The significance in using role models to influence primary school children's moral development: Pilot study

• Published in: Journal of moral education Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 316 - 331
• Main Author: Osman, Yousra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03-07-2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Aristotle; Aristotle (384-322 BC); character education; Children; Educational Philosophy; Elementary School Students; Elementary schools; Ethics; Foreign Countries; Habituation; Intervention; Measurement Techniques; Moral Development; Moral education; moral exemplars; Morality; Personality; Pilot Projects; Pretests Posttests; Role Models; Teaching Methods; Values Education; Saudi Arabia
• ISSN: 0305-7240; 1465-3877
• DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2018.1556154

This article reports on a pilot study aiming to examine a role-modelling character education project through an Aristotelian framework, by adopting a virtue-led approach. Aristotle famously believed virtues should be taught to children at a young age through habituation, which gradually develops into phronesis-guided virtuosity, and he considered what nowadays is referred to as 'role modelling' as having a large influence on children through the emotion of emulation (zēlos). Therefore, the pilot study aims to answer the question to what extent a virtue-led role modelling intervention in character education can influence students' moral development. The intervention teaches school-appropriate virtues to students in a primary school in Saudi Arabia. While the study is just starting, this article focuses on some pertinent and problematic preliminary questions about conceptual assumptions and research design.