Moral-Character Development for Teacher Education

Overview & Synopsis

In this article the authors accept the common view that moral-character education is immanent to the life of classroom and schools and inevitable even when remanded to the hidden curriculum. Most schools claim to address the moral formation of students, and many educators enter the profession for values-laden reasons. Yet the language of values, virtues, morality, and character are notably absent from licensure and accreditation standards and so is formal training in moral-character education in schools of education. To facilitate the development of formal training in the moral work of teaching the authors organize the literature around three training objectives: Best Practice ("Good Learner"), Broad Character Education ("Fortified Good Learner"), and Intentional Moral-Character Education ("Moral Self"). Only the latter aims to move the Fortified Good Learner to the Moral Self and treats moral valuation as the explicit target of education. The authors make several suggestions for doing so and conclude with some challenges for teacher education.