Moral education at school: between planning and subjectivity. An exploration with in-service teachers

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a broader sequential-exploratory research project on moral education within school contexts. The research investigates the moral dilemmas faced by in-service Italian school teachers; it aims at exploring the
subjective interpretations of moral education on the part of teachers and understanding the experiences that they consider related to this topic. The analysis of the data obtained from a focus group shows some recurring themes: the teachers’ perception of improvising when facing “moral” questions in class, including recurring topics; the feeling that there is a lack of homogeneity in interventions among teachers of the same school; the explicit need of shared categories in the realm of moral themes in teaching.