To educate citizens and citizen-leaders for our society: Renewing character education in universities
Formar ciudadanos y ciudadanos-líderes para nuestra sociedad: Renovando la educación del carácter en las universidades
Edward Brooks and Jorge L. Villacís
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-03
Seventy-five years ago, the Universal Dec- laration of Human Rights promoted a vision of education “directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strength- ening of respect for human rights and fun- damental freedoms" (United Nations, 1948, 26.2). In 2015, the UN Sustainable Develop- ment Goals (SDGs) took this further, stating in SDG 4 that “the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required by citizens to lead pro- ductive lives, make informed decisions and assume active roles locally and globally in facing and resolving global challenges can be acquired through education for sustainable development and global citizenship educa- tion” (United Nations Educational, Scien- tific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2016, p. 14). What might the adoption of this educational mission involve for higher education? And what does it mean in a chal- lenging global context following the COVID pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? This paper argues that the current global tu- mult should catalyse reflection as to the pur- pose and content of higher education. It focus- es on the importance of education for “values and attitudes”, emphasized as an essential component of global citizenship and leader- ship education in the rubric of SDG 4. It pro- poses a return to the philosophical categories of “character” and “virtue”, arguing that the societal orientation of global universities and their aspiration “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society” (Harvard College, 2022) necessitates a renewal of theo- retically rigorous, pedagogically effective, and practically relevant character education.
Please, cite this article as follows: Brooks, E., & Villacís, J. (2023). Formar ciudadanos y ciudadanos-líderes para nuestra sociedad: renovando la educación del carácter en las universidades | To educate citizens and citizen-leaders for our society: Renewing character education in universities. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81 (284), 51-72. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-03
- Keywords:
- character education
- virtue ethics
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Edward Brooks is the Executive Director of the Oxford Character Project. His research lies at the intersection of virtue ethics, character and leadership development. Particular interests include the virtue of hope, the relationship between character and culture in commercial organisations, leadership for human flourishing, and exemplarist moral theory.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9171-7661
Jorge L. Villacís holds a PhD in Education and Psychology from the Universidad de Navarra and is an Assistant Professor at the same institution. He is part of the Research Group on Citizenship and Character (GIECC) at the Universidad de Navarra. He has conducted a research stay at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford and completed a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Oxford Character Project. His research interests and publications are oriented towards the development of character strengths in the university context.
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