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
Adamsky, D. (2019). Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy. Stanford University Press.
Alvarado, A., Conde, B., Novella, R., & Repetto, A. (2020). NEETs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Skills, aspirations, and information. Journal of International Development, 32 (8), 1273-1307. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3503 Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958). Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy, 33 (124), 1-19.
Arias-Coello, A., Simon-Martin, J., & Gonzalo Sanchez-Molero, J. L. (2020). Mission statements in Spanish universities. Studies in Higher Education, 45 (2), 299-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1512569
Aristovnik, A., Keržič, D., Ravšelj, D., Tomaževič, N., & Umek, L. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: A global perspective. Sustainability, 12 (20), 8438. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208438
Arnett, J. (2015). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Oxford University Press.
Bauman, Z. (2011). From pilgrim to tourist – or a short history of identity. In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 18- 36). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Bayrak, T. (2020). A content analysis of top-ranked universities’ mission statements from five global regions. International Journal of Educational Development, 72 (102130). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.102130
Bok, D. (2020). Higher expectations. Princeton University Press.
Bolton, P. (2022). Higher education student numbers. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/35257/1/CBP-7857. pdf
Brant, J., Brooks, E., & Lamb, M. (2022). Cultivating virtue in the university. Oxford University Press.
Brant, J., Lamb, M., Burdett, E., & Brooks, E. (2020). Cultivating virtue in postgraduates: An empirical study of the Oxford Global Leadership Initiative. Journal of Moral Education, 49 (4), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2019.1682977
Breznik, K., & Law, K. M. Y. (2019). What do mission statements reveal about the values of top universities in the world? International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 27 (5), 1362-1375. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-08-2018-1522
Brooks, E., Brant, J., & Lamb, M. (2019). How can universities cultivate leaders of character? Insights from a leadership and charac- ter development program at the University of Oxford. International Journal of Ethics Education, 4 (2), 167-182. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s40889-019-00075-x
Callender, C., Locke, W., & Marginson, S. (2020a). Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Callender, C., Locke, W., & Marginson, S. (2020b). Preface. In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Carr, D. (2017). Virtue and character in higher education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 65 (1), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2016.1224806
Collini, S. (2012). What are universities for? Penguin. Cortés Sánchez, J. D. (2018). Mission statements of universities worldwide: Text mining and visualization. Intangible Capital, 14 (4), 584.https://doi.org/10.3926/ic.1258
Dabdoub, J. P., Salaverría, A. R., Berkowitz, M. W., & Naval, C. (2022, January 6). Leveraging Colegios Mayores for character development [Paper presentation]. The 10th Annual Jubilee Center for Character and Virtues Conference. Integrating research on character and virtues: 10 years of impact. Oriel College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. https://www.university-communities.org/_files/ugd/7500e2_7a889fd111394659aaa65f- 7337c3564b.pdf
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford University Press.
Grant, J. (2021). The new power university. Pearson Education.
Harvard College. (2022). Mission, vision, & history. https://college.harvard.edu/about/mission-vision-history
Hudson, L., & Mansfield, I. (2020). Universities at the crossroads: How higher education leadership must act to regain the trust of their staff, their communities and the whole nation. Policy Exchange.
Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, & Oxford Character Project. (2020). Character education in universities. A framework for flourishing. https://oxfordcharacter.org/assets/images/general-up- loads/Character-Education-in-Universities.pdf
Kristjánsson, K. (2015). Aristotelian character education. Routledge.
Lamb, M., Brant, J., & Brooks, E. (2021). How is virtue cultivated? Seven strategies for Post-graduate Character Development. Journal of Character Education, 17 (1), 81-108.
Lamb, M., Dykhuis, E. M., Mendonça, S. E., & Jayawickreme, E. (2022). Commencing character: A case study of character development in college. Journal of Moral Education, 51 (2), 238-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2021.1953451
Locke, W. (2020). Visions of higher education futures: The shape of things to come? In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
MacIntyre, A. (2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Duckworth.
Marginson, S. (2014). Student self-formation in international education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 18 (1), 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315313513036
Marginson, S. (2016). High participation systems of higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 87 (2), 243-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.11777401
Marginson, S. (2020). Public and common goods: Key concepts in mapping the contributions of higher education. In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Marginson, S. (2022). What drives global science? The four competing narratives. Studies in Higher Education, 47 (8), 1566-1584. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1942822
Marginson, S., Callender, C., & Locke, W. (2020). Higher education in fast moving times: Larger, steeper, more global and more contested. In Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2022). Mission and objectives. https://policies.mit.edu/policies-procedures/10-institute/11-mission-and-objectives
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2018). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. SAGE Publications.
Milovanska-Farrington, S. (2020). Reasons to attend college, academic success, and post-college plans. Education Economics, 28 (5), 526-547. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2020.1801597
Naciones Unidas (1948). Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. https://www.un.org/es/documents/udhr/UDHR_booklet_SP_web.pdf
Naval, C., Villacís, J. L., & Ibarrola-García, S. (2022). The transversality of civic learning as the basis for development in the university. Education Sciences, 12 (4), 240. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12040240
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2018). Education at a glance 2018. OECD Publishing.
Collini, S. (2012). What are universities for? Penguin. Cortés Sánchez, J. D. (2018). Mission statements of universities worldwide: Text mining and visualization. Intangible Capital, 14 (4), 584. https://doi.org/10.3926/ic.1258
Dabdoub, J. P., Salaverría, A. R., Berkowitz, M. W., & Naval, C. (2022, January 6). Leveraging Colegios Mayores for character development [Paper presentation]. The 10th Annual Jubilee Center for Character and Virtues Conference. Integrating research on character and virtues: 10 years of impact. Oriel College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. https://www.university-communities.org/_files/ugd/7500e2_7a889fd111394659aaa65f-7337c3564b.pdf
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford University Press.
Grant, J. (2021). The new power university. Pearson Education.
Harvard College. (2022). Mission, vision, & history. https://college.harvard.edu/about/mission-vision-history
Hudson, L., & Mansfield, I. (2020). Universities at the crossroads: How higher education leadership must act to regain the trust of their staff, their communities and the whole nation. Policy Exchange.
Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, & Oxford Character Project. (2020). Character education in universities. A framework for flourishing. https://oxfordcharacter.org/assets/images/general-up-loads/Character-Education-in-Universities.pdf
Kristjánsson, K. (2015). Aristotelian character education. Routledge.
Lamb, M., Brant, J., & Brooks, E. (2021). How is virtue cultivated? Seven strategies for Post-graduate Character Development. Journal of Character Education, 17 (1), 81-108.
Lamb, M., Dykhuis, E. M., Mendonça, S. E., & Jayawickreme, E. (2022). Commencing character: A case study of character development in college. Journal of Moral Education, 51 (2), 238-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2021.1953451
Locke, W. (2020). Visions of higher education futures: The shape of things to come? In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
MacIntyre, A. (2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Duckworth.
Marginson, S. (2014). Student self-formation in international education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 18 (1), 6-22. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1028315313513036
Marginson, S. (2016). High participation systems of higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 87 (2), 243-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.11777401
Marginson, S. (2020). Public and common goods: Key concepts in mapping the contributions of higher education. In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Marginson, S. (2022). What drives global science? The four competing narratives. Studies in Higher Education, 47 (8), 1566-1584. https:// doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1942822
Marginson, S., Callender, C., & Locke, W. (2020). Higher education in fast moving times: Larger, steeper, more global and more contested. In Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing higher education for a changing world. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2022). Mission and objectives. https://policies.mit.edu/policies-procedures/10-institute/11-mission-and-objectives
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2018). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. SAGE Publications.
Milovanska-Farrington, S. (2020). Reasons to attend college, academic success, and post-college plans. Education Economics, 28 (5), 526-547. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2020.1801597
Naciones Unidas (1948). Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. https://www.un.org/es/documents/udhr/UDHR_booklet_SP_ web.pdf
Naval, C., Villacís, J. L., & Ibarrola-García, S. (2022). The transversality of civic learning as the basis for development in the university. Education Sciences, 12 (4), 240. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12040240
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2018). Education at a glance 2018. OECD Publishing.
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.
Data collected by PlumX Metrics. More information on the metrics collected can be found at https://plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics/
