Moral judgement and student motivation in Moral Education

Abstract

This study investigated the level of moral judgment, and the motivation of Moral Education (ME) students in secondary schools with a sample of 1104 ME students aged 14 to 16 years old. Findings of this study showed that over half (53.4%) of ME students were in the immature level of moral judgement (M = 273.00, SD = 31.44) and the rest were at the mature level. Female students had a significantly higher moral judgement than male students (t (1102) = -2.785, p < 0.01). A significant age group differences in level of moral judgement (F (2, 1101) = 4.205, p= 0.015) was found between 14 and 16 years old students. With regards to motivation in ME (F (2, 1101) =11.69, p = 0.00), a significant relationshipwas found between students aged 14 and 16 years. In addition, a significant relationship between moral judgment and the amotivation, external, introjected and identified motivation was identified through this study. In conclusion, this study suggests that although ME plays a role in raising the student's moral judgement, students are still low in terms of achieving moral judgment. The implication is that more attention should be given to ME to further enhance student's moral judgement and more importantly the results of the study provide awareness on the need to reinforce moral judgement and motivation.