Norman A. Sprinthall

Experienced Teachers: Agents for Revitalization and Renewal as Mentors and Teacher Educators.

After reviewing much recent research and theory, the article outlines the current status of developmental stage concepts as a basis for the teacher as an adult learner. There is substantial evidence to support the view that adults who process experience at higher and more complex levels of development perform more adequately in complex human helping roles. Using a developmental model, a system is then outlined for training both mentor teachers and educators of mentor teachers. Such new roles have substantial potential for revitalizing experienced teachers, promoting their developmental growth, and improving the quality of supervision for beginning teachers.

Moral Reasoning in the Context of Reform: A Study of Russian Officials

This article reports on an exploratory study of ethical reasoning among public administrators in Russia. Survey interviews and focus group follow-ups with civil servants participating in graduate training programs at the Russian Academy of Public Service provide information about their preferred mode of ethical reasoning; the demographic, attitudinal, organizational, and professional factors associated with that reasoning; and the behavioral choices implied. Using a sample of 113 public officials who represent a broad spectrum of regions in Russia, this study assesses moral reasoning, examines variables associated with alternative models, and compares these responses with findings from studies conducted in Poland and the United States. Based on this exploratory study, we suggest implications for theory, research, and practice.

Ethical Reasoning in a Time of Revolution: A Study of Local Officials in Poland

Polands transition from communism to democracy was marked by rhetoric that expressed democratic principles as the basis for organizing political life. Given the fundamentally moral message of the radical transformation throughout Eastern Europe, we would expect officials assuming office in these times to be strongly motivated by ethical principles as a basis for decision making. Arguably, office seekers would be idealists who believed that the principled rhetoric of the revolution could come to fruition in governmental actions. And this might be particularly true for elected officials who were obliged to organize beliefs based on principle into a political platform. Furthermore, we would expect the new decision makers in the initial stages to shun mindless deference to established rules, since their entire political context was marked by a rejection of established rules and the absence of a recent tradition that would provide a cultural framework for obedience to the law. In this context one might assume that only the former Communist Party officials who survived the transition in government would hold fast to the protection of the law as the basis for decision making in ambiguous moral situations. A focus group held with public administrators in Warsaw in the fall of 1990 reinforced these inferences. When we asked these officials to reflect on how they would handle an ethical dilemma in the workplace, we found that principled reasoning strongly outranked deference to law or rules as their preferred basis for decision making. This reinforced our assumption that if principled reasoning could ever guide public decision making, it would emerge strongly to guide those who assumed the mantle of public office in the new regime in Poland. With this set of expectations we undertook a study of the systems of moral reasoning which public officials in newly democratic Poland employed as they resolved ethical dilemmas in their work lives. Since most of our studies in the United States had focused on local officials, we held that focus in Poland. However, though our U.S. studies (Stewart and Sprinthall, 1994) included only appointed public administrators, the fluid political situation in Poland warranted including a comparison group of elected Polish local officials as well. The Background Though public administration literature is rich with analyses of codes (Chandler, 1983; Plant, 1994), climates (Bonczek, 1992; Bonczek and Menzel, 1994), and criminal sanctions (Doig, 1983; Doig, Phillips and Mason, 1984) as they relate to ethical decision making, research on individuals and their ethical choices in public office settings is not extensive. We do know much about how people generally reason in moral situations (Kohlberg, 1981; Rest, 1979, 1986) and that these reasoning patterns hold across cultures (Snarey, 1985). Working with Lawrence Kohlbergs stage model of moral maturity, we also know that there is a substantial degree of consistency between individual behavior and the moral judgment stage particularly at the more advanced levels (Blasi, 1980). Further, we know that the moral development research carried out in Poland since 1984 has confirmed the universal developmental trend toward principled reasoning determined by level of education and cognitive ability (Jasinska-Kania, 1988, 1989). In addition the research of Lind, Grocholweska, and Langer (1987) in Austria, West Germany, and Poland has further supported the cross-cultural validity of Kohlbergs moral development theory. However, only two empirical studies were relevant to a focus on public officials and their traits, beliefs, personal choices, and actions in relation to their ethical choices. Bowman (1990) has studied perceptions regarding ethics in society and government as well as overall organizational approaches to moral standards in a sample of 750 federal, state, and local officials who were members of ASPA in 1989. Stewart and Sprinthall have conducted studies of moral reasoning among North Carolina (1994) and Florida (1992) public administrators using an instrument built on the moral development theory of Lawrence Kohlberg. …

Counseling Psychology from Greyston to Atlanta On the Road to Armageddon

This article provides a brief description of the model for counseling psychology developed during the Greyston Conference of 1964 and compares the then state of the art with the current view from the Atlanta Conference. The thematic changes suggest that the shift of counseling psychology from its original roots in schools, colleges, and career development centers toward clinically oriented treatment embedded in a medical model may eliminate both our uniqueness and independent professional identity. It is further noted that such a shift is ironic, particularly in view of the growing body of developmental theory research and programs that form a substantive basis for the original Greyston model.

Roletaking and reflection: Promoting the conceptual and moral development of teachers

Abstract A growth intervention model for adults is described. The intervention model employs cognitive developmental theory with complex new role taking and guided reflection serving as keystones. A series of studies that span 15 years are summarized along with implications for teacher education and teacher development.

Service Learning and Developmental Education: The Need for an Applied Theory of Role-Taking and Reflection

This article examines service learning through the lens of cognitive-developmental psychology and developmental education. Recent interest in service learning as a means of encouraging further learning and growth is commendable; however, the goals need to be linked to relevant research and theory. Such theory is lacking. The theories of Kohlberg, Hunt, and Loevinger, as well as recent research on social role-taking and guided reflection interventions are reviewed. The goal is to build a developmentally based theory of service learning that provides conditions (e.g., action, reflection, balance, support and challenge, continuity) to promote guiding programs and to explain how persons construct meaning as they engage in problem solving and reflection on complex new roles and encounter social-ethical issues. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.

Women and Men in the Project of Reform A Study of Gender Differences among Local Officials in Two Provinces in Poland

Are there politically relevant differences between female and male local government officials in postcommunist Poland? In structured interviews with 485 local officials in two provinces, the authors explored differences in terms of ethical reasoning and attitudes toward anomalous groups. Women more strongly favored a model of ethical reasoning characterized by a concern for abstract principles of social cooperation than did their male counterparts. On attitudes toward anomalous groups, women were more temperate than men on the issues of participation by former communists in contemporary government and men had a less favorable view than women on participation of women in politics generally. Based on this study, gender may make a difference in the practice of government in contemporary Poland.

Psychological and Moral Development for Teacher Education

Abstract After a brief discussion on the need for more effective teacher education programmes in the United States, the article presents a first attempt to link moral and psychological education with a teacher training curriculum. Employing a sample of pre‐service teachers, the course in educational psychology was redesigned to deliberately teach counselling techniques as a means of stimulating ego and moral development. The results indicate positive shifts on both the Loevinger test of ego development and Kohlberg post‐conventional moral maturity using the Rest, Defining Issues Test. The relation between teacher training and development is detailed. It is strongly suggested that teacher education should adopt a developmental framework for both goals and instructional strategies.

Female Offenders and Their Guards: a programme to promote moral and ego development of both groups

Abstract The study was designed as a test of an especially constructed series of dilemma discussion methods for an experimental group of female offenders and their guards. The programme conducted on prison grounds, consisted of a five‐month programme for the offenders and a separate ten‐month programme for the staff. The results indicated that the experimental group of inmates improved on both the Defining Issues Test (DIT), an estimate of moral judgement and the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (SCT), an estimate of ego development, when compared to a random group. The results for the staff programme were similar except that initially the guards’ scores were much lower than those of the inmates, especially on the DIT. Two‐year, follow‐up information indicated that the experimental group of females achieved more positive outcomes than did the controls. Implications for prison reform from an educational and developmental perspective are stressed.