Longitudinal study of levels of moral reasoning of undergraduate students in an Irish university: the influence of contextual factors

The impact of education level and type on moral reasoning

“…According to Table 2, the scores from this study are most comparable with those of average senior high students and are well below the level of adults in general and college students. The low P scores found in this study are consistent with the findings of Breslin (1982), Kahn (1982), D'Arcy-Garvey (1988), Gleeson (1992), and O'Flaherty and Gleeson (2009) in the context of the Irish scores being lower than international norms as reported by the CSED. Further, work needs to be done to investigate why the scores achieved in this study are so low.…”

“…(Newman 1852) It is argued that the specialisation focus of the Irish undergraduate experience compares poorly with this ideal (Barry 2007). Furthermore, research conducted to date has shown that, in the main, Irish undergraduate students have significantly 384 E. Doyle and J. O'Flaherty lower DIT P scores than the norms outlined for their US and international peers (Breslin 1982;Kahn 1982;D'Arcy-Garvey 1988;Gleeson 1992;O'Flaherty and Gleeson 2009). For example, O'Flaherty and Gleeson (2009) report a mean P score of 28.89 for Irish students in the first year of their college degree (n 0259) compared with a mean of 42.3 scored by their US peers, while Kahn (1982) found a mean P score of just 20.25 for students aged between 18 and 19 years.…”

“…Furthermore, prior research reports very low moral reasoning scores in Irish participants (Kahn 1982;O'Flaherty and Gleeson 2009). It is in this context that this paper aims to examine the impact of education on moral reasoning in Ireland.…”

Personality Development during Teacher Preparation

“…As a result, there is a growing body of literature looking at personality factors in the context of teaching, learning, and learning to teach (Adewale, 2013; Klassen and Tze, 2014; Spencer, 2014, unpublished). Entry into teacher education programs is often based on academic criteria alone with a view to admitting high quality candidates; however, critics argue that personal suitability data should accompany academic criteria as a way to recruit and retain more effective applicants into teaching positions (Corcoran and Tormey, 2010, 2012a,b, 2013; O’Flaherty and Gleeson, 2014; O’Flaherty and McGarr, 2014). In order to realize this, teacher preparation programs need to strengthen their understanding of the pre-teaching characteristics that significantly predict teacher performance and/or student outcomes (Corcoran and Tormey, 2013).…”

Choosing to study music: student attitudes towards the subject of music in second-level education in the Republic of Ireland

“…The points system influences an individual student's subject choice : : : Some students base their subject choice for leaving cert on the perceived likelihood of getting a high grade, rather than on their aptitude for the subject or its relevance to their higher education course of choice (Hyland, 2011, p. 4). The Irish education system is influenced by competitive individualistic values (Lynch, 1987;O'Flaherty & Gleeson, 2014, an ideology which is reflected in the assessment-driven nature of the LC and the points system. Waters, McPherson, and Schubert (2014) argue that there is limited research regarding the factors that influence subject choice during second-level education, which is surprising considering the profound effect of subject selection on the future careers of adolescents.…”