character education

This paper defends the ideals of education for human flourishing and global friendship announced in Article 26, § 2 of the 1948 Uni- versal Declaration of Human Rights. It ar- gues that character education is an essential component of education for human flourish- ing and global friendship, and that character education must do more than teach general principles and cultivate virtues of character. It must also confront the mistrust, resent- ments, and myths that divide societies by facilitating the formation of school commu- nities and friendships that bridge the chasms of ‘us’ and ‘them’ group identities. The paper outlines the role of just school communities in character education, the importance of civic friendship, the psychological research on in- tergroup contact, and the fostering of global civic friendship. It concludes that character education adequate to today’s challenges can only succeed through a whole-school approach that is need supportive, just, and promotes friendly intergroup contact in the interest of global civic friendship.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Curren, R. (2023). Superar lo que nos divide: la Amistad Cívica Global y «El pleno desarrollo de la Personalidad Humana» | Overcoming what divides us: Global Civic Friendship and ‘Full Development of the Human Personality’. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81 (284), 33-50. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-02

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.

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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

University tutoring is, with some exceptions, in a state that should concern us. The model in recent years is sporadic, optional meetings generally used to clarify doubts about academic content, solve problems with completing tasks, review assessment results, and find solutions for students’ personal problems that affect their progress in modules. This model of tutoring may make it possible to resolve problems, but it is a limited and insubstantial version of what it could be. There is case for saying that its leitmotiv is university character education, principally what has come to be called the critical spirit or thinking. In addition, it seems that this is what the contemporary social and professional reality misses and demands: university graduates who think for themselves, always seek the truth of things, and focus on the common good. Covid-19, with all of the impact it has had for universities, especially ones that work face-to-face, offers a new opportunity for tutoring, an opportunity to reestablish it. The new situation has brought both a pedagogical-technological message and an ethical one. Both can reestablish tutoring as an ongoing, deep, and unending conversation that enriches other university situations and opens doors that lead to the best version of oneself. This work has a three-part objective: to present arguments that hold that the main purpose of tutoring is cultivation of the critical spirit or thinking; to identify obstacles raised some years ago and possibilities that the new situation brings; and, finally, to suggest a series of future-oriented conclusions so that our universities can give tutoring the place it deserves in line with their circumstances.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Esteban Bara, F., & Caro Samada, C. (2023). El cultivo del pensamiento crítico a t avés de la tutoría universitaria: una nueva oportunidad tras la Covid-19 | The cultivation of critical thinking through university tutoring: A new opportunity after Covid-19. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81 (284), 73-90. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-04

 

 

This paper presents a systematic review of scientific articles on friendship and character education (CE) published between 2007 and 2021. It seeks to identify the dominant theo- ries from which CE is approached, how friend- ship is understood in the studies, and what specific relationship is built between friend- ship and character; in other words, the extent to which it is posited that friendship can be harnessed to acquire virtues. Results indicate a prevalence of a psychological approach to CE, linked to an instrumentalist perspective on friendship, which associates it with certain benefits. However, this approach is closely followed by a philosophical–moral view that understands friendship as a good in itself and, consequently, highlights its humanizing potential. The Aristotelian framework for un- derstanding friendship and character stands out within this approach. The relationship be- tween friendship and character in the selected articles is explored through 5 categories that emerged in the analysis: 1) friendship for char- acter; 2) character for friendship; 3) friendship and transgressions; 4) teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the influence of friendship; and 5) analysis of programmes that include friendship in the curriculum.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Espinosa Zárate, Z., Ahedo Ruiz, J., & Rumayor, M. (2023). Amistad y educación del carácter: una revisión sistemática | Friendship and character education: A systematic review. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81 (284), 143-169. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-08

In recent years, several initiatives have attempted to integrate character education in universities. However, it is difficult at the university level to find initiatives aimed at generating communities in which their climate or culture contribute to character development, a relatively common approach at the school level in the character education movement. University residential centers may be an ideal setting for generating such communities. However, studies, guides, or programs along these lines are scarce or non-existent. A case worthy of study is that of Colegios Mayores, university residential communities in Spain with a centuries-old tradition that aim to contribute to the integral development of students. However, the literature on the educational dimension of this institution is also scarce and outdated. Contributing to outline its educational dimension, this study reports the results of a survey of directors of Colegios Mayores. The aims of this study are to: 1) explore whether the community of Colegios Mayores agrees in considering six practices as characteristic of this institution; 2) explore the level of implementation of each one of them; and 3) explore if the way in which the community members are involved in these practices responds to the social learning model of Communities of Practice proposed by Etienne Wenger. The questionnaire was answered by 19 directors, representing 15.2% of the population (N=125). Based on the results, it is reasonable to affirm that most directors of Colegios Mayores: 1) consider that the six practices proposed are characteristic of this institution; 2) already implement these practices in their centers; and 3) consider that the Communities of Practice model reflects the way in which the collegial community engages in these practices.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Dabdoub, J. P., Salaverría, A. R., & Berkowitz M. W. (2023). Identificación de prácticas para promover el desarrollo del carácter en contextos residenciales universitarios: el caso de los Colegios Mayores | Identifying practices to promote character development in university residential settings: The case of Colegios Mayores. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81 (284), 171-189. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-1-2023-09

Education on moral values is an area that has caused controversy in the 20th and 21st centuries, in particular due to the social rejection of the possible indoctrination of students. Louis Raths’ Values Clarification methodology was one of the most represen-tative proposals that attempted to outline a moral education free of indoctrination. With­out further examining philosophical argu­ments that have already been dealt with in numerous publications, this article holisti­cally studies the history of this approach in order to learn from the efforts, challenges, victories, and failures of those who have preceded us in the task of educating citizens with moral convictions. The article begins by presenting the main points of psychologist Carl Rogers’ theory that most influenced the origin of this methodology. It then intro­duces the social context in which the Values Clarification programme arises, a detailed description of its key points, the warm recep­tion it received and, finally, the criticism and assessments that led to its dizzying downfall. To conclude, three brief reflections on moral education are presented, which, although not new, are reinforced by the study undertaken in this article.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Dabdoub, J. P. (2021). Apuntes para una historia de la Clarificación de valores: origen, desarrollo, declive y reflexiones | Brief history of Values Clarification: Origin, development, downfall, and reflections. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 79 (279), 289-304. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP79-2-2021-06