Assessment of Principled Moral reasoning of a Female Sample of Graduate students in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the principled moral reasoning of 68 female graduate students in education at the University of Kuwait. Participants were recruited from three master programs: foundations of education (n=21), curriculum and method of teaching (29), and Administration and educational planning (18). Their moral reasoning was measured by the Defining Issues Test (DIT). The results indicate that the sample scored lower in principled moral reasoning than graduate students in general. However, they scored predominantly at stage 4 in Kohlberg's moral judgment theory. Results also indicate that there are no significant differences in principled moral reasoning of the participants according to their academic disciplines.