Undiscerning obedience to authority or compliance motivated by social approval differs substantially from volitional moral reasoning based on internalized values. The aim of this study was to ascertain why students would choose to act responsibly in the absence of external constraints. This article reports data collected from primary students in…

This paper demonstrates how classroom trouble warranting teacher intervention can stem from transgressions in different layers of the complex moral order regulating classroom interactions. The paper builds from Durkheim's treatment of schooling as the institution responsible for the inculcation of a shared moral order, Bernstein's distinction…

This article critiques guidance approaches to discipline, that are employed in early childhood environments with an aim to create democratic environments for children, and as part of "good" practices. Advocates of guidance claim that this is a more humane or democratic approach to discipline that empowers children, and therefore, power…

Drawing on research conducted in Australian Health' and Physical Education (HPE) and Swedish Physical Education and Health (PEH), this paper demonstrates the analytic possibilities of Foucault's notion of pastoral power to reveal the moral and ethical work conducted by HPE/PEH teachers in producing healthy active citizens. We use the pastoral…

This study was conducted to investigate the moral development of teachers, their reasoning about student discipline incidents, and whether a teacher's own moral development might affect desired student outcomes. An inservice course on student discipline entitled "Managing Student Behavior: A Whole School Approach to Discipline" (MSB) was…

Reports on 2 studies to assess attitudes to and moral reasoning about class rules among 117 Australian secondary students and 87 student teachers. Finds students' moral reasoning to be more advanced than predicted by Lawrence Kohlberg and based on the general welfare of students and teachers. (CFR)