Early Childhood Education Teachers' Experiences on Moral Dilemmas and Suggestions for Morality and Ethics in Education Course

Every human confronts daily moral problems, and education process enhances problem solving skills. Especially novice teachers hesitate between making decisions about creating extra time for moral education or focusing on students’ academic success and cover the units of a curriculum. The aim of this study is to investigate early childhood education teachers’ experiences and observations related to ethical dilemmas and teachers’ efforts for promoting moral education of children. This qualitative study was conducted in Usak, a small city in the west of Turkey, and 28 early childhood education teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The findings showed that teachers and families affect students’ moral perceptions, and ethical issues create a major difficulty in moral education. The limitations for moral education were listed as family effect, lack of effective role models in students’ life, media, and ignorance of national values. According to the participants, families raise selfish people deliberately because they believe someone else can shoulder responsibilities for their children in the future and their children can lead a comfortable life. Another theme is Endangered Values which participant teachers are anxious about losing such as justice, honesty, friendships, tolerance, and kindness.