Purpose This pilot study tested the “lure hypothesis” – the idea that extrinsic rewards can induce intrinsic motivation for virtuous behaviour – within a classroom-based character education context. Design/methodology/approach Twenty-two extrinsically motivated Year 7 pupils (ages 11–12) from an inner-city comprehensive school were recruited to participate in weekly journaling sessions over six weeks, allocated to either gratitude journaling (intervention) or generic journaling (control). Intrinsic motivation was assessed at three time points using an adapted Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Data were analysed via mixed factorial ANOVA. Findings No significant group × time interaction emerged. However, participants in both groups showed a significant increase in perceived autonomy from pre- to post-intervention, suggesting that extrinsic rewards may help initiate internalisation through the formation of habits. Research limitations/implications As an exploratory pilot with a small, non-random sample and self-report measures, findings should be interpreted cautiously. Future research should employ larger samples and behavioural measures. Practical implications Findings suggest that teachers might use carefully structured reward systems to encourage initial engagement in virtue-related activities, provided attention is paid to the habits being formed. Originality/value This study provides an initial empirical test of the lure hypothesis in an educational setting, showing that rewards may play a productive early-stage role in the internalisation of virtuous behaviour.
Purpose Although studies have examined character virtues among youth, few have explored the perspectives of young people who move from disconnection with social structures to reconnection and engagement—often referred to as “opportunity youth”—through the lens of positive youth development. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study explores gratitude, generosity and hope from the experience of youth receiving social services to support stability in the transition to adulthood and the observations of their caseworkers. Findings Focus groups with 23 opportunity youth and individual interviews with 10 caseworkers reveal that youth connected gratitude to spirituality for the help they had received and viewed helping peers as a chance to give back and pay it forward. Caseworkers’ accounts concurred. Despite having limited resources, opportunity youth reflected on and valued generosity as contributing to positive outcomes for themselves and their peers. Some caseworkers expressed concerns about opportunity youth’s generosity being exploited. Most opportunity youth saw hope as a guiding philosophy, while some noted that experiences of hopelessness also shaped their understanding of hope. Some caseworkers were concerned about the hesitancy of opportunity youth to hope due to fear of disappointment. Practical implications The views of opportunity youth on integrating character education into youth services are discussed. Originality/value Findings have implications for character education from the voices of opportunity youth and their caseworkers through strength perspectives relative to a deficit-centered lens.
School curricula are vital carriers of traditions, which in turn are sources of moral and civic education. Drawing on the ideas of Raymond Williams, this article analyses the Chinese virtues and values chosen and represented in a Confucian school curriculum in Hong Kong. This study was mainly a documentary one combined with an in-depth interview with a key informant of the curriculum. The curriculum still relies on Confucian classics and selected historical stories, albeit with some adjustments to accommodate the situation of modern society and considerations of pedagogical effectiveness and compatibility with official education reforms. The concepts of rite, filial piety and loyalty have been reinterpreted to coincide with modern life. Classics education and modelling are supplanted by new ways of learning. This is an empirical analysis of the adoption and adaptation of Confucian thoughts in modern school curricula, making new contributions to the sociology of morality and moral education. This article demonstrates how Confucianism can be utilised in pedagogical practices, including Confucian understanding of some virtues and its learning methods, such as etymological exercises, ways of thinking and introspection. Utilising Williams's framework to understand the cultural production of morality and its education along the dimensions of selection, interpretation and social analysis, this article adds new knowledge concerning the invention of tradition. We can better understand how actors compose and change traditions through various forms of borrowing and mutual interaction out of cross-cultural encounters.
Purpose is widely recognized as a cornerstone of thriving during adolescence and young adulthood. Yet despite its well-documented benefits, purpose remains elusive for many young people, particularly in the United States, where rising mental health concerns are increasingly tied to challenges of meaning, identity and belonging. Existing models of purpose development have largely emphasized intrapersonal and relational processes, often under-attending to broader contextual conditions shaping young people’s lives. In this conceptual paper, we propose an ecological reframing of purpose development. Building on the four Ps framework (people, passion, propensity and prosociality), we introduce a fifth foundational dimension: place. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory, we define place as the macro- and chrono-level conditions that shape what young people perceive as meaningful, possible and worth committing to over time. We highlight how macro- and chrono-level influences, including economic insecurity, digital environments and sociopolitical instability, have become immediate and psychologically proximal forces shaping youth purpose development. These factors influence how young people understand what is possible and meaningful in their lives, often narrowing the scope of their goals and contributing to feelings of disconnection. Moreover, we identify the reciprocal relationship between youth purpose and place, where individual purpose can also shape the broader contexts they inhabit. This paper advances purpose theory by arguing that macro- and chrono-level forces, including digital life, economic insecurity and institutional instability, now operate in more immediate and psychologically proximal ways than prior models have assumed. By introducing place as a fifth P of purpose, we offer an ecological framework that clarifies how context shapes young people’s moral imagination, sense of agency and capacity to sustain commitment, with direct implications for character education.
This analysis takes a quantitative ethnographic approach (Shaffer, 2017) to examining middle school students' peer discourse about moral dilemmas in their history curriculum. Building on previous research in domain-based moral education (Midgette et al., 2017; Nucci & Ilten-Gee, 2021; Nucci et al., 2015), this analysis examines co-occurrences of operational and representational transacts(Berkowitz & Gibbs, 1983) as students discussed dilemmas relating to issues of fairness, loyalty, justice and welfare embedded in history lessons. Using epistemic network analysis (ENA: Shaffer et al., 2016) and microanalytic techniques, we examined the connections between transacts and the type of discourse protocols provided by teachers, to identify how students achieved sustained patterns of sophisticated moral reasoning. Our findings demonstrate that ENA is an effective way to isolate portions of discourse transcripts that indicate sophisticated reasoning. We discovered ways that students departed from their assigned discourse protocols to move from interpersonal thinking to systems thinking, which aligns with moral developmental findings for Grade 7 students. ENA helped us change the focus of our analysis and see new patterns. Without the temporal structure of ENA, identifying these patterns would have been much more difficult. This study was an exploratory application with a limited sample size. Additionally, the initial intervention (Midgette et al., 2017) involved only two research lessons per class, and so it was not possible to assess the impact of those discussions on development. Another limitation of this analysis was that the student discourse was only coded for types of speech acts (as per the transactive discourse coding scheme). Therefore, we were limited in what connections we could make using ENA. This study supports the 2-for-1 moral and character education approach that has been elaborated by Nucci (2024) in which thoughtful dilemmas and questions are embedded into academic subject areas, as opposed to scheduling separate moral and character activities. The existing sentence starters led students into generating representational transacts. Providing more complicated sentence starters might lead students to generate operational transacts, such as critiques, or contradictions, which may help students contribute to the group in a critical way. We imagine the deep learning that could occur if students themselves became co-researchers and conversation analysts. How might it change students' peer interactions if they reviewed transcripts of their own conversations and identified moments of responsive engagement? Students might identify moments where they dominated the conversation, successfully persuaded someone, or revised their own thinking. Pedagogy of this sort connects to recent efforts by the National Academy of Education to articulate a research agenda toward civic reasoning and discourse (Lee et al., 2021). Our study offers conceptual and methodological tools for deepening our understanding of the mechanics of civic and moral discourse. This study presents a novel approach to studying moral reasoning through discourse. Using ENA to locate generative patterns of transactive discourse activity, and then microanalytic techniques to situate these transacts within the context of middle school history dilemmas provided insight into how educators might facilitate moral reasoning in their classrooms.
This study presents the case of KALFI LEAD, a four-year program for female university students in the Philippines offering theory and praxis on servant leadership and personal growth. This exploratory study examines alumnae's perceptions of the program's servant leadership and character formation and their understanding of what experiences and components within the program foster or hinder such formative goals. In doing so, the study hopes to shed some light on how the KALFI LEAD program might contribute to leadership and character development. The study adopted a general phenomenological perspective, given the interest in the alumnae's perceptions and experiences. Specifically, we adopted a qualitative methodological approach utilizing in-depth interviews with 19 alumnae, recruited from the first five cohorts. The results of thematic analysis suggest that alumnae perceive the program as having effected positive change; that they strongly assimilate a person-centered ideal of leadership, and that they perceive mentoring and pro-social opportunities as program strengths. While participants seem to evince strong virtue motivation, identity and practice, results also imply a need for improvement in virtue literacy. This paper provides insights for educators or promoters of similar ventures, as it showcases program components that illustrate research-based strategies of character development and suggests the potential of servant leadership training as an avenue for developing virtue.
To present and analyze the conceptual framework for Values-Based Education (VBE) implemented in Kazakhstan’s high-performing Bilim Innovation Lyceums (BIL), positioning it as a culturally responsive model for character education in a post-Soviet context. This conceptual paper undertakes a documentary analysis of the BIL VBE framework, contextualizing it within global character education literature and Kazakhstan's unique socio-political landscape. It contrasts the framework's localized approach with prominent Western models, such as that of the Jubilee Centre, to highlight its distinctive features. The BIL framework is a syncretic model that integrates indigenous Kazakh philosophies (Abai Kunanbayev's Tolyk Adam) with globally recognized psychological theories (e.g. CASEL's SEL). It functions as a holistic, whole-school ecosystem to foster responsible citizenship (Adal Azamat). While the framework underpins the network's renowned success, its implementation within an elite school system creates a “policy paradox”, raising critical questions about equity and social stratification. As a conceptual paper, it relies on framework documents and existing literature. It calls for future empirical research to validate the causal links between the framework's components and the observed success of BIL students. The framework offers a transferable model for educators and policymakers in Kazakhstan and other nations seeking to develop culturally authentic and effective character education systems. The paper highlights how localized character education can be a distinct tool for national identity formation and the cultivation of civic virtues in a globalized world. This paper provides the first in-depth, critical analysis of the BIL VBE framework in English-language literature. It contributes a nuanced case study of a non-Western character education model, examining the tensions between its pedagogical ideals and its role in a stratified society.
Multicultural sensitivity in character education is a critical but underexplored area. This study investigates teachers’ perspectives in two contrasting cultural contexts: Taiwan (more collectivist) and the UK (more individualist), examining the role of multicultural sensitivity in teaching character education. Through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with seven teachers, the study finds that Taiwanese teachers exhibit greater multicultural sensitivity, supported by strong educational policies and a long history of multicultural education in Taiwan. In contrast, the UK teachers emphasize the universality of virtues and address diversity mainly through class discussions. This study encourages examining the dual nature of virtues (both universal and local) and emphasizes the importance of structural supports in incorporating multicultural sensitivity into character education. It promotes the idea of character education creating a common culture, being student-centered and also being more attentive to how to incorporate multicultural diversity, in each individual country, to offer a more culturally sensitive character education in the future.
This study explored the character strengths and behaviors that adolescents worldwide ascribed to their “good work” role models. The Good Project defines “good work” as ethics, engagement, and excellence. The research extends limited cross-cultural scholarship on youth perspectives of role models in relation to future work. The study draws on grounded theory and thematic analysis of 685 student documents from 14 schools in 11 countries participating in the Good Project's curriculum on ethical dilemmas, values, responsibility and future work. Student reflections identifying one or more “good workers” were coded across character strengths, behaviors and alignment with the Good Project's framework of excellence, ethics and engagement. The study found that adolescents mostly identified family members as role models, valuing qualities like hard work, dedication and perseverance – character strengths associated with “grit.” Youth also emphasized prosocial and civic behaviors, including helping others, contributing to society, as well as excellence and engagement. Cross-cultural analysis demonstrated relatively limited variation. The research highlights the gap between the character strengths and behaviors youth value in role models and the “21st century skills” needed for the “future of work.” The study calls for further research investigating how particular role models might influence youth development.
The purpose of the present study is to explore the ways in which parents' engagement of their children in religious practices may be positively associated with their children's character development. We administered surveys to young adults (n = 343) that included self-report character measures (e.g. curiosity, gratitude and social responsibility) and parenting measures (e.g. perceived faith support from parents and parent open communication). Ordinary least squares regression analyses indicated a statistically significant (p < 0.05) association between participants' self-reported character strengths and their parents' faith socialization practices for three of the tested character measures: social responsibility, purpose and gratitude. One important limitation of the present study is that its research design cannot identify causal relationships between faith socialization and young adults' character strengths. The present study offers support (albeit preliminary) for the value of parents engaging their children in religious learning, practices and traditions. There has been a steady decline over the past 50 years in the number of families in the USA participating in religious institutions and practices. Findings from the present study offer support for families and institutions in the USA to do what they can to reverse this trend. The present study is notable in being one of the few to date to consider the relation between parent faith socialization and young people's character strengths and consider these findings through philosophical, theological and psychological lenses.
This article seeks to contribute to the theory and practice of peace education at the university level through the lens of spiritual moral purpose. It outlines a concept of peace from a Bahá’í perspective and identifies three key elements that shape an approach to peacelearning initiatives in higher education: (1) sense of moral purpose, (2) core concepts of human nobility and the unity or oneness of humanity, and (3) expression of purpose through personal development and social action, each of which is described in relation to theory and research. It then presents an application of this conceptual framework in a unity-centered pedagogy for peace that emphasizes cultivating personal moral qualities and dispositions, as well as identifying, understanding, and removing barriers to unity, in the form of injustice and prejudice, which obstruct the path to peace. This evolving pedagogy is explored in terms of educational purpose and context, moral considerations, curriculum content and learning activities, and the learning environment, and illustrated with examples from a case study of an undergraduate peace education course. The article concludes with a discussion of how unity-centered pedagogy may serve as a resource for university peace educators.
In this article, we present a reconceptualization of sport as a series of collaborative contests with players on different teams scoring goals cooperatively: players on both sides lose or both sides win together depending on whether they can improve the scores they earn in overcoming limitations and obstacles by working with the other team. When teams play multiple rounds of a contest that measures their performance as collaborators attempting to improve relative to an objective standard of excellence, sport gives players experience measuring positive interdependence between teams. To illustrate the potential impact on moral development, we contrast two versions of one sport (volleyball) and analyze the character development implications of using collaborative sport to develop moral behavior. We contend that both traditional win-lose sports and collaborative sports (that keep score on a win-win-or-lose-lose basis) tend to develop positive – but different – character attributes. Examples from two programs give preliminary evidence that collaborative sport helps to strengthen moral behavior, but more thorough research is needed.
With millions of youth involved in sport in North America and across the world, the potential positive impact for good that sport coaches can play in the development of moral character in their players and teams is significant. Yet, there is limited empirical data on the effectiveness of the design and integration of youth sport coach character development programs (Ettekal et al., 2017, 2018; Ferris et al., 2015; Holtzclaw et al., 2019). Despite the long-accepted notion that sport builds positive moral character, there is a trend of socio-negative/ anti-social behaviors in young athletes involved in sport (Anderson, 2010; Shields & Bredemeier, 2011; Shields et al., 2015a, 2015b; Vella, 2019) which may justify the need for empirically driven coaching for character education programs. We have created an innovative evidence-based coach training program that we are excited to share in this article called PRIMED for Coaching for Character (PCC).
This paper argues that the VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) provides a useful foundation for Character Education (CE) generally and an effective common language for the understanding of Reconciliation specifically. It presents recent literature examining the prototypical elements of CE (McGrath, 2018), and the application of the VIA Classification to the study of peace and inter-group conflict (Niemiec, 2022). It then goes on to report seven interviews with experienced practitioners working in three reconciliation centres (Rose Castle Foundation; the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation; and Reconcilers Together), located in the United Kingdom, Canada, Egypt, and Belgium. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded 14 themes, and 32 sub-themes or codes, related to the use of Character Strengths in the work of reconciliation. While the participants represented different approaches to the reconciliation process, their ability to easily identify constructs from the VIA Classification in the practice of reconciliation supports the usefulness of the VIA nomenclature in providing a common language for both the understanding of and educating for reconciliation.
We examine a novel intervention inspired by events in the Civil Rights Movement that was designed to create a cross-institutional college program engaging students from different universities with moral exemplars and other strategies that support character development and intercultural understanding. We describe how a critical consciousness framework aligns with the program design and analyze how using multiple pedagogical approaches, including compassionate listening, working towards a common goal, and engaging with moral exemplars, may have the ability to support students’ character development, particularly growth in the virtue of justice. After offering a detailed account of the various events included in the week-long program, we present some preliminary evidence for their impact based on in-depth reactions to the experience from select participants. Observations of students during the program and participant reflections afterward suggest that cross-institutional, community-based initiatives designed to promote critical consciousness and intercultural understanding among university students seem effective. Understanding the design, function, and potential impact of this program may promote similar experiences in other institutions.
Aulas en Paz is a multicomponent peace education program based on the promotion of socio-emotional and citizenship competencies. Evaluations have shown positive results in urban contexts with high levels of violence, although implementation is challenging given the amount of training and support it requires. Kernels are flexible, low-cost strategies targeted specifically at crucial active ingredients of programs which can greatly facilitate their implementation. Two types of kernels were developed for 4- to 10-year-olds, and piloted successfully for the Aulas en Paz program: Aulas en Paz Cards and Aulas en Paz Audio Clips. This paper describes these kernels and presents qualitative results of the pilot implementation. Results are very promising for the scalable and sustainable impact of Aulas en Paz.
Much of the literature on virtues or character development in education focuses on the role of educators and parents. Rightfully so; parents and educators must work in common cause in the moral development of children. However, little attention has been given to the role that school systems play in fostering positive relationships and ethical learning communities. By school systems I mean, the formal structures that determine how students are assigned to or choose to be at a particular school. It may well be that structural features of a system lend themselves more or less to creating a healthy educational community where virtues and character formation can take a more prominent form. This article focuses on what it regards as a key but neglected systemic feature of an educational system: whether students are assigned to a school by virtue of their geographical residence or by a family’s free choice. This paper examines one key question: would the systemic structures of a public education system built on principles of pluralism, choice, and free association do more to promote healthy learning communities than a system that relies on residential assignment to schools?
