Understanding moral culture in Hong Kong secondary schools: Relationships among moral norm, moral culture, academic achievement motivation, and empathy

This thesis intends to address the feasibility of identifying and understanding moral norms and moral cultures in the secondary schools in Hong Kong. Their mutual relationships, as well as their relationships with academic achievement motivation, levels of empathy and selected covariates were also studied. Three Hong Kong secondary schools were selected for the study. Participants were 553 students from Grades 8, 10, and 12 at the three schools. The measures used in the study were the School Moral Atmosphere Questionnaire, the School Culture Scale, the School Achievement Motivation Rating Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.; The overall results show that the three secondary schools had significantly different moral norms and moral cultures. Interestingly, the academically elite school had the lowest moral norm among the three. Hence, positive relationship between academic competency and moral development could not be assumed. The study also shows that moral norms and moral cultures were distinct but related entities in a school community. Age and gender of the students had also played significant roles in their perception of these two moral entities in their schools.; Students were also found to be better motivated when they enjoyed positive moral culture in their schools. Last but not least, students' levels of empathy were found to have positive connections with their academic motivation, whereas girls and senior students were more empathic than boys and junior students.