In contrast to both behaviourist and cognitive approaches to moral development, neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics has had recent fairly distinctive impact on thought about the practice of moral education. On this view, insofar as moral development is a matter of the cultivation of moral virtues, and virtues are basically qualities of character…

In this collaborative analysis, we (a philosopher of education and an experienced public school educator) examine the experience of demoralization and remoralization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We overlay the context of the pandemic with the context of institutional racism and their interwoven impact for educators of colour. We use…

This interview piece addresses the following questions: Does the COVID-19 pandemic offer any lessons for moral character education? Do the experiences of students, educators, and communities during the pandemic illustrate the importance of aspects of character education that may have been known but taken for granted? The three authors bring to…

The article is concerned with the difficulty of providing leisure today with a positive definition that goes beyond merely being a negation of work. I argue that the vague boundaries between work and leisure play into the hands of work -- a highly praised activity that is dominant in today's society. I argue that in such a situation, education as…

This research paper considers the place of the European lifelong-learning philosophical concept of Bildung (self-formation) and how Socratic questioning activities might be used to facilitate its development. Originating with the great philosophical thinkers of the German Renaissance, it is a concept that is again attracting attention because of…

In "Political and Metaphysical: Reflections on Identity, Education, and Justice" (EJ1277341), Lauren Bialystok makes a nuanced and timely case for a reassessment of the moral and political significance of identity within liberal societies in general, and for education in particular. She offers an impressive philosophical reconstruction…

Robin Barrow has critiqued the use of the concept of "skill" for a wide range of human attributes that are not skills in the precise sense he articulated, namely: "a capacity that is discrete and can be perfected through practice and exercise." Skill talk has persisted, though today commonly under the guise of "competency…

In his 2006 essay, "Moral Education's Modest Agenda," Robin Barrow argues for a clearly bounded conception of morality; he presents the moral domain as concerned with moral principles, and moral education as the cultivation of moral understanding. Barrow rejects behaviourism, character education, values clarification, developmentalism,…

This article examines a Confucian conception of competence and its corresponding response to the competencies agenda that underpins international large-scale assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). It is argued that standardised transnational assessments are undergirded by a technical rationality that…

In teacher education programs, there is a prevalent belief that having teacher candidates compose personalized 'my philosophy of education' (MPE) statements is a valuable exercise that prepares them for the teaching profession. This paper argues that the prevailing intentions for, and common practice of, assigning these MPE statements to teacher…