EDFD 167 Essay: Applying Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory

This essay examines Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, specifically focusing on the pre-conventional stage, where children's morality is externally regulated by authority figures like parents and teachers. The essay highlights the importance of this stage in shaping children's behaviors and attitudes, emphasizing the role of educators in guiding and nurturing children's moral development. It discusses how teachers can integrate Kohlberg's theory into classrooms to foster ethical behavior and social responsibility. The essay also references the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, particularly the zone of proximal development, and its relation to the development of cognition, adding context to the discussion of child development in an educational setting. The paper emphasizes the importance of understanding how children learn to differentiate between right and wrong and the role of teachers in the process.

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Bachelor of Education
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Moral development is defined as the process through which kids develop appropriate
behaviours and attitudes towards others in the society, based on the rules, laws and social
norms (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2013, p. 134). This relates to how children develop in class in
relation to their behaviours when they are growing up. A long with the progression in both
emotional and social competence, children also get to learn to differentiate between what is
good and bad, fairness and the knowledge of human rights. In addition to this, moral
development also comprises of the intricate communication of ideas and thinking in between
the children as they share their thoughts.
Kohlberg in his hypothetical context tries to explain that moral dilemmas can help in
improving the reasoning level of children’s reasoning through telling them moral dilemma
stories (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2013, p. 136). Just like in cognitive theory he believed that
his theory had a series of stages, therefore he developed three stages to explain moral
development; pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional (Miller, Vandome &
McBrewster, 2010). He explains that through the pre-conventional stage children’s morality
is externally regulated as children accept and adhere to authority figures such as parents and
teachers (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2013, p. 135).
For me the most significant aspect of Kohlberg’s theory is the pre-conventional stage,
children morality is determined and controlled by the teachers and the parents. Therefore, the
children cannot do most of the things themselves because there is an oversight authority
which in turns promotes discipline and proper nurturing (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2013, p.
136).
There are numerous ways in which we can integrate Kohlberg’s theory into our
classrooms. As a teacher I get to understand my role in child moral development since I can

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make it better or even worse depending with how I control the children. The theory solely
gives the teachers social responsibility to guide the children as the children believe in them.
As an educator in childcare and through what experience has taught me, my role is to
correct the children whenever they go wrong, advise them on how to interact with one
another. This knowledge I derive from Kohlberg’s theory on the pre-conventional stage. This
ensures that the children are brought up in the right manner and properly nurtured.

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References
Miller, F. P., Vandome, A. F., & McBrewster, J. (2010). Kohlberg's Stages of Moral
Development: Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, University of Chicago, Moral Reasoning,
Ethics, Constructivism (learning Theory), Heinz Dilemma, Elliot Turiel, Domain Theory
(psychology), Jonathan Haidt.
Hoy, A. W., & Margetts, K. (2013). Educational Psychology. Australia, pearson Australia

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