Educazione alla responsabilità sociale: un’analisi psicometrica basata sulle teorie dello sviluppo morale
Manuela Guardiani
Over the last century Western societies have witnessed an intensification of individualism that in Italy reinforced a traditional lack of social capital already highlighted in the classical studies by Putnam and Banfield. Society is therefore presented with the challenge of educating young generations to the values of prosociality. A particularly effective technique that can be used to this purpose is service learning that integrates social service activities with high emotional impact with reflective activities. The service learning technique thus, relying on both the affective and cognitive components of the moral judgment ability, appears to be consistent with Kohlberg moral development theory. This research work represents one of the first surveys of social oriented activities organized in the context of Italian schools. The analysis tool that we employed is Moral Judgment Test, a psychometric test designed to assess moral competence. Using this tool in conjunction with in-depth interviews a comparison was made of the educational approach of international schools and of the approach typically adopted by Italian schools. The investigation also analyzed possible gender influences and the potential correlation between the development of social judgment ability and cognitive development in general. The research highlighted the superiority of the approach of international schools where social oriented activities are a fundamental part of the school program even if reflective activities are strongly demanded to help Italian students to compensate the limits of their cultural environment in what concerns the transmission of prosocial values.
Keywords
Service learning, Prosociality, Moral developmental theory, Moral competence.