goals of character education

Teaching Character Education: Instilling Values and Ethical Behaviors in Students

haracter education plays a vital role in shaping students' values, attitudes, and ethical behaviors. By integrating character education into the curriculum, educators can foster a positive school culture, promote social-emotional development, and equip students with the skills they need to navigate moral dilemmas and contribute positively to society. This article explores the importance of character education and provides strategies and resources for teachers to effectively incorporate it into their classrooms.

Define Core Values

Start by identifying the core values you want to instill in your students. These may include traits such as honesty, respect, responsibility, empathy, and perseverance. Clearly define these values and discuss their importance with your students, emphasizing how they relate to their personal growth and interactions with others.

Model Ethical Behaviors

Teachers serve as role models for their students. Demonstrate the values and behaviors you expect from your students through your actions and interactions. Model honesty, kindness, fairness, and other positive traits in your daily interactions with students, colleagues, and the school community.

Incorporate Character Education into Lessons

Integrate character education into your daily lessons and activities. Look for opportunities to discuss ethical dilemmas, moral choices, and character-building experiences. Use literature, case studies, and real-world examples to facilitate discussions and help students apply character principles to various situations.

Implement Service-Learning Projects

Engage students in service-learning projects that allow them to apply their character education lessons in real-life contexts. Encourage them to identify and address community needs, collaborate with peers, and reflect on the impact of their actions. Service-learning projects provide students with opportunities to develop empathy, compassion, and a sense of social responsibility.

Foster Positive Relationships

Create a classroom environment that promotes positive relationships among students. Encourage teamwork, collaboration, and mutual respect. Implement activities that build empathy, conflict resolution skills, and effective communication. Teach students how to listen actively, show empathy, and resolve conflicts peacefully.

Recognize and Celebrate Character Development

Acknowledge and celebrate students' growth in character development. Recognize and reward acts of kindness, integrity, and responsible behavior. Highlight positive examples and share success stories with the entire school community. Celebrating character development reinforces the importance of these values and encourages continued growth.

Involve Families and the Community

Engage parents, families, and the broader community in character education initiatives. Share resources, provide opportunities for families to reinforce character education at home, and invite community members to share their experiences and expertise. Collaborating with families and the community creates a holistic approach to character development.

Teaching character education goes beyond academic content. It cultivates values, ethics, and social-emotional skills that are essential for students' personal and academic success. By intentionally incorporating character education into their teaching practices, educators can help shape responsible, empathetic, and morally conscious individuals who contribute positively to society.

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What Makes Character Education Programs Work?

Key elements for effective programs, implementation leads to results.

• Direct instruction . Schools cannot assume that the language, concepts, behaviors, and skills of good character are written into the genetic code; learned at home, from television, or in the neighborhood; or absorbed through the invisible hand of the general curriculum. Like arithmetic, the teaching of character values such as “responsibility” and “respect” must be purposeful and direct. Students should hear and see the words, learn their meanings, identify appropriate behaviors, and practice and apply the values. Direct instruction builds a foundation for more advanced learning infused throughout the general curriculum; even then, direct instruction is necessary for infusion to be focused and effective.
• Language-based curriculum . Children entering the schools today often lack the vocabulary for understanding basic value concepts such as “honesty” and “courage.” Even when they can define such values, they often fail to connect them to their own behavior. Successful character education programs focus students' attention on the basic language that expresses core concepts and links the words to explicit behavior. For example, at Newcomb School in Long Beach, California, students in Anna Wood's 3rd grade class learned the meaning of “courage.” Then, in cooperative learning groups, they developed lists of the ways in which children can demonstrate courage in the classroom. One group decided that students could show courage by “being nice to kids that other kids tease.”
• Positive language . Students must know what is expected of them if they are to practice appropriate behavior. Therefore, common negative language such as “Don't be late” or “Don't forget your pencil” should be translated into explicit positive language as in “Be on time” or “Be prepared.” At Bellerive School in the Parkway School District in St. Louis County, Missouri, a new teacher was often heard telling her students, “Don't get out of your seat,” “Don't get up to look out the window,” and “Don't wander around the classroom.” Finally, a veteran teacher advised her to “tell the kids exactly what you want them to do.” The next day, the new teacher firmly told her students to “Sit down!” To her amazement, they did.
• Content <EMPH TYPE="3"> and process . In addition to teaching the content of consensus and civic values, an effective character education curriculum should provide a process for implementing those values when making decisions. At Parmalee Elementary School in Los Angeles, students are taught that honesty is better than dishonesty, being on time is better than being late, being polite is better than being rude. Building on this content, students learn a four-step process that teaches them to examine alternatives and consequences and then assess whether their choices are likely to bring them closer to goals such as personal and social responsibility. As students learn and practice the decision-making process, they develop the skills needed for making ethical choices.
• Visual reinforcement . Character education is in competition with adverse desires, messages, and pressures in our society. The visual presentation of character values is, in effect, an advertising campaign intended to keep the words, concepts, and behaviors learned in class at the forefront of students' attention. Visual displays illustrate and reinforce good character. Thus, when students and staff traverse the hallways of Santa Barbara Junior High School in Santa Barbara, California, they encounter 4‘ x 8‘ silver and blue “character” signs hanging from the ceilings. The main hallway is adorned by a huge banner that prominently displays the word RESPECT.
• School climate approach . Effective character education should spill over the boundaries of the classroom into the playground, the office, the cafeteria, the bus, and then into the home and neighborhood. This school climate approach generates a common language and culture that fosters positive peer recognition and encourages all members of the school community to exemplify and reward behavior consistent with core values and ethical decision making. During “Be Polite” month at the Bellerive School, the first thing that staff, students, and visitors see when they enter the building is a large calendar, which lists a different way to be polite for each day of the month. On the third day of the month, for example, everyone is reminded to be polite “by listening when others are speaking.”
• Teacher-friendly materials . Teachers must be able to implement the character education curriculum with limited training and preparation. They should not have to write lengthy lesson plans, prepare student handouts, search out supplementary materials, or decode impossibly complex instructional manuals. Keeping curriculum materials simple and straightforward greatly increases the probability that the lessons will get taught consistently and effectively. Otherwise, teachers are likely to perceive systematic character education as an “add-on” rather than as an essential component of their teaching mission.
• Teacher flexibility and creativity . Teachers not only need a basic framework to work with, but they also should be able to adjust character education lessons to individual teaching and learning styles. A successful character education curriculum is sufficiently flexible to allow teachers to exercise creativity in addressing special classroom circumstances while still adhering to school-wide standards. Thus, one teacher may have the class designate four or five ways to practice tolerance while another teacher may decide to have individual students select a specific tolerant behavior for practice. The teachers' approaches may vary even though the same language and concepts are taught in both classrooms.
• Student participation . Character education is most effective when students develop a sense of ownership. It is not enough to tell students how to behave. They must participate in the process of framing goals in order to achieve them. At the Kauluwela School in Honolulu, Hawaii, each student in Leona Englehart's 5th grade class decides on individual character goals and how to meet them. Typical individual goals include, “I will be on time,” “I will do all my homework,” or “I will be polite to classmates.” Each student writes his or her name and goal on a cutout of a foot. The cutouts are then placed on the classroom wall in an ascending pattern that represents the “Steps to Success.” Students develop a sense of ownership because they have chosen the goals and means for achieving them.
• Parental involvement and then some . Character education programs are most effective and enduring when the school routinely confers with parents, lets them know what is being taught, and involves them in the curriculum. Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California, kicked off its “Respect and Responsibility” program by hosting a Character Education Day that drew together school board members, administrators, teachers, students, parent groups, and community leaders to discuss local needs and goals. Bellerive School helped to sustain and enrich its character education program, first by keeping parents informed of the “theme of the month,” and then by providing suggestions regarding how parents could encourage theme-appropriate behavior at home.
• Evaluation . Implementation of a character education program must include a pre-assessment of goals, occasional consultation during the program, and then a post-evaluation of results. In the planning stages, school staff members should clearly articulate their expectations and explicitly detail the various goals they hope to accomplish. As they implement the program, periodic meetings will help teachers to keep goals in mind and adapt classroom lessons accordingly. Finally, the program evaluation should assess the outcomes in terms of anecdotal reports from teachers (“My students seem to be more responsible.”) and appropriate data on measurable changes in key variables (Have absences decreased? Are office referrals down? Do more students make the honor role?).

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Character Education: Molding Clay or Planting Seeds?

One of the critiques by scientists inside and outside of the character education field has been the lack of quality research on these programs. Thanks to the new science of character strengths that emerged in the mid-2000s, this is changing.

What is the next step for character education in schools? The dominant approach in character education is an approach and philosophy of prescription (e.g., build up these 3-5 character qualities in all students). This is in direct contrast with an approach of description (e.g., explore, discover, and describe the best qualities in each student and THEN help the student express these strengths).

Prescriptive character education can be compared to the process of molding clay. The “potter” (school, educator, or other authority) works to transform the “clay” (student’s character) into a predetermined form. Such approaches are widespread in character education programs, as well as other institutions that promote positive character (athletics, religion, government, etc.)

Descriptive character education, on the other hand, can be compared to the process of planting and nurturing seeds. No two seeds are identical. The gardener’s task is to create optimal conditions for growth and development to occur. Like an individual seed, each child possesses possibilities.

The role of the educator - like that of the gardener - is to provide favorable conditions that will stimulate, encourage and nurture growth.

For those that are interested in exploring and advancing descriptive character education -- the “seed” approach – you can review the following resources and references:

• Strengths in Education Research
• Strengths in Education Stories and Practices
• Video: Positive Education with Character Strengths
• Video: Newark Boys Chorus School and the VIA Survey
• Video: Character Strengths Classroom Connection

• Classroom Activities

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• Dangers of Vaping/JUULing
• Ethical Dilemmas Archive
• Service Learning
• Character Ed in Sports
• Organizations
• School-to-Work
• Elem Classroom Activities
• Useful Links
• Live Wire Media
• Vaping & Juuling
• Careers & Financial Literacy
• Social Media & Cyber Safety
• Mindfulness
• Character Counts!
• Character Education
• Sex & Dating
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• Drugs & Alcohol
• Setting Goals
• Michael Pritchard

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Character Education and Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Curriculum, Lesson Plans, Activities, Programs & Resources

How to do character education & social emotional learning.

You are a character educator. Whether you are a teacher, administrator, custodian, or school bus driver, you are helping to shape the character and the social education of the kids you come in contact with…

The real question is what kind? Are you doing character education and social emotional learning well or poorly? By design or by default? And what kinds of values are you actually teaching?

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Teaching Guides for K-12 Character Education, Mindfulness, and Social Emotional Learning

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Noah sees the same bully torment the same victim every day on the schoolyard, and nobody tells the teacher about it. Should Noah speak up and risk being labeled “tattletail”, or should he ignore it and mind his own business?

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What is Character Education?

• March 24, 2020

Home Educators Blog

According to education author Thomas Lackona, the purpose of education is to “help people become smart, and to help them become good.” As educators, we spend most of our time making students smarter. We also need to spend time making them better.

Character education is the process by which humans learn to interact with society, usually through the teaching of core virtues such as courage, justice, and wisdom. Feelings, thoughts, and actions all work together to form character. Character education is the act of teaching students how to regulate those feelings, thoughts, and actions into pro-social behaviors.

Character education can be a stand-alone curriculum, or it can be part of a larger school initiative, such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) . Not surprisingly, it is more effective when integrated into the academic curriculum and other school initiatives.

Character Education is a Tier 1 Support, meaning it should be offered to all students, not just the ones who show a lack of character. However, further character education interventions may be necessary for some students.

The Importance of Character Education

Character education has always been important, but its relevance has varied over time. In the eighteenth century, our new nation’s leaders understood that democracy required virtuous citizens who could exercise their rights responsibly.  As the majority of our nation’s populace was Protestant Christians, the Bible was the primary source of character education. Character education was taught through the lens of religious morality.

As more immigrants arrived from predominantly Catholic countries, controversy arose over the correct source material for teaching good character. This is where secular texts such as McGuffey Readers offered values-based instruction that was applicable to a more diverse population.

As Americans began to question traditional power structures in the 1960s, character education declined in American schools. This is in part due to the rise of moral relativism, a more pluralistic society, and the misconception that teaching character means teaching religion. By the end of the 1970s, character education was reduced to teaching thinking skills, rather than instructing students in specific values.

In the 1980s, character education made a resurgence, thanks to the “war on drugs” and the desire to reduce violence. Once again, schools were encouraged to offer direct instruction in character education.

Since then, we have come full circle to educating the whole child. The Whole Child Initiative encourages wraparound education that addresses students’ need to be “healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged”.

Today’s character education curriculum emphasizes Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). According to The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), SEL is the “process of being able to identify and manage our emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”

As school leaders, we must strive to offer character development as part of a social-emotional learning approach that addresses the whole child.

How to Implement Character Education Programs in Your School

Begin with the End in Mind

Start by establishing expectations for your program. Decide with your Building Leadership team (BLT) what you expect out of students and make those expectations very clear to everyone in the building.

Share Leadership

Chances are good that you have a teacher or group of teachers that is passionate about character education. Share leadership with these folks and work to establish teacher buy-in.

Emphasize Relationships

Study after study shows that students learn and behave better for people with whom they have a positive relationship . It is no different when it comes to character education.

Make it a Daily Ritual

Incorporate direct instruction in character education EVERY DAY. By all means possible, institute a homeroom or advisory period that meets daily. The daily interaction also establishes relationship building that is so important for building character. Weekly video announcements centering around character education allow you as the building leader to set the tone for the rest of the building. A daily recitation of school expectations is also a consistent reminder of school values.

Make it Building-Wide

In general, every student should be participating in the same character education program at the same time. This allows you to establish consistent language surrounding character, which makes communication easier among the building population. It also allows for more meaningful discussions with students.

Stay Flexible

Even if you pick a great character education program, sometimes you will have to veer off-plan a little. As long as it is in the best interest of students, you are on safe ground.

• #CharacterEducation , #SEL , #SocialEmotionalLearning

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