Nice is not enough: facilitating moral development

Abstract

Reviews the book Nice is not enough: Facilitating moral development by Larry Nucci (2009). This book provides a practical guide for teachers and teacher candidates to apply social domain theory in support of moral and social development in their classrooms. The book provides what the author appropriately describes as a ‘comprehensive approach’ to understanding students’ social development, grounded in domain theory and related research. Comprehensiveness is not entirely unique in the increasingly integrated field of moral education and development. Readers will find the lessons explored in the final section of the book challenging, in the sense that they cut to the heart of enduring social conflicts, many of which contain substantive ambiguity and the potential to challenge common norms. The author’s development and use of domain theory provides educators with a powerful set of tools for beginning their inquiries with the capacity to take any classroom situation and analyze it for its moral content, distinguishing what is morally salient based upon a set of reasonably clear criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)