title: Moral competence as a positive youth development construct: conceptual bases and implications for curriculum development.
abstract: Moral competence refers to the orientation to perform altruistic behavior and the ability to judge moral issues logically, consistently and at an advanced level of development. A brief review of the concepts of altruism and justice is presented. The gender and cultural issues are also discussed. The contents of moral competence program units include four major topics: (1) Fairness, (2) Proper conduct (mainly altruistic and prosocial orientation), (3) Responsibility and altruistic orientation, and (4) Integrity and fairness. The general goal is to help students to develop an altruistic orientation and a judgment structure of a high level of justice. This paper is part of the development of the positive youth development program in Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. hkma@hkbu.edu.hk
authors.forename: Hing Keung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000533:Altruism; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000941:ethics*; D003469:Culture; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent / Q000941:ethics*; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012935:Social Justice