A study on the place of moral education with reference to school curriculum in sri lankan educational system

Author: 
Ratugamage Asha Nimali Fernando

The main objective of this research is to critically evaluate moral education in Sri Lankan school curriculum. Education is very important in our lives. It helps us to make a better life. It is a process of learning. On the other hand, it helps to improve different skills and capabilities, habits, knowledge, values as well as beliefs. What is moral education? It can simply define as teaching students about values or moral habits which helps to live in the society helpfully and peacefully. In this process, subjects have been introduced to develop moral education in the school curriculums. Teaching moral education belongs to the hidden curriculum because, from various subjects, we learn values and good habits. For example, if, through religion, we learn to be kind, then automatically it is teaching moral values. Education aims at development or growth intellectually as well as morally. It helps to develop good habits, civic, well-behaved, successful, and healthy qualities that are acceptable in society. In the process of learning, moral education is provided through various subjects such as civic education and life skills, health science, religion, and ethics. The fundamental way in which education helps social progress is by aiding the moral development of the individual and the society. According to Dewey, education means intellectual and moral development or growth. Talk of ethical theories is scarcely at a premium in current debates about morality and moral education, yet these are no more than attempts to make explicit the reasons why some things are considered good and others bad; to go beyond the simple commands ‘Do this’ and ‘Don’t do that, or else’. Few would suggest that anything resembling a formal course in ethics would provide an answer to our current problems. Therefore, the practice of moral development in our education system must be investigated in this sense and it is needed to analyze and evaluate the existing teaching and practice of moral education within Sri Lankan school education system. This research focuses on addressing the present practice of moral education in school setting. This study also critically investigates the gaps and inadequate areas of moral application in our country in comparison to the international standards. The methodology of this research applies mixed methods, for a qualitative approach this involves the conceptual clarification of moral education along with moral reasoning with reference to different texts on value education. As well, this study quantitatively gathers information by conducting on the teaching of civics subject in school curricula in grade 8 of the Sri Lankan national school syllabus. We selected two schools in Colombo district, namely Lumbini College and Musaeus College. The Sample is 100 students in 13 years of age, and analysis the data using SPSS analysis.

Paper No: 
5028