Teachers’ Moral Evaluation of Students in an Inclusive Secondary School - A Study of Minority Students’Behaviour and School Performance

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

The study examines how teachers in an inclusive secondary school evaluate students’ morality, focusing on whether teachers assign moral blame or praise for factors beyond students’ control. It argues that teachers may hold students morally blameworthy or praiseworthy due to limited understanding of students’ lack of control. Findings also indicate that many teachers lack clear cross-cultural knowledge of minority students’ backgrounds, creating an amoral-judgement dilemma. The study recommends examining other variables affecting learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Research Questions and Findings

Cross-Cultural Differences in Moral Rules

The Role of Moral Universality

Theoretical Framework

Kohlberg’s Rationalist Theory

Haidt’s Social Intuitionist Model

Teachers’ Moral Evaluation of Students in an Inclusive Secondary School: A Study of Minority Students’Behaviour and School Performance * By Mohammed-Awal Alhassan This study aims to analyze the issue of morality in a teaching and learning setup. After discussion and answering the question “Is it ever the case that teachers hold students morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors that are known to be beyond their control?” the study concludes that teachers hold students tobe morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors that are beyond their control, because they do not fully comprehend their lack of control over their situation, which is still bad. The study also found that most teachers do not have a clear cross-cultural knowledge of minority students’ background causing amoral judgement dilemma of students’ behaviours and actions. A critical look at other variables that may affect students’ learning is recommended by this study. Keywords: minority students, blameworthy, praiseworthy, knowledge, moral judgement Introduction Research on morality and moral evaluation is not new, and has evolved around many fields including philosophy, social and developmental psychology. However, what is unique in the present study is its evaluation dilemma of cognitive, emotional and affective underpinnings of moral judgment with regards to the rightness or wrongness of students behaviours and teachers actions to correct them. The main research question “Are students held morally blameworthy or praiseworthy by their teachers for factors that are known to be beyond their control?” is sub-divided into two: (1) Are there universally accepted moral rules when teachers make moral judgments, on their students and (2) Are moral judgments situation specific out of a generality? We have tried to answer these two questions by talking to 52 students and 50 teachers while reviewing recent studies to find answers to these questions. The question about whether moral rules are universal and universally accepted seemed to be negative and not universally endorsed, also supported by literature. The question about moral judgment being innate is also proved by this study to be weak also based on the lack of a universal acceptance of moral judgment rules and modules. A cross-cultural research has shown differences of moral rules with different cultures having different understanding and perceptions of what is morally good or bad. For example moral rules endorsed by Western cultures as acceptable may not be accepted norms in other non-Western cultures (Rai & Fiske, 2011) . Looking into the eyes of your teachers when talking to you is not accepted in some * Lecturer, Nordre Follo Adult Institute, Norway. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.9-2-8](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.9-2-8) doi=10.30958/aje.9-2-8 societies, while hitting or corporal punishment is accepted. Other moral domains, such as certain aspects of sexuality and sexual education and fairness are also highly variable (Rai & Fiske, 2011; Sripada & Stich, 2006) . This means that the issue of moral rules and moral judgment vary considerably across cultures. To address the second question this study has looked into evidence showing that moral cognitions are innate. According to Hauser (2006), there is no moral universality. Mikhail (2015) in a similar study found that the evidence about lack of universality already indicates that it is unlikely that specific moral rules are innate. It is not deniable that moral judgment and moral rules are likely to be components of a universal moral rules and judgment leading some researchers to propose that moral cognitions are nothing special, but part of the varieties of the contents of moral judgment. Bucciarelli, Khemlani, and Johnson-Laird (2008) noted that moral judgment should be culturally determined. With culturally diverse students in a multi-ethnic class, the question of whose and which cultural norms should determine the rule of order i

FAQs

What is the central aim of the study on teachers’ moral evaluation?

To analyze the issue of morality in teaching and learning and determine whether teachers hold students morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors beyond their control.

What did the study conclude about whether teachers blame or praise students for uncontrollable factors?

Teachers are concluded to hold students morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors beyond their control because they do not fully understand the extent of that lack of control.

How do cross-cultural differences influence moral judgments in the study?

The study reports that moral rules vary across cultures, so norms accepted in one culture may not be accepted in another, affecting how moral judgments are made in diverse classrooms.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran