Education is Effective in Improving Students’ Ethical and Moral Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Article Swipe
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· 2024
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xv536
· OA: W4404553411
Addressing society's greatest challenges, such as climate change, requires us to act as moral agents. If effective, interventions within schools and universities could cultivate ethical and moral attributes in millions of people. In this pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis, we synthesized evidence from 66 randomized controlled trials of interventions at primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels (k=246; 9,978 students). Educational interventions effectively improved students’ moral outcomes of sensitivity, judgment, motivation, and character compared to control groups (g = 0.54; n = 45; k = 133). Interventions involving student discussions were more effective than those relying solely on unidirectional or passive transfer of information. This finding was confirmed through studies comparing two alternate ethics interventions (n = 38; k = 113). Overall, our review shows that educational interventions can improve students’ ethical and moral attributes and provides insights for prioritizing and planning future interventions to increase these attributes at scale.
