Workplace relations like any social relation first and foremost have a moral dimension. Thus, if vocational education sees one of its major goals in helping apprentices to deal with moral issues, one of the core objectives in vocational education is the support of the apprentice’s development of moral judgement competence. Since Lawrence Kohlberg has provided his cognitive-developmental approach we know a lot about moral development. But we know little about the influence of social environment on moral cognitive structures. With this paper the author intends to explore questions concerned with the developmental conditions of moral judgement within apprenticeship. To do so, the paper firstly provides a theoretical approach on certain social conditions for moral development; secondly gives some empirical evidence for this approach concerning data raised in context of a longitudinal study in Germany; and thirdly suggests some ideas for using this approach within the vocational education system. © 2014 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.
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