structural relations of religious orientation with teachers ' professional ethics : the role of moral development

the purpose of this study was to investigate the structural relationship between religious orientation and professional ethics with regard to mediator role of moral development levels in elementary teachers .

the research method was descriptive and correlation with structural equation modeling . the population of this research was all elementary teachers in sabzevar city in the academic year 1400 - 1401 ( N = 500 ) . in addition , a sample of 220 men and women teachers were selected by stratified random sampling method . the sample consisted of three questionnaires of moral development ( ma , 1981 ) ; professional ethics ( ( , 2002 ) and religious orientation ( Allport & ross , 1950 ) . structural equation modeling ( sem ) was used to model structural equation modeling .

the results showed that the professional ethic in teachers increased with the internalization of religious orientation , so that its direct effect was  570/0=β  . religious orientation is associated with moral development and moral development with professional ethics . also there was an indirect relation between religious orientation and professional ethics through ethical development levels .

conclusion the results of this study show that by internalization of religious orientation and as a result of higher levels of moral  development , professional ethics in elementary teachers increases.