ABSTRACT
Developmental moral education, based upon Kohlberg's (1984) study of moral reasoning, has been manifested in a variety of settings and forms of application. One component which is prominent in most forms of developmental moral education is peer moral discussion. Indeed, the first attempts at moral education based on Kohlberg's theory (e.g., Blatt, 1969) were comprised entirely of peer discussions of moral dilemmas. Even more recent and different procedures such as democratic governance (Power, this volume) and counselor training (Sprinthall, 1980) include peer moral discussion as a core ingredient. This paper will explore adolescent moral discussion as a form of moral education from the standpoints of both psychological research and educational practice. First, what we know and what we think we know about moral discussion will be considered. Included in this section will be reflections about what research has taught us. Then moral discussion as a process of structural development will be addressed and a program of research aimed at uncovering the developmental features of adolescent moral discussion will be presented. Finally, an attempt will be made to integrate these two analyses and to consider where this perspective can take moral education and research in the future.
