Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to contribute to contemporary debates about
alternative ways of teaching Moral Education (ME) in Malaysia by including the
voice of students. ME in the Malaysian setting is both complex and compulsory.
This study explores alternatives to the current somewhat dated approach. It
seeks to discover what young adolescents describe as moral dilemmas, how they
approach them and what they find useful in resolving these moral problems.
The research is founded on a modified version of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD), extended to suit the multicultural, multiethnic Malaysian
setting, and here called the Zone of Collaborative Development (ZCD). This
study uses qualitative research methodology consisting of a modified framework
of participatory action research (PAR) as the methodological framework. Data
was gathered for textual analysis through a modified form of participant
observation, focus group transcripts, interviews, and student journals.
The research trials a process of resolving reallife
moral dilemmas in the ME
classroom. It critically analyses the types of reallife
moral dilemmas that a
selected group of secondary students face. It also indicates the moral choices
they make and the moral orientations they use. Participants in this study were 22
16-17
year old adolescents from three different types of secondary schools in a
Form Four ME classroom in Malaysia. They were from different ethnic and
cultural backgrounds, but within a nonMuslim
community of students. ME in
Malaysia (MEM) is designed to cater for this group while Muslim students study
Islamic Studies.
Findings show that students were concerned about moral issues and values not
covered in the current ME curriculum. The moral dilemmas that they identified
were relational and context dependent. Multiple factors contributed to the
problems they described. These factors included national legislation, Malaysian
culture, ethnicity, and religion as well as the effects of history, in particular the
Japanese occupation. Students named autonomy, self and mutual respect, trust,
freedom, and tolerance as main conflicting themes in their reallife
moral
dilemmas. They found their peers helpful in providing support, advice, and
direction. Students also appear to find the process trialled in the research
interesting, interactive/collaborative, meaningful, and reflective.
The analysis also shows that the respondents' moral choices were influenced by
parents, culture, religion, utilitarianism, collaboration, and friendship, within a
strong carebased
approach. However, moral pluralism was also evident in the
findings in cases where participants made decisions based on care and justice
interchangeably. The study suggests that including students' voices in MEM in
this way might better engage students' interest, whilst at the same time
contributing to intercultural
tolerance and understanding.
