Children for integrity: The influence of moral stories on pre-schoolers’ integrity values

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the effect of an integrity intervention program in preschool focusing on the use of moral integrity stories that resemble the Jordanian cultural identity on children’s moral integrity values. A total of 200 preschoolers’ (4- to 5-year-olds) participated in the study, 95 female and 105 male participants from three private preschools in Amman were recruited. The sample was randomly selected and divided into experimental and control groups. Two-way ANOVA analysis was used to analyze the data. The results revealed main effect (p < 0.0001) of the intervention for each dimension of the scale, empathy, honesty, respect, and courage, and the overall scale of integrity was in favor of the experimental group, with no main effect of the intervention by gender on any scale dimension. This study concluded that use of moral stories to integrate core moral values in pre-schoolers’ from the beginning aid in developing honesty, empathy, courageous and respectful intentions in coming generation to improve prosocial attitude leading to overall benefit to Jordanian society.

Keywords

Integrity moral integrity moral stories culture empathy honesty

Introduction

Children are faced with many challenges, almost every day, in their homes and communities, which affect their social development skills, value belief systems, and moral integrity (Sagi-Schwartz, 2008; Kang, 2017). Some children reflect these challenges in disruptive behaviors of violence and physical aggression. Children’s disruptive behavior is considered as an indicator of a decline in respect for others and the invasion of their humanity into the Arab Middle Eastern culture (Taylor et al., 2013). A lot of people think the role of a teacher is just to impart knowledge in the classroom. Indeed it is but just imparting knowledge or facilitating learning is not the just the only responsibility of teachers. In today’s time, where parents are shirking off their responsibilities in upbringing their children it is also the responsibility of teachers to help in developing desirable characteristics or moral values in students (Price-Mitchell, 2015). We are living in a time where integrity has taken a back seat to power and material success where the end justifies the means is a hymn for too many adults who inspire children. Unfortunately, the cost of ignoring integrity is real and the psychological damage can be deep even for the ones who are sitting silently on one side. Like passive smoking, the impact of disrespect and dishonest often leaves invisible marks on the bodies and minds of children (Manning & Stroud, 2018). In line with this a study was conducted by Birhan et al., (2021) to investigate the contents of moral and character e4ducation for children and the approach adopted by parents and teachers to teach moral and character education to children. This research involved 18 schools of East Gojjam, West Gojjam and Awi administrative zones. The study results showed that parents emphasized upon teaching children to be honest and responsible for their behaviors and actions. Whereas the teachers gave a lot of emphasizes on teaching children to be respectful and caring towards others. Moreover, the study also showed that there are pieces of moral and character contents included across different subjects but still there is a challenge in giving moral and character education as a separate subject at schools and failure of parents and teachers to be role models for children.

Arabic culture demands respect, obedience, and conformity from children towards their parents, teachers, and communities. Arabic culture, represented by parents, teachers, and school administrators, promotes respect for rules and social conventions (Dwairy et al., 2006), insuring the safe social integration of children.

Jordan is an essential part of the Arab world, sharing a cultural tradition common to the Middle East. This tradition is rooted in family, education, community, and everyday practice. The conventional norms of Arab culture include morality and integrity (e.g. respect, submission, and obedience) to parents, teachers, and authority. Good behavior, such as that of the “good child” or “polite child” is the most important aspect of Arab culture for which parents strive (Four et al., 2006).

In 2018, three incidents occurred in Jordanian schools which were unfamiliar in Jordanian society, vandalism, shooting, and child suicide (Betawi & Al -Shawabkeh, 2018). During an interview conducted on March 7, 2018, Professor Iman Betawi stated that the incidences that occurred in schools recently is a red flag and demoralize this generation; such practices are considered deviations from conventional norms and deemed inappropriate from the Arabic perspective. On the other hand, during the same interview conducted on March 7, 2018, Dr Al-Shawabkeh a representative of the MoE stated that these behaviors are not acceptable in our culture because it deviates from the integrity values in Arabic culture causing many individuals concern, especially parents and educators, leading them to declare a moral integrity crisis in Jordan (Roya News, 2018a; Ammon News, 2018). Parents and educators consider these practices red flags, and associate them with immorality, delinquency, antisocial behaviour, and a poor attitude towards moral integrity. Therefore, procedures were put in place to control the situation by the Ministry of Education (MOE) by launching Basma project in school as extracurricular for students to create a positive atmosphere and allow students to be creative in Arts by drawing graphite that carries a positive message for students in schools. (Al-Sardi, 2018; Ministry of Education, 2018).

Local media, TV shows and all social media (Abdo, 2018 a; Abdo, 2018 b) were discussing these incidences leading the public to raise their concerns about the moral integrity of students in Jordanian schools (Al-Salahat, 2018; Amon News, 2018; Roya, 2018a).

Although the education system in Jordan is based on guiding and instilling Islamic values in students before teaching, along with other Middle Eastern countries it has been influenced by western values and practices (Barakat, 1993; Dwairy et al., 2006; Robinson, 2013) that had not previously affected Jordanian values and cultural identities which were embedded in teaching children and passed to the next generation (Betawi, 2013). For example, western curricula use authoritative educational and parental styles, while Jordanian teachers are authoritarian. Using an authoritarian teaching style in schools and an authoritarian parenting style at home is the norm in Arabic culture (Betawi, 2013; Dwairy et al., 2006). According to Dwairy et al. (2006) although Arab children and young people are satisfied with this style of teaching, children’s literature based on moral values is a vital tool in education. Research claims that stories help convey moral values to young children (Baumgartner & Buchanan, 2010; Cooper, 2007) through pictures, images, and frequent repetition of the values that young children need to acquire. Moral integrity stories can form mental images in children’s minds. In the view of Nurdini and Suparno (2018, p.296), “stories allow children to map experiences mentally and see images in their heads”. These images and pictures help young children process information and learn better than listening to instructions (Nurdini & Suparno, 2019).

Consequently, as an early childhood educator and scholar, the researcher believes there is a need to re-examine the moral integrity of education in Jordan. There is a need to propose an intervention programme that introduces moral integrity stories in early childhood education in order to instil in children at a young age the core values of integrity that correspond to the Jordanian and Middle Eastern identity and ideology. Therefore, current study aimed to access the implementation of moral integrity values in Jordanian pre-schoolers curriculum to observe its impact on children future wellbeing. The study also analysed the impact of gender on adherence and response to moral education. In this study, moral integrity is defined as a collective concept of several core values with social, ethical, and sometimes legal implications and ramifications. These core values include honesty, empathy, respect, and courage, and are essential for shaping social conduct and leading to safe, caring, supportive, and productive communities. These values should be integrated into the essence of the social system (family and school) regardless of culture, religion, or social preference. To establish moral integrity during early childhood, research emphasizes the use of stories and story time for preschool children, which is critical to teaching those social skills and moral values. As a result, the core values of integrity need to be taught, modelled, and reinforced among children through families and schools by significant adults such as parents and teachers, and practiced by children (Rahim & Rahiem, 2013).

Hypothesis

H₁: There is a significant difference in the mean scores of moral integrity values (empathy, honesty, respect, and courage) of children exposed to the moral integrity stories compared to children exposed to regular stories and also on the basis of gender

H₀: There is no significant difference in the mean scores of moral integrity values (empathy, honesty, respect, and courage) of children exposed to the moral integrity stories compared to children exposed to regular stories and also on the basis of gender

Material and methods

Study participation and ethics approval

This study was conducted at three private preschool settings purposefully selected from the Private Educational Directorate in Amman, Jordan. The reason for choosing these preschools is that they introduce bilingual program teaching both English and Arabic concentrating on English language in all subjects, leaving one session for Arabic in their daily schedule, have a large number of preschool classes, and employ story time in their daily schedule. It is important for the researcher to conduct the research in such preschools since the children’s literature in Arabic lakes integrity value stories and state preschools do not employ story time in their daily schedule.

A total of 200 pre-schoolers were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned in to six groups, three experimental and three control groups (one experimental and one control group) for each pre-school setting. The study included (n = 105) male and (n = 95) female participants and sample size for the study was calculated using “RaoSoft Calculator”. The study included participants aged between 3 – 4 years with their parents willing to give informed consent for participation in the study, have good understanding of Arabic language. The study was initiated after approval from governmental review board, Ministry of Education, Jordan. (Approval No: 63,556/3/10)

Research design

The study took a quantitative approach, true experimental in form, with a between-group post-test only design. “This design can control for most of the same threats to internal and external validity as the classic controlled experimental design” (Saint-Germain, n. d, para.17). If the study had a large sample, randomization or equating the groups would minimize the possibility of history, maturation, selection, interaction selection and other threats (Creswell, 2008, p.313).

The study participants consisted of 200 children, which is a large sample. The participants were divided randomly into three experimental groups and three control groups because of the large sample. When true experiment includes only a post-test, it reduces the threat from testing and instrumentation, because a pre-test is not used. According to Creswell (2008), using a pre-test in a true experiment introduces factors which are possible threats to validity, because “instrumentation exists as a potential threat in most experiments” (Creswell, 2008, p.313).

Study instruments or equipment’s

The study used “children’s moral integrity scale (CMIS)” (Betawi, 2018), a 48-item scale for assessing young children’s moral integrity. There are four subscales within the CMIS: (i) the empathy subscale consisting of 12 items such as “tries to comfort others when they cry”; (ii) the honesty subscale consisting of 11 items such as “says the truth even if he gets in trouble”; (iii) the respect subscale consisting of 15 items such as “respects other kids' things”; and (iv) the courage subscale consisting of 10 items such as “stands up for mistreated kids”. The CMIS items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1= Never, 2= rarely, 3= sometimes, 4= often, 5= always). According to Betawi (2018), the measure is reliable at 0.91, which indicates that it is satisfactory for the current study. The equipment’s used in the study included (i) Laptop to display stories (ii) projector (iii) Sound system.

Intervention programme details

The researcher developed an integrity intervention programme which relies on moral integrity stories. Based on the literature review, and the knowledge and experience of the researcher, several moral integrity stories were identified to match each moral integrity subscale (empathy, honesty, respect, and courage). For example, the chosen stories were for Empathy “You, Me and Empathy” by Jeneen Sanders (Sanders, 2020); for Honesty story “the Boy Who cried Wolf” Retold by B.G. Hennessy (Hennessy (2021); for Respect story “Respect and Take Care of Things “ by Cheri J. Meiners (Meiners, 2021), and for Courage story “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn (Penn, 2017).

All stories were translated to Arabic and identified with Arabic culture and identity, including international children’s literature acceptable in Arabic culture, and translated to Arabic language for teachers to read in the Arabic session. The programme included several e-stories, songs, videos, and activities in English to be implemented throughout the day. Each moral integrity value was introduced, using these materials, for 1 week. On the other hand, the control groups did not receive the Arabic version of the stories nor the supporting materials (e-stories, songs, videos, and activities). The control groups only received the English version of the story in Story time. Four weeks was the intended duration of the intervention programme for the children. Here, we give an example of the implementation of the programme for 1 week. For the purpose of this example, we used the story of “The Empty Pot” as an example to explain honesty.

In the first week, the teacher introduced one integrity value, honesty, by presenting “The Empty Pot” for 30 minutes on day 1. The objective was to define honesty to children as “always telling the truth, even if we are afraid”, and hence guided children to learn to tell the truth. The materials used included honesty poster for classroom display, a small card for each child, and the story video of The Empty Pot. The teacher defined honesty “as always telling the truth; even in circumstances where we feel we may get in trouble”, and explained to children that being honest is always the best policy.

The display posters guided children to repeat the phrase “honesty is always the best choice”. The teacher explained to children that they were going to watch a video about the importance of being honest, even if we are afraid of telling the truth, pauses the video after Ping cannot make the flower grow, and asks the children open-ended questions. Did Ping do everything he could to take care of the seed and make it grow? Did Ping give the seed all the things a plant needs to grow (air, soil, water, sun, space)? Why do you think the flower did not grow? The teacher then played the video again and paused it when all the other children showed their beautiful flowers and Ping is disappointed, to ask further questions. How would you feel if you were Ping? What would you do if you were Ping? The teacher discusses the options with the children.

The teacher played the video to the end and asked more open-ended questions. What do you think of Ping now? Was it better that the boy was honest? Do you think Ping was afraid to tell the truth? What do you think about the other kids? Why do you think they did not tell the truth?

On the second day the children coloured the honesty posters and took them home. Again, they repeated the phrase “honesty is always the best choice”. While the children were colouring in groups, the teacher walked around and gave them various scenarios in which they had the opportunity to be honest; for example, you broke your friend’s toy, you spilled milk at home, you forgot to bring your homework to school, you hit your little brother or sister, or you lost your mother’s favourite ring while playing. The teacher guided children to remember that telling the truth in these instances is much better than not telling the truth. On the third day the children watched a video about honesty with a matching activity. On the fourth day the teacher played a song about honesty for the children and gave them an activity to match it. On the fifth day the teacher used art and children drew a picture that represented honesty or a person in their life that they think is honest.

The teacher followed the same process for each integrity value in the remaining 3 weeks. After 4 weeks of the intervention programme in which each moral integrity value was introduced for 1 week through stories that match each value, the teachers in the experimental and control groups filled the questionnaire for each pre-schooler in their class.

Procedure

Permission for participation in the study was obtained from the Private Educational Directorate in Amman, the principles of the schools involved, teachers, and the parents of the children after explaining the study objective in detail and attaining informed consent from parents. Each school randomly assigned two preschool classes to participate in the study. The average number of students in a class was 33; therefore, the researcher regrouped the three experimental groups into one group and the three control groups into one group when analysing the data.

The researcher met with the preschool teachers whose classes had been randomly assigned for participation at the beginning of the second semester of 2019–2020. The reason for implementing the research in the second half of the year was so that the teachers would have a full understanding of the children’s behaviours and characters in order to see any differences in behaviour after implementing the programme in the post-test.

The researcher briefed the teachers, explaining the purpose and objective of the study. A clear description of the intervention modalities and procedures was given at the beginning of the project, a short set of guidelines was given to each teacher, and a platform containing all the materials was constructed.

The researcher distributed consent forms to the teachers to send home with the children via pack bags to get approval from their parents. The teachers in the experimental groups received 2 days training on the implementation of the intervention programme, which included how to introduce each of the moral integrity values using videos; how to read the stories and interact with children before, during and after; how to ask critical questions to stimulate the children’s minds and emotions; what activities they would implement each day to support each integrity value; and how to encourage children’s behaviours in interactions with their peers and teachers to match each integrity value they learn. The songs for each moral integrity value would be played daily, and posters would be on display in the class for each integrity value. The researcher selected at least three stories approved by the panel of specialists for each moral value.

Data analysis

The researcher treated the data from the three experimental groups as one experimental group and did the same for the data from the control groups because of the large sample. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS (version 22.0) was used for statistical analysis. Descriptive analysis was done using mean and ±SD. The p<0.05 was considered as significant. A 2-way ANOVA (treatment group*gender) was used to determine the effect of the integrity intervention programme on the moral integrity values, empathy, honesty, respect, and courage in males and females according to gender and to verify between-group differences.

Results

To assess the reliability of the questionnaire prior to its distribution, the internal consistency coefficient was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha method for each domain and the total scale (Table 1). The reliability coefficients for the subscales were found 0.82 for empathy, 0.77 for honesty, 0.87 for respect, 0.81 for courage, and 0.91 overall. These results indicated satisfactory reliability for the present study.

Table 1.

Cronbach’s alpha for children moral integrity scale (CMIS).

Sub-scale	Cronbach’s alpha	Cronbach’s alpha based on standardized items	N of items
Empathy	0.827	0.860	12
Honesty	0.779	0.768	11
Respect	0.872	0.884	15
Moral courage	0.815	0.807	10
Overall scale	0.918	0.919	48

The effect of the intervention program on pre-schoolers’ moral integrity values

As shown in Table 2, the results indicate differences between the mean scores of the post-test values in all moral integrity subscales including empathy (p < 0.0001), honesty (p < 0.0001), respect (p < 0.0001), courage (p < 0.0001), and the overall integrity scale (p < 0.0001) in favor of the experimental group representing statistically highly significant difference between response of pre-schoolers’ in experimental group in terms of empathy, honesty, respect and courage in comparison to control group. Additionally, there is a main effect of gender (p < 0.04) for the respect sub-scale. Additional post-hoc analysis shows a higher (p < 0.002) respect score in females (69.6 ± 4.3) versus males (66.9 ± 4.2) in the intervention group, with no gender differences in the control group.

Table 2.

Mean and standard deviation (SD) in the post-test for children in moral integrity scale (CMIS).

	Groups	Control			Experimental
	Genders	Boys	Girls	Total	Boys	Girls	Total
Empathy	Mean	40.5	41.4	40.9	54.9	56.8	55.8*
	SD	7.3	5.5	6.5	2.6	3.8	3.3
Honesty	Mean	38.6	39.0	38.8	51.3	51.9	51.9*
	SD	7.0	7.0	6.9	2.7	2.8	2.9
Respect	Mean	52.3	54.2	53.2	66.9	69.6†	68.2*
	SD	10.4	9.9	10.2	4.2	4.3	4.4
Courage	Mean	25.1	24.3	24.7	46.1	46.7	45.7*
	SD	3.8	3.4	3.8	3.5	2.8	3.2
Overall integrity	Mean	156.5	158.9	157.7	220.5	224.4	222.4*
	SD	25.2	22.2	23.7	7.0	12.0	9.8

p<0.0001

The effect of the intervention programme on pre-schoolers’ moral integrity values according to gender

The two-way ANOVA Analysis, as shown in Table 3 (treatment*gender), reveals a main effect of treatment for the overall scale of integrity (p < 0.0001), however, no main effect or significant association was found for gender (p < 0.227) and interaction between groups (experimental and control) (p < 0.764) of the overall scale of integrity.

Table 3.

Two-way ANOVA of children’s post-test on moral integrity values.

Source	Type III sum of squares	Df	Mean squ,are	F	p-value
Corrected ,model	210778.2	3	70259.4	211.4	0.000
I,248,rcept	7248,453.7	1	7248453.7	21,809.0	0.000
G,roups	209962.8	1	209962.8	631.7	0.000
Gender	489.2	1	489.2	1.5	0.227
Groups*Gender	29.9	1	29.,9	0.1	0.764
Error	65475.2	197	332.4
Total	7522097.0	,201
Corrected total	276253.4	200

(*=p < 0.0001).

Discussion

The study examined the effect of an integrity intervention programme in preschool children through use of moral integrity stories that resemble the Jordanian cultural identity on children’s moral integrity values (empathy, honesty, respect, and courage). The results revealed that all moral integrity scores in the post-test were in favor of the experimental group without changes in the control group. The impact of the intervention programme on the mean score of the subscales and the overall scale was found statistically significant (p < 0.001).

The results of the current study suggested that the intervention programme positively affect the children’s moral integrity and the way teachers introduced the concept of integrity played a vital role in the children’s morality. The presumed reason that children in the experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test is the way the teachers introduced the programme to the children, using repetition of the concepts in different forms. The teachers introduced each concept in a fun way, not a traditional way, while children experienced more engagement through hands-on activities, alternating between book stories and e-stories, using art to express their experiences about each moral integrity value. This finding and the interpretation of the study was in agreement with Rahim and Rahiem (2013), who emphasized that “teachers play an imperative role in aiding children understand stories and capturing a story’s message”. Teachers, therefore, should be encouraged to explore the content of stories and help children connect their own experiences and lives to the story”.

Teaching children using stories in any form, reading, storytelling, e-stories, and board stories (Daemi & Farnia, 2013; Mayasari, 2013), is essential in the preschool stage for many reasons. Children learn better by using their senses (seeing, hearing, touching), and process information better through images and pictures than words. The results agree with Nadarjan (2017), Nurdini and Suparno (2019), and Oladipo (2009). According to Nurdini and Suparno (2019), it is essential to teach children what is right, and moral integrity stories do this in a pleasurable way without boring children. Another study by Nadarjan (2017) agreed with this finding, emphasizing the significance of benevolent stories, as such texts contain the aspirations of moral heroes facing moral conflicts. They argue that, by reading these stories, young children learn moral integrity values such as empathy, honesty, respect, and courage. Oladipo (2009) claimed that stories impact more powerfully when taught with fascination instead of obligation, generating natural interest instead of forceful imposition. They have a potential to make a child explore and understand portrayed values.

Interestingly, the result indicated use of an intervention programme that supports moral integrity to improve moral values equally in males and females. This is in alignment with Betawi (2018), Lake (1999) and Lawson (2013). For example, Betawi (2018) measures the effect of character education on 7 to 8-year-old children’s moral integrity values and finds no gender difference. Lawson (2013) measures the effect of children’s literature infused with empathy on children’s empathy and finds no effect of gender. Both argue that there is no significant difference between the ways the genders are affected by empathy infused literature lessons. These results support the current study’s findings, which mean that the intervention programme employing moral integrity stories in the current study does not affect the genders differently.

Although, the results of the current study indicate no differences in the post-test between gender (male and female) in the moral integrity values of empathy, honesty, and courage, females score higher than males on the post-test for respect. This contradicts Betawi (2018), Lake (1999) and Lawson (2013) who found no differences between males and females post-test (Betawi, 2018; Lawson, 2013), or the common themes children use in their storytelling (Lake, 1999). The reason for this contradiction with the findings of other research may be cultural, societal, and educational perceptions about child rearing in Jordan and the Arabic culture, which are authoritarian, valuing conformity and obedience (Barakat, 1993). According to this interpretation, the study agrees with Dwairy et al. (2006, p.3) who state:

“Impact of Authoritarianism to Arab youth mental health is not associated. Seemingly, authoritarian socialization has an implication and consequence different from that recognized in the West when it is implicated within Arab or Muslim authoritarian culture. Within this culture, kids consider authoritarian style application of punishment as the usual responsibility of parents and teachers”.

These perceptions are most likely affected by cultural views of the Arabic child in general, and females in particular, as polite and obedient (Four et al., 2006). This view affirms respect for others and the self from an early age, more for females than males. Parents treat girls more strictly than boys, but boys tend to undergo more physical punishment than girls. This interpretation of the findings agrees with Dwairy et al. (2006), who indicate a higher mean score for authoritative parenting styles among girls, but authoritarian styles among boys.

Although the study has a limitation that it included children only aged between 3 – 4 years, further future studies are required in overall Jordan to identify overall impact of integrity stories inclusion in Jordanian curriculum to improve the education system in Jordan, and enhancing the role of Ministry of Education, curriculum developer, and Early Childhood Education teacher training programs at universities to set educational programs that support integrity core values using moral stories.

Significance and implications of moral education

This study highlighted the urgent prerequisite of educational reform in Jordanian education curriculum through use of moral core values in education system at elementary/preschool level to improve younger generation upbringing and enhance nation’s potential growth. Although the educational system in Jordan adopts an authoritative western educational style (United Nations Educational, 2006), most of the curricula used in teaching young children emphasize children’s academic improvement and teachers’ instructions (De Baz, 2005) not the teacher’s ability to develop children socially, emotionally or ethically. There is a conflict between traditional curricula and modernized curricula from western society, and the problem is that there is no training for teachers to use imported curricula. Therefore, it is best to develop curricula that suit the Jordanian society, culture, and educational system to benefit young children and give teachers the space to be creative in an area with which they are familiar with.

Sustainable development is stimulated when learners have been provided with an opportunity to equip themselves with moral core values, competencies and skills to attain healthier emotional self-regulation, constructive relationship with peers and improved problem-solving skills. The study recommended implementation of an intervention programme that include incorporation of moral integrity stories in the curricula at preschool level through introducing character education that resemble the Jordanian cultural and examined its influence on children’s moral integrity values. The study urged integration of cognitive and affective characteristics for moral development to construct holistic moral integrity program for elementary school children. These intervention programs through its implementation encourage and promote moral integrity understanding and character building among preschool children through use of effective literature and educational tools.

This instigate crucial role of ministry of education, curriculum developers, creative thinkers and decision makers in Jordan to shape children curriculum in schools in a way that promote ethical values, moral values that trigger proactive approach to care, being honest, empathetic, act morally through character development. This also include implementation of proper teacher’s study programs, professional growth pertinent to moral core values and character education, hands on training and workshops for school teachers and administration to model and mentor themselves as instructors and promote ethics, values and integrity among children and aid in these moral core values demonstration in to actions and behaviour. The study also encouraged introduction of official training certification by ministry of education to teachers who complete training program on curriculum of moral education and research projects that instill moral and religious values into children along with modern education. The teachers must be equipped and trained with modern models and methods to enhance critical moral reflection and values (honesty, empathy, respect, and courage) in preschool children as overall mapping and development of curriculum is difficult without teacher development. Therefore, it is imperative to introduce high level professional training to teachers and at every level of curriculum design, planning and performance teacher’s interest, knowledge, research and skills must contribute. Another aspect is selection of study resources and moral story books at national level for preschool children with obvious approach and lesson for moral development and virtues central to moral life role in human development as responsible citizen.

The limitation of the current study that was discussed earlier and needs to be emphasized that the study is limited to private preschools only, since the only preschools that adapts a bilingual program are private, limiting the study sample to children attending private preschools, therefore, the findings of the study cannot be generalized.

Conclusion

This study investigated the efficacity of an intervention programme in preschool focusing on moral integrity story’s introduction in preschool setup to children that resemble the Jordanian cultural and examine its influence on children’s moral integrity values. The results indicated the usefulness of the integrity intervention programme in boosting integrity core values including honesty, empathy, respect, and courage in preschool children. To be a person of integrity is what children need in order to secure good character which helps them accept different points of view and respect others. A person with integrity is one who can act in ways consistent with the values, beliefs, and moral principles he or she claims to hold. Accordingly, an intervention programme which relay on moral integrity stories that resemble the Jordanian identity and culture is one way to introduce these core values to children at a young age. Therefore, the education system in Jordan, including the Ministry of Education, curriculum developer, and early childhood education teacher training programmes at universities, should work collectively to set educational programmes that support integrity core values using moral stories. Teachers training on such integrity programmes for in-service teachers should be robustly implemented to improve the core moral values of children.

In conclusion, it is time to reconsider the educational system in Jordanian schools to match the values that the culture claims to support. Researchers in Jordan have not widely investigated issues concerning moral integrity values in preschools. Indeed, scholars should pay more attention to such problems and conduct more research into teacher education and its effects on moral integrity values on large sample size. The MOE should develop more training programmes for in-service teachers to strengthen their abilities and keep them current in early childhood practice in subjects such as ethics, values, and moral integrity. ECE training programmes for teachers should incorporate ethical issues.

Finally, as Clark states, “habits of mind, 21st-century skills; the outcomes are the same: the cultivation of skills that make our students better, more capable citizens” (Clark, et al., 2009, p. 19). Moral integrity programmes are the answer.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The author is very thankful to all the associated personnel in any reference that contributed in/for the purpose of this research.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Iman A Betawi

اولياء التوجيهي امام اكاديمية عمان في خلدا

تقرير عن التنمر في المدارس، ومحاولة قتل - كلام صريح - عبيدة عبده

مقابلات مع مواطنين حول موضوع “في المدارس ما الذي يحدث؟”! - كلام صريح - عبيدة عبده

Author Biography

Dr Amy Betawi is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education at the faculty of Educational Sciences, The University of Jordan. She supervises graduate students, serves as an editor on the editorial board of several international journals. Dr Betawi has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publication in the areas of early childhood education and teacher’s education. Dr Betawi’s research interests in ECE encompass teacher’s education, young children’s social/ emotional development, refugee studies, toddler’s development, father’s involvement, character education and children’s integrity.

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