflective.The analysis also shows that the respondents' moral choices were influenced byparents, culture, religion, utilitarianism, collaboration, and friendship, within astrong carebasedapproach. However, moral pluralism was also evident in thefindings in cases where participants made decisions based on care and justiceinterchangeably. The study suggests that including students' voices in MEM inthis way might better engage students' interest, whilst at the same timecontributing to interculturaltolerance and understanding.
展开▼
