Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory: Level 3 (Post conventional morality)-Stage 5 & Stage 6-

Group members:SuhaiziFarhanaFahmi

Kokilavathi

What is post-conventional morality stage? Known as principled level marked by growing

realization that individuals are separated entities of the society

Post-conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles

(principles that include basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice.)

View rules as useful but changeable mechanisms—ideally rules can maintain the general social order and protect human rights

Stage 5 (Social contract and individual right)

 People at this stage begin to ask what exactly makes a good society

Relies heavily on noble principles such as equality and human dignity

At this stage, the child is most likely a teenager or older

They begin to think about society in a very theoretical way, stepping back from their own society and considering the rights and values that a society ought to uphold

Example:

When the child hit the sibling, they will most likely have a reason that they see as fair punishment for something the sibling did. Depending on what exactly the sibling did to provoke the violence, your child should be punished accordingly to preserve fairness in your household.

Stage 6(Universal principles)

A hypothetical, "ideal" stage that few people ever reach.

Based upon universal ethical and abstarct principles (e.g., equality of all people, respect for human dignity, commitment to justice)

Trying to view situations from all aspects of the issue.

At this stage, people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.

They answer to a strong inner conscience and willingly disobey laws that violate their own ethical principles.

Example: During the Vietnam War, many

Americans who were drafted to be soldiers opposed the war on moral grounds and fled to Canada rather than fight. Even though this behaviour was against the law, these people decided that these particular laws did not follow the higher rules they believed in, and they chose to follow their higher rules instead of the law.

Stages of Moral DevelopmentLawrence Kohlberg

      

Level Stage Ages Social Orientation

Pre-Conventional 1 2-4 Obedience and Punishment

2 4-7 Individualism, Instrumentalism

Conventional 3 7-10 Good Boy/Girl

4 10-12 Law and Order

Post-Conventional 5 Teens Social Contract

6 Adult Principled Conscience

7

How to apply at school:

Discuss behavioural expectations and the impact of behaviour on other students frequently in class. They need to understand why they are being asked to follow rules and the consequences for both positive and negative behaviour.

Emphasize comparisons between the feelings of different students to facilitate the ability to change perspectives. This key cognitive task enables students to move from following rules because they will get either rewarded or punished to internalizing the social function of rules.

Education Implications

According to Kohlberg (1969) education plays a major role in moral development.

His strongest statement to this effect is that moral reasoning stops at the same point that formal education stops.

Parents tend to fear that formal moral education may contradict the religious or philosophical values that are taught in the home and by social agencies other than the school.

Even in communities where moral education is welcome there is disagreement about which values and what topics to cover in the classroom.

Children are encouraged to behave in a moralistic fashion whether the school has embraced a moral education agenda or not. Middle-class, conformist values are rewarded and other behaviour is punished