Abstract
High crime rates and general issues of social dysfunction are common in developing countries. This paper, using a case study of Jamaica, shows the possibility of using moral and religious values to guide youth within the education system, with the ultimate goal of intercepting these societal issues. The recent spate of violence in Jamaica's schools has raised concerns about the value systems underpinning the social development of children and youth. Stakeholders have recommended a variety of punitive measures for addressing these deviant behaviors. However, character or moral education should be considered a more sustainable approach to addressing these challenges. Character education is broadly understood as the practice of teaching sound moral principles, which culminate in socially acceptable behavior. In this paper, I discuss key findings from a perceptive qualitative study of teacher educators. The paper calls for a formalized and intentional approach to character education at all levels of the education system.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor James Davis for supervising my thesis, as well as the members of my research committee, Professor Michael Smith and Professor Steven Gross for their valuable feedback throughout the process. I am also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers and journal editors who will comment on the early versions of this paper. A big thank you, also, to all teacher educators who participated in this research.
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Dempster, M. An exploration of character education as a tool of ‘moral repair’ in the developing world. j. relig. educ. 68, 249–265 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-020-00107-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-020-00107-5