Abstract
In competitive education test scores and scientometric indicators are
‘the alpha and omega’. This can be mis-educative for healthcare
students’ moral competence. Method. A pilot research study with
n=114 Polish healthcare students was conducted to examine how
their moral competence development was affected by learning environment
with the focus on competition. Data were obtained with the standard
Moral Competence Test. Results. The sample allowed the
identification of a regress in moral competence during students’
pre-clinical curriculum, and then progress during their clinical
curriculum. Also, a reverse gender gap effect concerning participants’
C-scores (C for moral competence) was observed, but no significant
segmentation effect was noticed. Explanations. Scholarly
literature usually suggests a decrease or stagnation of medical and
healthcare students’ C-scores (particularly during their clinical
curriculum) resulting from, e.g., competitive trends in higher
education. Polish tertiary education only tries hard to increase its
competitiveness and position in national and international rankings.
This delay effect seems beneficial for the development of students’
moral competence against trends in moral competence education during
medical education documented between 1983 and 2021, and additionally
discussed in the following article.