About character education: Should informal learning belong in schools?

Abstract

Virtue and Character Education in Icelandic Schools: Cleaned Text

This article explores virtue and character education and the status of such education in Icelandic schools. In recent years, scholars have emphasized the importance of moral education of students, as well as their social and emotional learning. Moral education does not align with global concerns, core academic outcomes and efficiency in education. Thus, moral education is often marginalized in formal education. I argue that moral education calls for informal learning methods and the active participation of students. In this article, I draw from the writings of Kristján Kristjánsson, professor and deputy director of The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at Birmingham University. Kristjánsson has been one of the leading advocates of virtue ethics in the spirit of Aristotle.

 

I also present some of the practical suggestions introduced in the book Teaching Character and Virtue in Schools (2017) which is built on research at the Jubilee Centre. Virtue literacy involves knowledge and understanding of virtue terms as well as the ability to apply virtues to real-life contexts. A holistic approach in schools to virtue and character education calls for a clear policy on how teachers and school personnel work in various ways to support virtue and character education. The implementation of life skills as a subject in Icelandic elementary and high schools can be seen as a step towards strengthening moral education, but research indicates that life skills as a subject lacks a coherent structure and has become a venue for various educational programmes, such as financial literacy and career counselling.

 

Moreover, Icelandic elementary schools have increasingly started to use various behavioural and social-skills models, for example PBS (Positive Behavior Support) and ART (Aggression Replacement Training), and other approaches, such as the Restitution Approach and Positive Discipline. Implementation of such models or approaches encourages teachers and school personnel to work collaboratively to support school morale and atmosphere. However, it does not ensure that reflective moral education takes place. The integration of character education into school subjects is an important way to explore ethical questions and create awareness of virtues in different contexts. Teachers can, for example, ask open-ended questions to encourage discussion of virtues such as social responsibility, honesty, respect, and critical thinking in relation to science, history, literature, health and sports, to name but a few subjects. Teachers are important role models when it comes to developing respect and care in the classroom.

 

I argue that in order for moral and character education to flourish, it is necessary to make significant use of the tools of informal learning and perhaps even more than methods of formal learning. Informal learning is built on experiential learning; that is, the notion that students build their knowledge on personal experience and reflections. Out-of-school programmes, such as youth centres and leisure-time centres, offer a non-formal setting for children and young people to develop their character by taking part in various activities with their peers and personnel. I conclude that in order to strengthen virtue and character education in schools, an interdisciplinary approach is needed that involves increased collaboration between teachers and leisure-time pedagogues. Informal learning certainly takes place in schools; but knowledge on how to apply the tools of informal and experiential learning is needed, not least to strengthen character education.