Fostering meta-moral cognitive skills among pre-service teachers using creative problem-solving processes

Acknowledging strengths and weaknesses of an ethical judgment, called meta-moral cognitive skills, enables pre-service teachers to make better decisions. Engaging in critical thinking with creative problem-solving can critically evaluate ethical decision-making processes by analysing their different stages. Thus, this study investigated whether creative problem-solving can foster meta-moral cognitive skills. The researchers analysed solutions for a vignette based on real-life experience involving an ethical issue by 51 pre-service teachers using creative problem-solving processes: problem definition, information gathering, concept selection, conceptual combination and reorganization, idea generation, idea evaluation, solution monitoring, and implementation planning. A qualitative analysis of the responses showed that creative problem-solving supported pre-service teachers in identifying the rationale and criticisms of their ethical judgments and limitations in their proposed solutions. The implication is that it is crucial for prospective teachers to undergo training in creative problem-solving of various ethical dilemmas as part of their curriculum.