Character education

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Under Character Education refers to a widespread, especially in English-speaking educational concept , in which the development and promotion of values such as self-regulation , resilience , perseverance , self-motivation , delayed gratification , good work habits , empathy and social skills in the foreground. In the English-speaking world today, “ character ” is not understood as a bundle of personality traits like the “ Big Five ”, but as a bundle of certain psychological competencies that Amitai Etzioni has metaphorically described as the “psychological muscles that allow a person to control impulses and Postponing reward, which is fundamental to success, performance and moral behavior. "

history

The idea of ​​“character formation” or “education of character” is nothing new in pedagogy , the school reformer Joachim Heinrich Campe z. B. had already called for it to convey moral values ​​in the late 18th century in the course of the Enlightenment . Campe was a private tutor for the von Humboldt family for a while and passed his ideas on to his pupil Wilhelm von Humboldt , among others . In the first decade of the 19th century, when reforms were being promoted in Prussia, Humboldt was tasked with reforming the Prussian education system. The highlight of these activities was the founding of the new university in Berlin (today the Humboldt University ). His educational concepts are summarized today under the term Humboldt's educational ideal . Character education plays an important role in these concepts and, according to Humboldt, must not only precede vocational training, but be strictly separated from it.

The refinement of the character also demanded Friedrich Schiller in his treatise On the Aesthetic Education of Man in 1795.

Up until the 20th century, this term usually also concealed the teaching of religious ideals of virtue. After the old moral consensus of society collapsed in the 20th century and values ​​were no longer taught in the conventional way, two modern psychological concepts prevailed from 1960 onwards: “Values ​​clarification” and “moral education based on knowledge and development”. In the " values clarification " (Values Clarification) which in up to 1,980 fashion remained, the teacher gave no concrete moral concepts or values anymore, but stepped back into the role of a neutral facilitator, while the students should develop their own morality. The " Cognitive Developmental Moral Education" , which was found in the curriculum of many schools in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s, is based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development and the idea that the moral consciousness of every person through appropriate training could be increased.

Character education in today's sense

United States

Character education has been scientifically and fundamentally revised since the 1980s, when researchers such as Albert Bandura , Martin Seligman , Howard Gardner and later John D. Mayer pointed out that personal success (advancement, prestige, happiness in professional and private life) there are far more powerful predictors than mathematical-linguistic intelligence . In a long-term study in 1981 Walter Mischel It has been shown, for example, that test subjects who were able to postpone the reward at the age of four were significantly more successful as adolescents in school and in private life than persons in the comparison group. The reintroduction of the term “character” into the scientific discourse is above all an achievement of positive psychology .

In the early 21st century, the concept was finally discovered by educators and family therapists as well. The background was the growing unease at one in the middle layer rampant parenting style that is not long-term educational goals, but by excessive micromanagement is characterized the child's mood. In the United States , in 2001 , Wendy Mogel published her bestseller The Blessings of a Skinned Knee ; the character upbringing for which Mogel advocates is Jewish- inspired, but shows great overlaps with what is today understood as the promotion of “emotional intelligence”. The psychologist Michele Borba has also published some highly regarded books on the subject.

The concept of character education is already undergoing extensive practical implementation in the American education system . The following institutions and organizations, among others, are involved:

  • The Association for Moral Education (AME) was founded as early as 1976 , a non-profit organization that sees itself as an interdisciplinary forum where those interested can discuss the moral dimensions of education.
  • At Boston University , a Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character has been developing character education programs since 1989 .
  • The Aspen- based Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics has a character count in 1992 ! -A program that aims to teach fundamental values ​​- trustworthiness, respect, accountability, fairness, interpersonal compassion and community spirit - in American schools. There the program is carried out nationwide by full-time school counselors .
  • Programs for emotional education, such as: B. at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica .
  • Another charity education organization is the non-partisan Character Education Partnership (CEP), which has been lobbying Washington, DC since 1993.
  • The Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility) , founded in 1994 by Thomas Lickona , is one of the scientific institutions that focus on character education ; the center is part of the School of Education at the State University of New York in Cortland .
  • The Center for Character and Citizenship at the College of Education at the University of Missouri in St. Louis has published a biannual Journal of Research in Character Education since 2003 .

German-speaking area

In the German-speaking area, Albert Wunsch formulated similar considerations as Lickona and Mogel. While in his 1998 published and controversially received Zeit article Drug Pampering he initially showered spoilage and overparenting with criticism without countering with a well-founded counter-proposal, Wunsch did so in his later publications ( Die Verwöhnungsfalle , 2000; Abschied von der FUNpädagogik , 2003 ) meanwhile made up for some points.

Hubert Markl , President of the Max Planck Society from 1996 to 2002 , stated in a lecture in 2005:

“At the beginning and at the center of what successfully leads young people into life, that is, makes them fit for life, there must be character formation. This is a term that may sound a bit old Franconian, but which I prefer to the 'value education' so often called today; because it is of no use if one instills values ​​- even if they are very imprecisely defined - which unfortunately mostly neither educators nor educators adhere to. Character formation aims at something else. Above all, it has to do with honesty, decency, courage to live, joie de vivre, self-confidence and the ability to trust others at the same time as being trustworthy for them. "

- Hubert Markl

See also

literature

Older literature

  • Martin Buber : About character education , in: the same: speeches about education , speeches about educational issues, education and worldview, about character education. 11th edition, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2005, ISBN 978-3-579-02581-0 .
  • Georg Kerschensteiner : Concept of character and character education, Teubener, Leipzig / Berlin 1912.

Newer literature

  • William Damon: Bringing in a New Era in Character Education , Hoover Institution Press 2002, ISBN 0-8179-2962-2 .
  • James Davison Hunter: The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil , Basic Books 2001, ISBN 0-465-03177-3 .
  • Thomas Lickona : Educating for Character , New York: Bantam, 1991
  • Alan L. Lockwood: The Case for Character Education: A Developmental Approach , Teachers College Press 2008, ISBN 0-8077-4923-0 .
  • Larry Nucci, Darcia Narvaez: Handbook of Moral and Character Education , Routledge 2008, ISBN 0-8058-5960-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amitai Etzioni: The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society , Touchstone, 1993, ISBN 0-671-88524-3 , p. 91; see. Amitai Etzioni et al. a .: Character Building of a Democratic, Civil Society , Washington, DC: The Communitarian Network, 1994
  2. ^ Joachim Heinrich Campe: General revision of the entire school and education system. From a society of practical educators Hamburg, Wolfenbüttel, Vienna, Braunschweig, 1785 to 1792
  3. ↑ a b c Kevin Ryan: Character education is back in fashion in the US!
  4. ↑ Yuichi Shoda, Walter Mischel , Philip K. Peake: Predicting Adolescent Cognitive and Self-Regulatory Competencies from Preschool Delay of Gratification: Identifying Diagnostic Conditions , in: Developmental Psychology, Volume 26, 1990, pp. 978-986
  5. ^ Association for Moral Education Official Website
  6. ^ Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character Official Website
  7. ↑ Character Counts! official website
  8. ^ Daniel Goleman: Pioneering Schools Teach Lessons of Emotional Life , New York Times, March 3, 1992
  9. ↑ CEP Official Website
  10. ^ The Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility)
  11. ^ Journal of Research in Character Education
  12. ^ Albert Wunsch: Drug Pampering: A Plea for a Different Upbringing Die Zeit, October 1, 1998
  13. ↑ Hubert Markl: Genius of nature, natural genius (Der Tagesspiegel, November 13, 2005)