moral education in schools

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How to Approach Moral Issues in the Classroom

Margot Stern Strom, president and executive director of Facing History and Ourselves , remembers her junior high school civics class in 1950s Memphis: Students memorized the Bill of Rights, and they read about liberty and equality, but no one said a word about the separate water fountains in town for blacks and whites, which put those ideals to shame. Strom calls this disconnect a "betrayal" of history -- and education. "Students know the truth," she says, "and they want to talk about it."

Most educators are trained to teach facts and skills, not engage students in discussions of right and wrong, fairness and justice, values and moral responsibility. Teachers often feel anxiety about touching sensitive nerves: Will the classroom erupt in conflict? Will a child (or parent) take offense? Yet Strom believes that every subject worth learning -- history, science, literature, art, even math -- has moral and ethical dimensions. Exploring these disciplines honestly can invigorate a classroom and help students grow, think, and speak out. Below, Strom and Peter Nelson, head of Facing History's New York office, explain how educators can incorporate moral inquiry into the curriculum:

Acknowledge that young people encounter difficult moral questions every day, and they want guidance.

Bigotry, ostracism, bullying: they happened in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South, and they take place in high school today. Instead of teaching history primarily as a set of facts about and actions by leaders, encourage students to examine the choices of ordinary citizens such as themselves: Why did some people conform, and some remain silent, and some dare to protest? Ask students to explore parallels in their own lives and current events. History can help young people understand the present -- and contemporary struggles can help students make sense of seemingly incomprehensible events in the past.

Recognize that no subject is morally neutral.

Studying DNA leads naturally to discussions of eugenics and race. A unit about filmmaking readily brings up Leni Riefenstahl, a propagandist for the Nazis, and D. W. Griffith, whose epic silent movie, Birth of a Nation, glorified the Ku Klux Klan. Math instruction is basic for discussions of voting and political polling. Embrace these connections -- show Riefenstahl's film, assign readings on Nazi medical experiments, ask students to reflect on universal themes -- and discuss compassion, indifference, resistance, propaganda, myth making, and knowledge.

Build trust in the classroom.

As a starting point, establish basic rules of respect -- and model them. Listen to your students. Challenge ideas, not people. Work with your class to develop a language for moral inquiry. Let no subject be off limits. If a word -- say, a racial slur -- makes everyone squirm, bring it up and encourage the class to decide, together, whether it's ever okay to use, and in what context. Recognize the difference between being safe and being comfortable; students must feel safe, but discomfort will help them learn and grow.

Enlist support from your colleagues and administrators.

This is tough ground to march solo on. "Teachers need to come together and get the same kind of experience that doctors get in grand rounds," Strom says. "They need to discuss race and identity and prejudice -- not avoid them. They need to study subjects they never learned as students."

Gather great learning resources.

"History textbooks are watered down," Strom says. "They give everybody three equal pages of good or bad history -- it's like the Victim Olympics." Supplement required texts with memoirs, poetry, essays, and films. Bring in speakers.

Permit ambiguity.

Encourage questions, curiosity, and moral struggle. Questions of the head and heart are not readily answered in a forty-five-minute period. Moral inquiry is a journey; opinions and values evolve. Ask students to keep a journal of their thoughts, questions and opinions -- and encourage them to read it every so often to see how far they have traveled.

Have faith in your students.

Strom and Nelson say young people are moral philosophers. "They care about the world they live in," Nelson adds. "They want to belong. They want to do right. They want to make a difference." Help students show their smarts, not only to you or to their classmates but also to themselves.

Fran Smith is a contributing editor for Edutopia.

• Made by History

Yes, Schools Should Teach Morality. But Whose Morals?

A s schools across the country experience book bans and attempts to limit the curriculum, in Texas one group led by the spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump fought in the past year to bring biblical values to the classroom . In support of such efforts, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz warned, "there is an evil agenda [and] we are the only thing that stands between the destruction of American or the revival America."

Rather than a new occurrence, efforts to censor teachers, ban books, and control the curriculum are the newest chapter in a century-long battle over who gets to teach their morals and who gets to see themselves represented in public schools. In fact, the belief that schools have a responsibility to teach moral, ethical, and religious values—often encompassed by the term "civic morality"—is older than public schools themselves. Especially in controversial moments in U.S. history, these debates about civic morality in the schools have been enveloped in culture wars. But when pressure is put on schools to change with the ebb and flow of political whim, teachers and students are left with inconsistent curriculum and haphazard structure.

Moral education has roots in colonial America. The Puritans of New England left a thorough record of their efforts to impart civic and religious values to children. Before there were schoolhouses, communities monitored the moral teachings in the home and could even impose criminal penalties for misappropriation or neglect of moral education.

Read More: How Oklahoma Became Ground Zero in the War Over Church-State Separation

In the early 19th century, free and low-cost schools emerged in the northern and middle states for white children to promote “ order and democratic harmony.” The National Board of Popular Education, a group founded by Catharine Beecher in 1847 to expand mass education throughout the U.S., sent 600 single women Westward to “insure children in these newly settled territories has access to proper Christian culture.” By replacing the religious education of previous decades, these institutions began to shoulder the responsibility of defining what moral education looked like in public, non-religious environments while heavily relying on what they believed were “universal” Christian values.

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By the end of the century, a system of public education was in place that arose from the guiding belief that municipally-supported schools could enhance national cohesion and morality. In the development of this universal public school system, there was power in choosing what the single curriculum would be nation-wide. Indeed, school reformer Horace Mann believed that excluding workers and immigrants “was to weaken the school’s power to serve as a cohesive force in society.” In the name of civic morality, students from more varied backgrounds were included in the singular vision of “Americanism” and taught how to uphold certain behaviors and ideas in these schools.

In the early 20th century, economic and demographic changes reinvigorated debates around education and its role in creating moral citizens. Illustrating xenophobic fear at the time, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 which barred immigrants from many regions of the world but allowed immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. Communities and politicians looked to schools and teachers to integrate and assimilate the nearly 14 million immigrants in the United States at the time. For example, Boston schools centered their moral instruction around the “law of obedience” and Nebraska schools included the extracurricular club “Uncle Sam’s Boys and Girls” to extend moral education outside the formal classroom.

Read More: How the Surveillance of Immigrants Remade American Policing

Beyond Americanization, politicians and community members alike looked to the public schools to pass on other moral codes—essentially lists of virtues presented in the form of pledges. For example, in response to a competition sponsored by the Character Education Association in 1917, William Hutchins’ outlined the “ten laws of right living” including self-control, good health, kindness, sportsmanship, self-reliance, duty, reliability, truth, good workmanship, and teamwork. His “ Morality Code ” was published in education journals and actively marketed towards superintendents and Commissioners of Education across the U.S.

During World War II and the Cold War, the use of public schools as patriotic propaganda and civic education received wide support. A 1951 education report titled Moral and Spiritual Values in the Public Schools reaffirmed the importance of moral education in the postwar era and simultaneously defined certain values as central to the “American experience.” The report called for a set of courses that would “preserve basic American and Western values at a time when free, democratic societies were threatened by the specter of totalitarianism.” Who fit within these “American ideals,” taught in conjunction with civic morality, were narrowly defined and exclusionary—centering around Anglo-Christian values, at the expense of everyone else.

Such narrowly defined conceptions of morality and citizenship were precisely why the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s prompted reevaluation of moral education in public institutions. In 1978, the intellectual Carl Bereiter declared, “education in the areas of personality and values is never free of authoritarian imposition,” addressing the intrusion of public-school value-based curriculum blurring the separation of church and state. Notably, there were more court cases challenging school practices between 1969 and 1978 than in the previous 50 years combined.

Reform efforts continued to use the language of morality, though. They just redefined it. University of Notre Dame president Father Theodore M. Hesburgh spoke to the inclusion of civil rights as “the concern for civil rights is not just another economic, political, social, or ethnic movement, but there is a deep moral dimension… to achieve full civil rights for all our citizens.”

In the subsequent years, the political demand for moral education persisted, especially as evangelical conservatives prioritized legislative changes to ensure it. Since the 1990s, many states passed legislation requiring some type of moral education in public schools. Indiana, for example, required schools to teach the virtues of honesty, respect for the property of others, and personal responsibility to family and community.

Read More: A Charter School's Racial Controversy Reveals the Battle for America's Classrooms

Questions of civic morality continue to play out today, even as many politicians shroud their calls in the rhetoric of “neutrality .” After Arkansas’ Department of Education warned its high schools not to offer Advanced Placement courses in African American history, calling the curriculum "indoctrination," many schools pushed back and are offering the courses anyway. In Iowa, teachers have been pushed out of the classroom due to required “neutrality” in teaching curriculum.

Using public education to teach universal values and strengthen society has always been central in the development of our education system. Our historical and current problem is that we cannot agree what our nation’s universal values are and who we need to strengthen our society.

Indeed, there is an irony here, and conservative politicians like Cruz are not entirely wrong. Recent evidence suggests that public schools across the nation are not providing an education in civic morality . But the reasons they are not may have more to do with nature of the attacks on the schools by pundits like Cruz and others than anything else. As one RAND study revealed, many teachers are “scared and anxious and worried” about what they can or cannot teach.

Civic morality is needed in our schools today . When taught well , civic education can increase students’ likelihood of voting, concern for community issues, social responsibility, and confidence speaking publicly . But first, doing so requires an expansive definition of “Americanism” to reevaluate what our students—and our society—need to safeguard our future and democracy.

Mallory Hutchings-Tryon is a historian and educator with a decade of experience teaching throughout the country in K-12 secondary public, private, and charter schools. She is currently researching discriminatory dress codes and teaching at the University of Washington. Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here .

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Moral Education

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Moral education may be defined as helping children and young people to acquire a set of beliefs and values regarding what is right and wrong. This set of beliefs guides their intentions, attitudes and behaviors towards others and their environment. Moral education also helps children develop the disposition to act in accordance with such beliefs and values. More fundamentally, it encourages children to reflect on how they should behave and what sort of people they should be. For many people, these questions are linked to religious belief, but moral education programs treat religion and morality as conceptually distinct.

Moral educators believe that many young people living in the contemporary world can become morally confused by exposure to factors that may destabilize their moral values, including television, print media, the Internet, social changes in family structures, poor role models in public life, the prioritization of economic values and continuing gender and ethnic...

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Halstead, J. M., & McLaughlin, T. H. (Eds.) (1999). Education in morality . London: Routledge.

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Jackson, P. W., Boostrom, R. E., & Hansen, D. T. (1993). The moral life of schools . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Journal of Moral Education – quarterly journal published by Routledge Journals (Taylor and Francis).

Association of Moral Education website — http://www.amenetwork.org/

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Department of Community and International Education, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

J Mark Halstead

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Department of Educational Psychology, The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers, U.S.A.

Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers Ph.D. ( Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology ) ( Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology )

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Halstead, J.M. (2010). Moral Education. In: Clauss-Ehlers, C.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9_260

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MORAL EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS: IS IT A WORTHY UNDERTAKING?

Morality is belief in and conformity to principles of virtuous conduct. Consequently, moral people are expected to live uprightly by embedding acceptable values in all aspects of their endeavors. In light of this, the author argues that moral education should concern itself with instilling moral consciousness in learners with the ultimate goal of ensuring that they deliberately conform to principles of virtuous conduct in all their undertakings. Critical to the argument is the discourse explaining why moral education should be part of the school curriculum in East African schools.

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Baamphatlha Dinama

Sharlene Swartz

Dipty Subba

In a world which is primarily split between a few haves and majority of have-nots, tensions, diversities, self-centered vision, violence, terrorism and consumerism are creating a dreadful scenario of a bleeding world and blood splattered humanity. Many schools have been searching the reasons of depreciation in moral values and they have been working for developing good moral values among the students. The lack in moral values and the unhealthy attitudes of students is the main reason of having problems in several schools. They have been realizing the importance of moral education in school. Moral Values are the worthy ideals or principles that one follows to distinguish the right from the wrong. These ideals or virtues are considered worthy in building up the character of an individual. Moral responsibility is intimately related to our reactions to one another. Dealing with values and moral issues is recognized as integral part of teachers’ roles. Teacher has an important role in in...

Continental J. Education Research

Science and Education Development Institute (SEDInst)

The study examines the moral education as instrument for character formation towards academic attainment of secondary school students in Ogun State. The study employed descriptive survey research design where questionnaire was used to acquire necessary data for the research work. Population (200 respondents) comprises of all secondary school students in Odeda Local Government, Ogun State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 10 secondary schools in which twenty 20 students were randomly selected from each of the chosen school to make a total of 200 as sample for study. The research instrument used for the study was a questionnaire. Three research questions were answered for the study. The data collected was analysed with the use of simple percentage, mean and standard deviation statistical tools to answer the three research questions. The result revealed that character education is an umbrella term used to describe many aspects of teaching and learning for personal development". Some areas under this umbrella may include development of moral reasoning, cognitive development, social and emotional learning, moral education, citizenship education, life skills education, caring community, risk behaviours prevention and many others. It was therefore recommended that moral education should be part and parcel of education curricula in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular to bring about the in character and formation as a whole.

Moral Education: Panacea for a Free and Stable Nigerian Society

Saheed O L A N R E W A J U Jabaar

Societies are formed by humans in order to achieve stability by way of having protection from aggression, and engendering cooperation of others in overcoming individual weaknesses. Nigeria has witnessed some degree of social instability in recent years. This has manifested in insecurity of life and property, extreme poverty, youth unemployment, and mutual distrust in basic human relationships. The education sector can be implicated in the challenge of instability as it is the system which is saddled with the responsibility of human capital development. The education system seems to be lopsided towards intellectual development of learners as opposed to balanced (cognitive, affective and skill) development of individuals. This paper adopts method of philosophical analysis to survey relevant literatures and theoretical postulations on human freedom and social stability with a view of interrogating how extensive guarantee of freedom could be reconciled with realization of human development. The paper underscores the school system as a point of early social interaction, and a focal point in preparing individuals for participation in social life by way of inculcating in them the consciousness of their dependence on others in spite of their independence as free beings. It is advanced that education system needs to focus on producing balanced and cultured individuals who can rationally exercise their freedom. An integrative moral education model of teaching moral is proposed as innovative pedagogical skill which teachers can adopt to enhance learners' social consciousness.

Michael Hand

In this inaugural lecture, delivered at the University of Birmingham in January 2014, I sketch the outline of a theory of moral education. The theory is an attempt to resolve the tension between two thoughts widely entertained by teachers, policy-makers and the general public. The first thought is that morality must be learned: children must come to see what morality requires of them and acquire the motivation to submit to its authority. The second thought is that morality is controversial: there is deep uncertainty about both the requirements of morality and the reasons to comply with them. I draw distinctions between two kinds of moral education (moral formation and moral inquiry) and between two kinds of moral inquiry (directive and nondirective). I argue that some basic moral standards are robustly justified and that schools should promote subscription to these standards by means of both moral formation and directive moral inquiry.

Philip Siaw Kissi

This article considers the perception and teachers' idea relating to developing the character of students through the curriculum in the context of the South African schooling system. Literature covering value education, moral education, and what other researchers perceived as good values that are necessary for a country with a diverse population such as South Africa has been outlined. Mixed method approach was used as a research method. A total of 64 survey respondents and individual volunteer interviews with ten teachers were recruited for the study. Findings from the study indicated that majority of the survey respondent identified the need and opportunity for moral education to be integrated within each subject. The current study also identified an inadequate prior knowledge in the minds of participants. The need to provide workshops for teachers on how to integrate the moral education within the curriculum is identified.

International Journal of Education

Dr jamal Alomari

IJAR Indexing

The study focused on the repositioning of Nigerian youths through the teaching of moral instruction, the study specifically aimed at finding out if the objectives of moral instruction could help in the youths. Two research questions guided the study and a hypothetical statement was raised. The population of the study include all the moral instructors in the 176 secondary schools in Ebonyi state out of which 100 instructors where selected using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Data was analyzed using mean while hypothesis was tested with test at 0.05 level of significance. Results of finding showed that the objectives of moral instruction ore rich enough to inculcate good habit in growing child. Secondly the content of moral education if implemented is capable of repositioning the youth for effective social development. Based on findings recommendations were made.

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Most public schools teach everything but morals. Is it time for this to change?

By Jennifer Graham

SALT LAKE CITY — Amid recent calls for more moral education in public schools, Noah Webster Academy in Orem, Utah, has something to say: Come see what we're doing.

The charter school's curriculum is built around principles espoused by the late Stephen R. Covey, whose character-based "The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People," became a global phenomenon. The school's goals include fostering moral virtue and conscience in students.

While the word "moral" has become a linguistic landmine in the U.S., causing some schools to opt for "character" education instead, the need for instruction that goes beyond language, science and math is getting renewed attention. The interest is driven by the polemics of an increasingly divided nation and the decline in participation in religious institutions that for centuries were the primary source of moral instruction outside of the home.

Some have argued that many parents aren't even teaching morals anymore. The late cultural critic Allan Bloom wrote that many American parents have lost control over their children’s moral education “at a time when no one else is seriously concerned with it.” And in The New York Times recently, a writer admitted that her children don't know what sin is.

Is it time for schools to step up? Some people say yes.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal , Drexel University dean and professor Paula Marantz Cohen called for "Kant in kindergarten," arguing that an ethical framework proposed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, taught in public schools, could help a nation hobbled by "a profound lack of moral rigor."

And Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute wrote recently that moral education in schools is necessary "because of manifest failures in the public and semi-public squares: with honesty , integrity, and trustworthiness, both on the part of elected officials and in the small venues where we observe an excess of selfishness, cheating, laziness, and willingness to be a burden on others."

The challenges to moral education include concern about the separation of church and state, and the pressure of more demands on teachers already struggling to meet existing standards. Even parents who agree in principle may question whose morals are being taught. Efforts to allow schools to offer classes in the Bible, as introduced recently in Kentucky and Virginia and endorsed by President Donald Trump, have met criticism from not only the American Civil Liberties Union, but some Christians.

Moral instruction can include the Bible and other sacred texts, but it's not necessary, as schools like Noah Webster Academy have shown. A recent report on character education in Utah gives a glimpse into how it could be done.

Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019

'Central to our work'

In 2004, the Utah Legislature passed a law establishing requirements for civic and character education, to include instruction on honesty, integrity, morality and civility; respect for parents, home and family; and the dignity and necessity of honest labor.

In its most recent report on what Utah schools are doing, the state Board of Education identified several schools with noteworthy programs, including Maeser Preparatory Academy in Lindon, which employs "Socratic Seminars" to explore classic Roman virtues including honesty, integrity, morality, civility, duty, honor, diligence and service.

Also recognized is Noah Webster Academy, a charter school with 540 students in Orem, where every month students focus on a different "habit" espoused by Covey, and each grade focuses on a different value throughout the year.

Kindergartners, for example, are learning about the importance of conscience, while fourth-graders explore moral virtue, and fifth-graders, patriotism, said academic coordinator Staci Madsen. The students share what they learn at a weekly school meeting and also at a values assembly at the end of the school year.

Charter schools typically have more leeway to delve into character-based programs, whereas traditional public schools are more hesitant to delve into programs that could cause controversy.

But, in fact, it's difficult to teach any subject without confronting moral issues, said Robert Austin, social studies specialist for the state Board of Education in Utah and co-author of the annual report on civic and character education.

“If you’re going to figure out how to split the atom in a science class, you also have to think about whether you should, right? If you’re going to say, 'oh, we can genetically modify human embryos so they can be resistant to cancer,' well, we still have to think about whether that’s a good idea or not,” Austin said.

Teachers also help mold the character of students apart from instruction, as in nudging them to pick up litter or discouraging bullying. "The reality is, building character is central to our work, and a lot is such a given in how we operate in schools that it's hard to separate the dancer from the dance. Where does one start, and where does one end?"

How we fail

In presenting a report on school safety commissioned after the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, federal officials said "our country's moral fabric needs more threads of love, empathy and connection." The report's first recommendation on how to achieve this: character education.

Marvin W. Berkowitz, co-director of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, developed one of the character education frameworks that the federal report recommends. PRIMED is an acronym for six components of a strong program: prioritization, relationships, intrinsic motivation, modeling, empowerment and developmental pedagogy.

Berkowitz, who travels internationally to teach educators and policymakers how to implement character education, said the United States is failing on job one: prioritization.

"In Singapore, it is an authentic priority. In the United Arab Emirates, they’re trying to make it as an authentic priority. In the U.S., it’s some distant back-burner thing. We talk about it politically, and maybe if there’s a little bit of money left over, we might put it there, but probably not. And no policymaker is going to be out there arguing for it to be a lead priority for funding," he said.

Berkowitz said the United States has become a marketplace culture where everything is commodified. Because they're not fiscal assets, children and their education are easy to overlook, but the lack of moral education early in life is the root of serious problems later. Violence and racism aren't addressed by laws or changes in policy, he said. "It's human goodness that we have to be concerned about."

The 'moral' landmine

Matt Osber is a software developer in Framingham, Massachusetts, who, about a decade ago, started thinking about the moral lessons of historical events. As a hobby, he developed a website called My Moral Compass where people could read accounts of historical events — as diverse as the Cuban missile crisis and former president Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky — and even watch videos and vote on the most important moral lessons of the events.

When Osber offered the program, free of charge, to local high schools, and started recruiting interns, the response was less than enthusiastic. He believes that part of the problem was that the website and its offerings weren't sophisticated enough (unlike iCivics , the company he works for now), but he also noticed resistance to the word “moral.”

Osber himself is not religious and sees the word "moral" as representative of simply distinctions between right and wrong, values that all people share.

“Not everybody sees it that way. It’s a landmine,” he says. “Now 'moral' and 'ethical' is all in the eye of the beholder, and teachers have to step so carefully in these areas because it can be perceived as bias one way or the other.”

Berkowitz agrees that educators have to be careful in the words they choose. “There’s no non-controversial language for this.”

Schools have tried a variety of terms that are more neutral — such as social emotional learning — “but as soon as you get into it and people see you’re talking about human goodness, they tend to panic.”

“The panic is about the fear of the unknown and fear that you are going to be imposing an ethical system that is incompatible with mine, that you’re going to be indoctrinating my kids different from the moral vision I want them to have.”

To get around that, he recommends that educators downplay the language, while being very clear about what it is intended.

“Another way is to partner with people, simply say to people who have trepidations about it, ‘We don’t want to violate your faith-based ethic or your family ethic, or your cultural ethic. Would you join us in the planning and development of this initiative to ensure that we don’t do anything that’s anathema to the way you think and the way you want your kids to think.’”

Once involved, it’s rare that anyone objects, and most character-based programs come to five core values that everyone shares: respect, accountability, caring, compassion and fairness.

Do more, do better

Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Kennedy School of Government in Boston, is co-director of a program called Making Caring Common , which helps educators and parents raise compassionate children and conducts research “to reduce the harms and biases that can act as barriers to their empathy and moral growth.”

Weissbourd observes that many schools have character education programs, but some are superficial and lack accountability. As a result, they have no measurable effect on children’s lives.

A few schools do it really well, he said, but in many, “The programs aren’t central. They’re not at the core of schools. They’re not deep. And there’s no real monitoring or tracking or continuous improvement.”

In addition to making character education part of the culture of a culture, other changes could expand the value and reach of such instruction.

For example, Making Caring Common has worked with about 200 colleges and universities to ensure that they consider character when evaluating a student for admission. When a student's character counts as much as grades or extracurricular activities, and when colleges look at whether students are "ethically engaged," secondary schools might place more emphasis on moral education.

Too often, parents blame the school, the school blames the parents, and the schools and parents blame the lack of community institutions. – Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Weissbourd and his colleagues are also working to develop a rubric that teachers could use to assess a student's progress in caring about others. Weissbourd, who is 61, notes that when he was in elementary school, his report card noted his progress in categories such as "plays well with others" and "is courteous." Some schools still assess qualities like that, but for those that don't, such measurements could help, by letting parents know how their children are doing in these areas, and encouraging children to try harder in these areas.

Ultimately, the moral education of children calls for all hands on deck, working together, he said.

"What's going on in the big picture here is that schools are spending less time on ethical character, fewer people are involved in religious institutions, and parents are spending less time on ethical character."

"Too often, parents blame the school, the school blames the parents, and the schools and parents blame the lack of community institutions. We even have data that shows some parents think other parents are the problem," Weissbourd said.

"So the case we're trying to make is, everybody has to do more and do better and be more thoughtful about this," he said. "You can't wait for other people to do this."

And while acknowledging that teachers are under tremendous pressure meeting academic goals set by their states, Austin, at the Board of Education in Utah, said schools must remember their ultimate goal.

“Public education’s central mission is not really to educate great workers, not primarily to create, for example, scientists or engineers or mathematicians or historians. It’s to help nurture people who are going to be civically engaged, the guardians of democracies for generations to come."

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6.4 Challenges of Moral Development in Schools

Given that there is a current divide between moral development and teaching in the research literature, there must be alternative methods to include democracy in schools. There are some key challenges for this to occur.

First, there is conceptual ambiguity around moral development in schools, and also the implications around the dominant views of citizenship. Most people have strong ideals with regard to economics, politics, and society. The goal, therefore, is to encompass as many versatile discussions about all of these concepts. Bringing in different ideas is important to facilitate further discussions toward solutions (e.g., Republican and Democrat, Liberal and Conservative, Capitalist and Socialist, Patriotism and Communism).

Second, contextual pressures are found when a standard organizational tendency conflicts with the existing ‘citizenship education curriculum.’ The major role of schooling is to educate the masses and produce knowledgeable people to enter society. However, the changing tides of society do not necessarily follow the practices of education and learning. Society changes, regardless of any institution, so the institution is consistently playing catch-up to society.  Educators find that it is a difficult endeavour to consistently keep up with social, cultural, and political norms.

Third, there seems to be a significant disparity between democratic values of freedom, autonomy, and natural law within the current classroom and school-wide practices of post-social constructions and multiplicity of knowledge and identity. Considering this gap, awareness and understanding need to be addressed first, before moral engagement can happen in schools. This needs to start at the top of the administration and work its way into the classroom. The problem with most ethical frameworks, in any field, is there is no winning or losing with ethics, just acceptance of the conclusion, whatever that conclusion may be.

In the activity below, test yourself on the challenges of moral development.

Theories of Individual and Collective Learning Copyright © by Clayton Smith and Carson Babich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Students' Broken Moral Compasses

The pressures of national academic standards have pushed character education out of the classroom.

A few months ago, I presented the following scenario to my junior English students: Your boyfriend or girlfriend has committed a felony, during which other people were badly harmed. Should you or should you not turn him or her into the police?

The class immediately erupted with commentary. It was obvious, they said, that loyalty was paramount—not a single student said they’d “snitch.” They were unequivocally unconcerned about who was harmed in this hypothetical scenario. This troubled me.

This discussion was part of an introduction to an essay assignment about whether Americans should pay more for ethically produced food. We continued discussing other dilemmas, and the kids were more engaged that they’d been in weeks, grappling with big questions about values, character, and right versus wrong as I attempted to expand their thinking about who and what is affected—and why it matters—by their caloric choices.

I was satisfied that students were clearly thinking about tough issues, but unsettled by their lack of experience considering their own values. “Do you think you should discuss morality and ethics more often in school?” I asked the class. The vast majority of heads nodded in agreement. Engaging in this type of discourse, it seemed, was a mostly foreign concept for the kids.

Widespread adoption of the Common Core standards—despite resistance by some states—arguably continues the legacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. The 2002 law charged all public schools to achieve 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014, meaning that all students were expected to be on grade level. This unrealistic target forced schools to track and measure the academic achievement of all students, a goal lauded by most, but one that ultimately elevated standardized testing and severely narrowed curricula. Quantifying academic gains remains at the forefront of school-improvement efforts to the detriment of other worthwhile purposes of schooling.

As my students seemed to crave more meaningful discussions and instruction relating to character, morality, and ethics, it struck me how invisible these issues have become in many schools. By omission, are U.S. schools teaching their students that character, morality, and ethics aren’t important in becoming productive, successful citizens?

For many American students who have attended a public school at some point since 2002, standardized-test preparation and narrowly defined academic success has been the unstated, but de facto, purpose of their schooling experience. And while school mission statements often reveal a goal of preparing students for a mix of lifelong success, citizenship, college, and careers, the reality is that addressing content standards and test preparation continues to dominate countless schools’s operations and focus.

In 2014, an annual end-of-year kindergarten show in New York was canceled so students could focus on college-and-career readiness. Test-prep rallies have become increasingly commonplace, especially at the elementary level. And according to a 2015 Council of the Great City Schools study , eighth-graders spend an average of 25.3 hours a year taking standardized tests. In Kentucky, where I teach, high schools are under pressure to produce students who are ready for college, defined as simply reaching benchmark scores in reading, English, and math on the ACT.

Talking with my students about ethics and gauging their response served as a wakeup call for me to consider my own role as an educator and just how low character development, ethics, and helping students develop a moral identity have fallen with regard to debate over what schools should teach. The founders of this country, Jessica Lahey wrote in The Atlantic , would “likely be horrified by the loss of this goal, as they all cite character education as the way to create an educated and virtuous citizenry.” According to Gallup polling, Lahey added, 90 percent of adults support the teaching in public schools of honesty, acceptance of others, and moral courage, among other character traits. What adults hope occurs in schools, however, is in sharp contrast to observations provided by teens themselves.

The 2012 Josephson Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth reveals a pressing need to integrate elements of character education into the country’s public-school curriculums. According to the study, 57 percent of teens stated that successful people do what they have to do to win, even if it involves cheating. Twenty-four percent believe it is okay to threaten or hit someone when angry. Thirty-one percent believe physical violence is a big problem in their schools. Fifty-two percent reported cheating at least once on an exam. Forty-nine percent of students reported being bullied or harassed in a manner that seriously upset them.

In the recently released Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World , Michelle Borba claims narcissism is on the rise, especially in the Western world, as more teens concur with the statement: “I am an extraordinary person.” If empathy is crucial to developing a moral identity, then this trend should be troubling to parents and educators who hope that students foster the ability to see the world through others’s eyes.

My own observations support the data. I’m frequently unnerved by the behaviors I see in classrooms and hallways every day, from physical and verbal bullying, to stereotyping, to students leaving trash strewn all over the outdoor cafeteria courtyard.

“Teaching character education in schools is actually unavoidable … [E]verything the school chooses to do or not do in terms of curriculum choices” influences the culture of a school and the character of its students, Steve Ellenwood, the director of Boston University’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility (CCSR), wrote in an email. His words resonated with me. During my 12 years in education, I can’t recall a single meeting in which the discussion of student character and ethics was elevated to anything close to the level of importance of academics within school curricula.

Groups like the CCSR and the Josephson Institute of Ethics’ Character Counts! initiative strive to enhance existing school programs and curricula to address these issues, proof that efforts do exist to transform schools into places where character education is elevated within traditional curricula. But Ellenwood laments that many educators “blithely accept that schools must be value-neutral,” adding that there is legal precedent for teaching about religions (and not imposing any set of beliefs), character, and ethics. And divisive national politics have left many educators with difficult choices about addressing certain issues, especially those who teach immigrant students who are actively afraid of their fates if Donald Trump wins the election.

A reluctance to teach about religions and value systems is coinciding with a steady decline of teen involvement in formal religious activity over the past 50 years, according to research led by San Diego State Professor Jean Twenge . And while attending church is only one way young people may begin to establish a moral identity, schools don’t seem to be picking up the slack. There’s undoubtedly a fear about what specific ethical beliefs and character traits schools might teach, but one answer might be to expose students to tough issues in the context of academic work—not imposing values, but simply exploring them.

At a recent convening of 15 teacher-leaders from around the country at the Center for Teaching Quality in Carrboro, North Carolina, I spoke to some colleagues about the balance between teaching academic content and striving to develop students’ moral identities. Leticia Skae-Jackson, an English teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, and Nick Tutolo, a math teacher in Pittsburgh, both commented that many teachers are overwhelmed by the pressure and time demands in covering academic standards. Focusing on character and ethics, they said, is seen as an additional demand.

Nonetheless, Tutolo engages his math students at the beginning of the school year by focusing on questions of what it means to be a conscientious person and citizen while also considering how his class could address community needs. His seventh-grade class focused on the issue of food deserts in Pittsburgh and began a campaign to build hydroponic window farms. While learning about ratios and scaling—skills outlined in the Common Core math standards—students began working to design and distribute the contraptions to residents in need, a project that will continue this fall as Tutolo “loops” up to teach eighth grade.

William Anderson, a high-school teacher in Denver, takes a similar approach to Tutolo, but told me that “most teachers haven’t been trained to design instruction that blends academic content with an exploration of character and ethics.” He emphasized that schools should promote this approach to develop well-rounded students. Addressing academic skills and challenging students to consider ethics and character should not, he argued, be mutually exclusive.

When I reflect upon my own education, two classes stand out with regard to finding the balance between imparting academic skills and developing my own moral identity. My high-school biology teacher Phil Browne challenged us to think about the consequences of our consumer choices and individual actions as they related to ecosystems and the environment in a way that challenged us to think about ourselves as ethical actors.

A couple years later, I signed up for a freshman seminar in college titled “Education and Social Inequality” at Middlebury College in Vermont. I remember being moved by Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities and his moral outrage at dilapidated, underfunded, and understaffed schools in impoverished areas; early on in the course, I struggled to articulate my thoughts during essay assignments. My professor, Peggy Nelson, would sit quietly during seminars, watching us squirm in our seats while we grappled with big ideas such as personal responsibility, systemic injustice, and racism.

Entering my 13th year in the classroom this fall, I hope to continue striving to capture the dynamic that Browne, Nelson, Tutolo, Skae-Jackson, Anderson, and other skilled educators have achieved by blending academic instruction with the essential charge of developing students as people. It’s time for critical reflection about values our schools transmit to children by omission in our curriculum of the essential human challenges of character development, morality, and ethics. Far too often, “we’re sacrificing the humanity of students for potential academic and intellectual gain,” Anderson said.

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Why Moral Education is Important in Students Life

• What is moral education?
• Objectives and need for moral education
• Moral and ethical values -A comparative study
• The four pillars of moral education
• Why do we need moral education to be part of the modern education curriculum?
• How can schools implement moral-education values to students?

Over the years, the term moral education has been defined in various ways by numerous scholars. There is no particular definition for the term.

However, to understand it in simple and plain language we can say that moral education is the teaching of values that distinguish between right and wrong. It is this set of values that finally guides your behaviour and intentions towards others around you.

For centuries, academicians and intellects have debated the world over whether moral values should be taught in schools or not. Many believe that moral and ethical values cannot be taught but can only be learned through the actions of peers and elders.

In this case, the foremost question that may arise is how do we distinguish the right action from a wrong one if we are not taught the same. One act may be considered right for a particular person and wrong to another.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to universally consolidate a certain set of values and morals to enable community living. Moral values in education are as important as a Doctor of Philosophy.

The debate about adopting moral education in schools may go on for a long time, but the importance of moral education cannot be undermined.

The importance of moral education in schools can be determined through the objectives of moral education.

The objectives of moral education can be summarized as below.

• Moral education helps to differentiate between what is universally accepted as right and what is accepted as wrong.
• It defines an individual’s personality. A person may be classified as a moral or immoral person.
• Moral education helps to eliminate or minimise the vices like jealousy, greed, etc.
• Inculcating or adopting moral values can positively impact one’s self, and it can build a positive attitude and develop self-confidence .

Need for Moral Education

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” Theodore Roosevelt

With the rapid development of the internet and technology over the past few years , the world has become a global village.

With distances being shortened, high-speed communication, and closer interactions between different groups, the world has become a single community linked together by telecommunications.

This fast-paced world has brought about the need for the introduction of ethics, values, and morals to promote community living. Moral education has never been felt more required than today.

Surveys reveal that the early 1980s saw a drastic decline in students’ academic performance and behavioural patterns. It was then that educators reintroduced the term “character” in their tutoring sessions.

Character can be defined as the moral qualities that are distinct to an individual. Educators emphasized on introducing students to good character and eliminating bad habits.

Educators then believed that an early introduction to good habits or ethical values was conducive to building harmony in society. Therefore, it can be clearly seen why moral education is essential.

Moral and Ethical Values

As Albert Einstein once said “The most important human endeavour is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life”

The term moral and ethics is more often interchangeably used though in practice the two words have entirely different connotations.

Morals are more like values that define an individual in society. Morals are values that protect and respect life.

Not only the life of one’s self but the life of everyone around. Every moral value function to enhance the quality of life. Here, it is pertinent to note that moral values may differ according to the situation one is in.

For example, one of the core moral values in society today is honour and respect for oneself and another. However, this same honour may be construed as disrespect and conceit for another to protect one’s own dignity.

The real moral value of honour should therefore be taught as universal respect and honour for another life irrespective of other catalysts.

Ethics on the other hand can be defined as an individual who possesses moral values and expresses willingness to do only the right thing despite the difficulty in performing the morally right act. A person is said to be ethical if he possesses and practices moral values.

Listing out a set of defined moral or ethical values is not a realistic task.

However, religious texts, philosophers, and preachers have laid down the principle of moral and ethical values that ought to be followed by every individual for a harmonious society.

However, ethics and morality have little to do with religion. The values have more to do with living in a civilized society , graciously and amicably.

The Four Pillars of Moral Education

The four pillars of moral education describe the foundation upon which moral education rests.

1. Character and Morality

Here moral education are individual-centric. It concentrates on individual character building.

2. Individual and Community

Moral education concerning the individual and the community is how each individual behaves himself and concerning the community at large.

The focus is on building an individual that will be part of a greater community.

3. Civic Education

The main aim of cultural education in moral education is to learn how the nation came to be what it is today.

The ideals of our forefathers and the teachings of great scholars are contributing factors that have shaped humanity and the nation.

4. Cultural Education

Close on the principles of civic education, cultural education also forms an integral part of moral education. Culture denotes the customs and traditions of a particular nation or ethnic group.

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Why Is Moral Education Important in Schools ?

“Education without morals is like a ship without a compass, merely wandering nowhere.” – Martin Luther King

Imparting moral values to a child begins with elders at home. This education however does not end in the formative years and before the child is ready for school.

Imparting value education requires years of understanding and absorption. Every age and stage of the child entails different levels of perception.

Therefore, it becomes imperative that teachers would have to continue this education in schools to ensure continuity of moral education from the elders at home.

Schools are the heart and soul of a child’s life. The formative years of a child are the most important. It is at this time that the child’s character can be moulded and defined.

School teachers and peers are the greatest influence on these impressionable minds. Laying a standard set of values and morals to be taught in school can go a long way in building student character.

Moral education in schools is an effective method of inculcating values in children.

How Schools Can Adopt Better Methods to Impart Moral Education for Students?

Imparting moral values for students is a difficult mission. Keeping students engaged in value-based classes can be a daunting task.

Young minds often wander and get distracted soon. Keeping students engaged and at the same time imparting moral values is the key.

One of the tried and tested methods in many schools is by introducing community activities in the form of designated dates such as lend a helping hand day, share a smile day or even a visit to an orphanage or an old age home.

Practicing activities that involve community assistance can give students first-hand experience. Such activities can inculcate a sense of belonging right from a tender age.

What Is the Right Age to Teach Moral Values in Students?

As there are no defined set of rules or a particular curriculum or syllabus related to moral education, the question of when to initiate this value education comes into picture.

Is there a right age? Is there a time when it becomes too late to initiate value education? To answer these questions, one must necessarily reflect on life as a whole.

Value education begins at a very tender age. The process of growing and evolving involves the inculcation of values.

Learning to share, learning to respect, learning to help others in need are all virtues imbibed in us in our formative years. Some of these values are not even taught. They are learned from experience.

At later stages of life, one may make mistakes, minor or grave errors. Such situations demand a reiteration of values. That is why moral education is essential in schools.

There is no particular age that is considered the right age to impart moral education to students. The earlier one is introduced to moral and value education, the easier it is to mould a character. Moral education is a lifelong learning skill.

In conclusion, it must be noted that imparting value and moral education in schools is as important as a subject in mathematics or science.

A doctorate in these subjects is of no use without a sound moral character. Knowledge will most definitely give the students the power, but good character will earn respect.

The truth of one’s character is judged by a choice of actions. These actions are guided by moral principles learned over the years. The importance of moral education can never be undermined.

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The Public Interest

Moral education in the schools, edwin j. delattre & william j. bennett, winter 1978.

THE belief that moral values should be taught to young Americans in the schools is at least as old as the nation itself. Thomas Jefferson ’ s Bill For the More General Diffusion of Knowledge argued for an educational system that would fortify citizens with moral probity to resist the schemes of the enemies of liberty. In his Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania , Benjamin Franklin prescribed the study of ethics in an instructional program that would seek to instill “benignity of mind.” Perhaps the most explicit embodiment of this drive to inculcate the young with moral lessons is to be found in McGuffey’s Readers . On another level , John Dewey ’ s forceful and highly influential writings concerning the interdependence of democracy, education , and moral character are a modern reformulation of the old belief that “virtue” can and should be taught in the schools. To be sure , an opposite belief-that the schools should teach no values , but should stick to imparting skills and basic knowledge-also has its adherents among educators and social theorists. But more and more in recent years, and especially now, in the aftermath of Watergate and accounts of corruption in government and business , there has been a call for reemphasizing moral education in the schools.

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Philosophy & Children

The challenge of moral education, wendy turgeon on ways of getting children to think about values..

If you ask any group of adults, from 18 through 80, whether kids today are worse than kids in their time, they will usually insist that they are. Teachers can offer terrifying examples of elementary school children cursing at them, middle school youngsters engaged in promiscuous sexual behavior, high school students selling drugs, and a pervasive acceptance of bullying, cheating, lying, and general bad behavior. What has happened to the world, that young people today appear so bereft of values? Are parents too busy? Is the media, from video gaming to television to movies, creating a selfish me-centered citizenry? Has moral relativism [as advocated in Issue 81 ] destroyed any notion of good? Or is this simply a case of misremembering what angels we all were when we were their ages? But regardless of such comparisons, we can consider ways in which education could offer our young people opportunities to learn better values, and live them.

In the nineteenth century one of the prime functions of public education was to prepare a moral citizen. Basic Christian values were integrated into the curriculum, and taught as truths alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. With the pluralization of cultures in Western society, the decrease in a shared Christian tradition and the spreading of the postmodern notion that values are perspectival, this function of education was gradually phased out. Talk of values was avoided. However, it quickly became evident that no social group, such as a school, can profitably disregard all values simply by substituting rules and behavioral guidelines. So the challenge became finding what multicultural program educators could offer children.

Over the past fifty years a number of approaches to moral education have been tried, with varying success. Values Education was introduced as a way to help young people think about their values in a completely non-judgmental way. Scenarios involving value choices were discussed, but to avoid any hint of indoctrination or imposition of any one set of values onto children, the ultimate conclusion was always that ‘there are no right or wrong answers’. This institutionalized a relativistic stance, leading some students to consider racial prejudice or cheating on exams as the same kind of choice as one’s choice of career.

In the 1970s-80s, the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of the stages of moral development which was adopted as a blueprint for a new kind of moral education. Kohlberg’s theory suggested that a characteristic of those individuals who have reached the higher levels of moral development is their ability to deal well with dilemmas. Inspired by this, educators present dilemmas in which the leading character has to make a choice between two good (or two bad) values, and they encourage the young people to discuss reasons why the character should do X or Y. This would promote the moral thinking of participants, thereby encouraging their moral development and ultimately translating into moral behavior. However, this approach framed everything as a dilemma, a choice between two rights or two wrongs. It also tended to over-intellectualize the nature of moral decision-making.

Finally, the most recent (but perhaps also the most classical) innovation in moral education is Character Education. Building on Aristotelian notions of virtue and the educational approach of the ancient Greeks, Thomas Lickona and others have crafted a popular model in which such virtues as honesty, courage, integrity, and generosity are taught to students from kindergarten through high school by modeling, didactic stories, and programs rewarding good behavior, such as ‘school citizen of the month’.

Character Education aims to give students enough knowledge of what virtues and vices entail to act virtuously and discourage vice in daily life. It offers a vast improvement over the absence of value talk in the classroom, but it is still problematic. Even Aristotle admitted that acting virtuously is not a matter of simply knowing the virtues. The trick comes in the application – doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. This is not easily achieved, and defies simple instruction. As Plato also pointed out in his dialogue The Meno , moral education is not the same kind of education as education in mathematics or history, where the ultimate goal is acquiring knowledge. We need to practice and apply virtues, and in doing so, we run up against the messiness of life. Is it always so clear what constitutes respect, courage, honesty, or how we demonstrate a virtue in action?

Moral Philosophy For Children

The approaches known as ‘philosophy for children’ (P4C) and ‘philosophy with children’ (PwC) offer a powerful alternative model. Philosophy for/with children is not instruction in the ideas of the great philosophers; nor is it debates on the major ethical issues of our times. While it does not teach a particular set of values, it is not Values Clarification, which examines the beliefs of people but refuses to judge them. The methods and materials of philosophy ‘for’ and ‘with’ children differ dramatically, but its teachers and philosophers share a vision that philosophy is for everyone, including children. They believe that it can help anyone acquire critical reasoning skills, and build communities of inquiry in which we can practice the intellectual and moral virtues as we learn to negotiate across differences. Proponents argue that ethical education should equip the young, from kindergarten onwards, with the tools of ethical inquiry, by giving them opportunities to reflect together on ethical issues pertaining to their experiences.

By discussing stories or other materials geared towards the age level of the young people, PwC practitioners seek to realize the many advantages of philosophical inquiry: They stress the importance of exploring theoretical and practical alternatives to given ways of thinking and acting.The complexity of human experience is recognized and honored. The practice of philosophy encourages not simply thinking, but also good behavior. One must respect others, listening to their ideas and responding in ways which demonstrate acceptance of them as individuals, even while critiquing their ideas. The very structure of a discussion circle is ethical in nature, and the children within it practice recognizing and respecting the feelings of others.

Moral thinking occurs within context. Through the use of stories, pictures and games, moral issues emerge in contexts where the personality and background of the characters and their situations matter. In the traditional P4C model, a text is read and the children choose what topics they’re interested in discussing [see also here ]. Generally, the teacher/facilitator helps the children (‘the community’) shape their discussion so that they use principles of logic and informal reasoning as they explore such questions as what constitute virtue and vice, what moral principles should guide our behavior, what values matter and why, and how we deal with emotions in our interactions with others. Concepts such as care, concern, personhood, duty, the good, the right, the just – all of these merit careful examination as they arise in the children’s and adolescents’ lives, within the schoolroom and in the larger society.

A distinctive feature of the P4C/PwC approach is the ownership of the conversation by the young people themselves. By setting their own agenda, they actively engage in thinking and talking about the issues and ideas that matter to them, and not what matters to the teacher or the adults in their lives. This avoids one of the major criticisms of other approaches to moral education – that teachers are imposing their own set of values on students. At the same time, good thinking is nurtured. The facilitator’s role is that of a Socratic gadfly, challenging the participants to put forward their own ideas, but also enabling the testing of these ideas by communal scrutiny. Some ideas are better grounded than others, and the community’s goal is to discover what those ideas and grounds are, even as it remains open to revisiting and revising an idea that has been put aside. This means that ethical thinking is open-ended but not relativistic.

For individuals who see morality as black and white, this can be unsettling. Some adults worry that if we present these sorts of complicated notions to children, especially young children, we will confuse them, or leave them apathetic to morality. But this has not proven to be the case. Children rarely abandon the values of their families, unless those values turn out to be unsatisfactory in serious ways. In ‘On Becoming a Moral Agent: from Aristotle to Harry Stottlemeier’ (in Thinking Children and Education , ed. by Matthew Lipman), Michael Pritchard argued that even very young children can distinguish between prudential (practical), conventional, and moral rules, and that a sustained program which helps them bring these intuitive distinctions into an arena of discussion and reflection can strengthen the good values received from their family and school. The PwC movement is founded on the assumption that there are better and worse ways of thinking and acting, even if there may not be one single best way. This assumption is necessary for the enterprise of seeking better ways of thinking and living to be meaningful and genuine. For a detailed study of the nature of philosophical inquiry and the role of the facilitator, see Catherine McCall’s Transforming Thinking: Philosophical Inquiry in the Primary and Secondary Classroom (Routledge, 2009). She gives an excellent account of how to conduct genuinely philosophical inquiry with children, and includes sample discussions with children and young adults.

Relevance and Experience

Advocates of PwC support the moral inquiry approach equally for young children and for adolescents. What does differ with age group are the materials used and the questions asked. We don’t introduce questions of capital punishment or welfare reform to eight-year-olds. Elementary school pupils’ moral thinking revolves around issues that are real to them : How should we treat the new kid who dresses weird? Why is cheating on a quiz wrong? Can we keep the lunch money we found in the hall? Do I have to show respect to a teacher who belittles me? Matthew Lipman’s P4C program offers two novels written specially to encourage thinking about moral issues: Nous for 8-10 year-olds, and Lisa for older children. Nous invites children to consider how they should live, as fictional children help a talking giraffe make a decision about her future – should she stay in the human world or return to her giraffe community? In Lisa we find young people on the cusp of adolescence grappling with decisions about boy and girl friendships, dealing with parents and their seemingly unreasonable demands, and negotiating with the adults in their schools.

Other PwC practitioners have developed short stories, scenarios drawn from common school and home experiences, or have used relevant news items as materials, to stimulate philosophical discussion. Movies and current events can prompt a discussion of what values or virtues are being demonstrated, and how one should behave in such situations, and why. For example, in the movie A Few Good Men , how do the characters demonstrate honor? Or, is a young actress in the news for her self-destructive behavior responsible, or did society push her into it with the pressures of fame at an early age? However, these rich sources of discussion do come with some caveats. Going it alone in terms of using your own sources requires some systematic training in philosophical inquiry – ethical inquiry in particular – so as to avoid simply chatting about ideas without really examining them. While a philosophically-untrained teacher might be able to spot the issue or value, having some familiarity with the tools of ethical inquiry, and of philosophical inquiry in general, is vital for a successful philosophy program. One of the dangers of the P4C model is to confuse the position that philosophy is accessible to all with the view that everyone can automatically think well philosophically. The potential may be there, but techniques and background knowledge are essential for the facilitator to help the participants engage in genuine philosophical dialogue.

To insist that children are too young or too impressionable to think independently about philosophical, and particularly moral matters, or that we will just confuse them, is to deny our younger people an important opportunity to acquire the tools of better thinking and better living with others. How we live our life is the ultimate choice we make. Nothing counts more in the grand scheme of things. Parents, even (or especially) the most loving, must encourage their children to become their own persons. Philosophical inquiry can support both them and their children in this endeavor.

© Wendy C. Turgeon 2011

Wendy Turgeon has been involved with philosophy for children for many years, developing courses at Stony Brook University and at St Joseph’s College in New York, where she is associate professor and Chair of Philosophy. Along with Susan Gardner, she organizes conferences for the North American Association for the Community of Inquiry.

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• Open access
• Published: 26 June 2024

Moral competency of students at a german medical school – A longitudinal survey

• Stephan Nadolny 1 , 2 ,
• Florian Bruns 1 , 3 ,
• Andre Nowak 1 , 4 &
• Jan Schildmann 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  691 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Medical students and doctors face various challenges in clinical practice. Some of these challenges are related to ethical issues. Therefore, teaching ethics respectively building moral competences has become an integral part of the medical curriculum in Germany and many other countries. To date, there is little evidence on moral competence of medical students.

Self-administered survey among medical students from one German medical school in the first (cohort 1) and fifth semester (cohort 2) in the winter term 2019/20 (T0). Both cohorts received the same questionnaire one year later in winter term 2020/21 (T1). Assessment was performed with Lind’s Moral Competence Test. We performed convenience sampling. We analyzed the data with descriptive statistics and C-Scores as a measure of moral competence (higher scores = higher competence, ≥ 30 points = high competence).

A total of 613 students participated in the study (response rate 67.5%, n  = 288 with data on both time points). 69.6% of the participants were female, the mean age was 21.3 years. Mean C-Score for both cohorts for T0 (first and fifth semester) is 32.5 ± 18.0 and for T1 (third and seventh semester) is 30.4 ± 17.9. Overall, 6.6% (T0) and 6.7% (T1) of respondents showed some but very low moral competence. 3.3% (T0) and 3.0% (T1) showed no moral competence. Additionally, students without prior experience in the healthcare system scored 3.0 points higher.

Conclusions

Improvement of assessment of moral competence as well effective interventions are particular needed for supporting those students which have been identified to demonstrate little moral competences.

Peer Review reports

Medical students and doctors face a variety of ethical challenges in clinical practice. For particularly challenging situations, healthcare professionals in many institutions can rely on for example ethics committees [ 1 ]. However, healthcare professionals deal with moral problems in everyday practice which requires at least a certain degree of basic moral competence on the part of the individual to be able to act in a professional manner [ 2 , 3 , 4 ].

To be able to determine whether students or healthcare professionals possess moral competence clear definitions and criteria are needed. In the literature, moral competence has been conceptualized differently. The reasons for a rather heterogeneous understanding of moral competence are partly due to different understandings of “competences” or “expertise” and partly on (meta-) ethical differences with regard to tasks and scope of ethics [ 3 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. In their concept analysis Kulju et al. propose that ethical competence can be defined as a mixture of “…character strength, ethical awareness, moral judgement skills and willingness to do good” [ 7 ]. Lind uses a somewhat broader definition, stating that moral competence is “…the ability to solve conflicts and problems on the basis of moral principles through thinking and discussion instead of through violence, deceit or bowing down to others.” Next to this definition, Lind has developed an instrument to assess moral competence with an explicit theoretical foundation as well as thorough development [ 8 ].

In recent years in Germany as in many other countries ethics lectures and seminars have been introduced as part of the obligatory medical curriculum. However, there are considerable differences between amount and content of medical ethics training [ 9 ]. In addition, there is little evidence on the outcome of such teaching with regard to development of moral competence of medical students [ 10 , 11 ]. Against this background, the aim of this study is to describe the level of medical student’s moral competences at one German university at different stages during the medical curriculum over the course of one year. Students in one cohort received ethics training (see Infobox 1 – Supplement 1) during the year which was subject of our survey. The findings of the study will be used as a starting point to explore potentials and limits of measuring moral competences as well as (interventional) research on moral or ethical competence in medical students.

We conducted a longitudinal, self-administered, survey study.

The population was medical students in their first (cohort 1) and fifth semesters (cohort 2) at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Germany at the beginning of the lecture period in the winter term 2019/20. We have chosen these semesters to obtain basic data for the start of the course in medicine (cohort 1) as well as data before and after the History, Theory and Ethics module (HTE), which takes place in the fifth semester (cohort 2).

Recruitment & sampling

Students were informed about the study with a short slide presentation by two student assistants in the last part of the first lectures of the 2019/20 term. The researchers were not present in order to avoid any form of conscious or unconscious pressure on the students to participate, as the researchers are also responsible for student assessment in the modules they teach. The student assistants then handed out the questionnaire, offered to answer questions and asked the students to evaluate their participation. They then left the room to give the students time for evaluation.

We employed convenience sampling, since we had no access to any personal data prior to survey administration.

Data collection

Both cohorts received the same questionnaire in the winter term 2019/20 (T0) and one year later in winter term 2020/21 (T1). At T1 we were not able to use paper-based questionnaires due the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore changed the mode to an online survey.

The students got 15 min of time at the end of the first lectures to fill out the questionnaire if they opted to participate. They could also take the questionnaires with them for later completion.

The completed paper-based questionnaires used in winter term 2019/20 could be returned to prominently placed boxes at the medical faculty. In winter term 2020/21 we used Limesurvey Software hosted on the servers of the MLU for the online survey. In the first, second and fourth week after the invitation, we sent reminders via e-mail and the internal elearning system.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire comprised of (1) a short letter of clarification about the study, (2) sociodemographic data such as age, sex and prior work experience in healthcare, (3) a self-generating code page to allow for longitudinal analyses in the following year, comprising of the first two letters of the mother’s first name, the birth month of the mother (if the mother’s was not known the father’s or grandmother’s data was used) and the number of siblings, and (4) Lind’s German version of the Moral Competence Test (MCT) [ 8 ].

The MCT, which was called Moral Judgement Test until 2014, aims to measure moral competence based on Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. It comprises of two dilemmas:

The first one is a worker’s example in which some workers were fired. Some remaining workers suspect their authorities to be observing them through cameras and microphones, which the company denies. Therefore, two workers break into the office and take tapes, which provide evidence of observation.

The second dilemma is a doctor’s example in which a woman suffering from cancer with severe pain and frailty asks her doctor, in a brief period of improvement, to give her a lethal dose of morphine. She states, that she could not endure any further pain and would die anyway. In the end, the doctor applied the lethal dose of medication.

For both dilemmas the survey respondents were asked whether they would agree with the decision on a seven-point scale ranging from − 3 (I strongly disagree) to + 3 (I strongly agree). Afterwards, twelve arguments (6 pro and 6 contra) for each dilemma were presented. Each argument corresponded with a stage of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development [ 12 ]. The participants rated each argument for acceptability on a nine-point scale ranging from − 4 (I strongly reject) and + 4 (I strongly accept).

The result of the MCT was measured with the C- Score which constitutes the participant’s ability to weigh arguments for and against a moral decision with regard to the argument’s moral quality [ 8 ]. The score ranges from 0 to 100 and can be categorized as (A) 0-4.9 corresponding to no moral competence, (B) 5-9.9 to some, but very low, (C) 10-19.9 to low, (D) 20-29.9 to sufficient, (E) 30–100 to high up to very high competence [ 13 ]. The calculation scheme for the C-Score can be found in the literature [ 14 ]. The MCT has been frequently used to measure moral competence over the past 40 years [ 8 ].

Data analysis

We excluded questionnaires with missings in the MCT, since prevalence of questionnaires with missings was very low. In a first analytic step, we compared the intergroup differences between the two cohorts. In a second step, we compared the longitudinal changes within each group. We calculated C-Scores and compared the two study groups descriptively with cross tabulation and mean differences, since no random sampling was conducted and therefore inference statistics were not feasible [ 15 ]. The sociodemographic data were used to explain differences within and between groups. For the influence of age, we performed Pearson’s correlational analysis. We analyzed moral segmentation, which was defined as a difference in C-Scores for the worker’s and doctors example of at least eight points [ 16 ]. Data Analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics Version 24.

A total of 613 students participated in the study, resulting in an overall response rate of 67.5%. 69.6% of the participants were female, the mean age was 21.34 years and 22.8% got prior professional experience in the healthcare system. A detailed differentiation of response rates and sociodemographic data per cohort and year is shown in Table  1 .

The mean overall C-Score for both cohorts, indicating the moral competence of respondents for T0 (first and fifth semester) is 32.5 ± 18.0 and for T1 (third and seventh semester) is 30.4 ± 17.9 which is equivalent to a high competence. For cohort 1 the scores are 34.7 ± 18.4 (T0 = first semester) and 33.4 ± 21.1 (T1 = third semester). For cohort 2 the scores are 29.8 ± 17.4 (T0 = fifth semester) and 27.8 ± 14.4 (T1 = seventh semester). Table  2 displays the C-Scores for all cohorts and time points. In addition, Table  2 presents data on “moral segmentation” which indicates a minimum of eight points difference for individuals between the two examples. This occurred for 77.9% of the students at T0 and 75.0% at T1. At T0 36.6% of students achieved at least eight points higher scores in the workers and 41.3% in the doctor’s example. At T1 32% in the workers example and 43.0% in the doctors who scored at least eight points higher (see Table  2 ).

Overall, 6.6% (T0) and 6.7% (T1) of respondents showed some but very low moral competence. 3.3% (T0) and 3.0% (T1) showed no moral competence according to Lind’s classification. High to very high moral competence was demonstrated overall at T0 by 51.5% and at T1 by 50.2% (see Table  3 ). The acceptance of the protagonists’ behavior in the two examples was elicited on a seven-point ordinal scale from − 3 (strongly disagree) to + 3 (strongly agree). On median both cohorts rated the worker’s behavior as a -1, indicating slight non-acceptance over both time points. The doctor’s behavior was rated as a + 1 at T0 and + 2 at T1 signaling a slight to medium acceptance.

Arguments for and against the protagonists’ behaviors were rated on a nine-point ordinal scale from − 4 (strongly reject) to + 4 (strongly accept). The most accepted arguments for the doctor’s example (+ 2 points) were:

“because the doctor had to act according to his conscience and what he believed was right. The woman’s pain made it right for the doctor to ignore his moral obligation to preserve life”.

“because the doctor was the only one who could do what the woman asked; respect for her wish made him act the way he did”.

The most rejected arguments (-3 points) were:

“because the doctor only did what the woman talked him into doing. He does not need to worry about negative consequences.“

“because the woman would have died anyway and it didn’t take much effort for.

“him to give her an overdose of a painkiller.“

“because he could have had it much easier if he had waited and not interfered with the woman’s dying.“.

Socio-demographic variables and moral competence

Regarding the influence of the sociodemographic variables on moral competence as measured with the C-Scores, there is a mean difference in favor of male students of 1.7 points. Students without prior experience in the healthcare system scored 3.0 points higher. Furthermore, students in first semester scored 4.8 points higher than students in the fifth semester as well as being of younger age was very weakly correlated with higher scores ( R  = 0.12).

This paper presents longitudinal data on moral competences of two cohorts from one German university covering the time from beginning of the first year till beginning of the second year of medical school (cohort 1) and the beginning of year three to beginning of year four (cohort 2). While we did not plan this study as an interventional study it is of interest for the analysis that the second cohort received the main part of the ethics training at the university in between T0 and T1.

Main findings are firstly a high to very high moral competence of half of the students in both cohorts. About 25% of students in both cohorts have low or even no moral competence. Secondly, students did not show improved moral competence scores one year after the ethics teaching module compared to scores prior to the teaching. Thirdly, there were differences with regard to age, female gender, increasing semester and professional healthcare experience with lower C-scores for moral competences. Additionally, with regard to the goal of improvement of ethical competence, we will discuss educational strategies and challenges.

Our results show higher overall levels of moral competences compared with previous studies on medical students from Australia [ 16 ], Brazil [ 17 ], the Czech Republic [ 18 ], Pakistan [ 19 ] and Portugal [ 20 , 21 ], physicians from Chile [ 22 ], nursing students from the Czech Republic [ 23 ] and Portugal [ 24 ], midwifery students from Poland, and similar findings to medical students from Poland [ 25 ], Portugal [ 17 ] as well as Germany [ 11 ].

An interesting result was that there was a slight decrease in competence in cohort 2 for the students who had received teaching on ethics during the year. This finding may be interpreted in at least two different ways and used for future (interventional) studies. On the one hand the findings raise questions regarding the influence of HTE teaching as currently delivered. On the other hand, the findings may be used as a starting point to clarify the goals of HTE training and the scope of the moral competence test according to Lind. According to Lind the MCT measures the “ ability to rate arguments according to their moral quality” [ 8 ]. This measurement seems much narrower than the requirements to solve complex ethical issues in clinical practice. In a more recent article Kühlmeyer et al. [ 26 ] argue that based on Tanner & Christen’s [ 27 ] concept of moral intelligence there are five dimensions of ethical competence:

“The ability to develop a moral compass (reference system).

The willingness and ability to prioritize and strive for moral goals.

The ability to recognize and identify moral issues.

The ability to develop and determine a morally satisfactory course of action.

The ability to build moral behaviors by acting consistently and courageously” [ 27 ].

While such nuanced conceptualization of moral or ethical competence seems much in line with the goals of current HTE training of many medical schools in Germany [ 9 ] there is a lack of instruments empirically robust as the MCT to measure respective competences.

Even considering the above-mentioned possible limitations of the MCT to demonstrate findings relevant for ethical competences in medical practice, it seems a particular worrisome finding that about 25% of students show low or no moral competence. This finding is stable over both time points. Given the repeated discussions about professional misconduct of physicians, one question is whether the MCT or other tests may be used as possible screening tests to identify particular training needs.

The decline in competence was not entirely surprising, however, given the available evidence, which we will discuss in relation to the influence of socio-demographic variables. In this respect, it must first be noted that all differences may be due to chance, since we could only use a convenience sample. Competence was lower in the fifth semester students than in the first semester students, which could indicate a regression of moral competence over the course of studying medicine. The decrease in competence in age and semester is similar to other studies [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 23 ]. Common explanations for this are the low rates of ethics education, small-group discussions and overload of information over the course of the study as well as the late contact with real-life practice [ 10 , 17 , 28 ]. Other explanations might be an increase in cynical attitudes as well as a decrease in empathy especially when getting in contact with hands-on experience [ 23 ]. The gender difference rather seems by chance, since it is usually reported as small and not statistically significant in other studies [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 22 ]. The difference between participants with previous work experience is obviously strongly correlated with age. However, the lower scores could be explained with the same hypotheses as the decline over time, since those students got even more time in the healthcare sector.

In summary, this study shows a decline of moral competences as measured with the MCT even for the period of time in which the majority of ethics teaching took place. While we perceive our topics taught in the seminars to reflect a wide variety it should be pointed out that in the future it will be necessary to align the teaching in light of the currently revised National Catalogue of Learning Objectives in Medicine (NKLM, www.nklm.de). In this context we hope that there will be more teaching units available for the implementation of ethical topics into the medical studies. Independent of this possible development it will be necessary to investigate appropriate interventions as well as measurements to be able to demonstrate possible effects of ethics teaching on moral competences of medical students.

Limitations

A main limitation is the convenience sample, however, we managed to achieve a decent response rate of 67.5%, which is higher [ 20 ], comparable to [ 16 ] or lower [ 24 ] than in similar studies. We cannot reflect on other surveys with convenience samples, since they often do not report the response rate. Convenience sampling could introduce bias, as it is likely that students who were more open to the topic would have participated. This might be indicated by the overall high level of moral competence. Nevertheless, the sample contains a considerable diversity of scores, with about 25% of the students having lower moral competence.

We did not assess religion as a variable, which could have explained some variation especially with regard to moral segmentation.

This study shows high scores for moral competence for the majority of researched medical students. However, there remain questions regarding adequate measurements for moral competence. Improvement of screening, assessment as well as interventions are particular needed for supporting those students which have been identified to demonstrate little ethical competences.

Based on the results, we plan to further measure ethical competence in medical students with different assessments longitudinally from the first to the last semester.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due commitments made to the students, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Ms Charlotte Stein, Ms Raphaela Voss and Mr. Nicolas Heirich for support regarding data collection.

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The study did not receive any funding.

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Stephan Nadolny, Florian Bruns, Andre Nowak & Jan Schildmann

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Institute for the History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

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Contributions

Conceptualization: FB, JS; Methodology: FB, JS, SN; Validation: SN; Formal analysis: SN; Investigation: AN, SN; Resources: JS; Data curation: SN; Writing – original draft: SN; Writing – review & editing: all; Supervision: FB, JS.

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The study was approved by the ethics commission of the medical faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (No. 2019 − 130). Informed consent was obtained from all participants. The study was conducted in accordance with the recent iteration of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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At the time of the study, the authors were all teaching on the topic of history and ethics of medicine at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

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Nadolny, S., Bruns, F., Nowak, A. et al. Moral competency of students at a german medical school – A longitudinal survey. BMC Med Educ 24 , 691 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05674-x

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LRAP aims to alleviate the financial burden of law school debt to graduates dedicated to public interest careers, which are often less lucrative. This initiative demonstrates the Law School’s dedication to promoting the common good and encouraging graduates to take on important roles that contribute to society. Since its launch in 2003, LRAP has disbursed millions of dollars to hundreds of graduates in diverse public interest and service roles in the United States and internationally.

The program offers up to ten calendar years of loan assistance to J.D. graduates in public interest law careers.

The Law School’s LRAP works alongside the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to help graduates achieve total forgiveness of their federal student loans, both graduate and undergraduate, with only minimal, income-driven out-of-pocket payments.

This year, 98% of those enrolled in the Law School’s LRAP have had their monthly payments fully covered. Graduates in public interest or public service roles can qualify for complete forgiveness of their federal student loan balances after ten years of employment.

The inclusion of part-time graduates was particularly beneficial to Elizabeth DeCenzo, a 2013 ND Law graduate, who currently works part-time as a child abuse and neglect case prosecutor for the Indiana Department of Child Services. Last summer, when she sought LRAP assistance for part-time employment, she found there was no such option available. DeCenzo balances her time between her part-time prosecutor role and caring for her two young sons as a stay-at-home mom.

"Even though I work part-time, I manage a full caseload and believe my work should qualify despite reduced hours. I reached out, explaining that many ND Law graduates who are parents make career sacrifices for their families. My letter was forwarded to the LRAP committee, which promptly approved the change," said DeCenzo. "Most days, I spend mornings litigating cases and afternoons with my sons Henry (3) and Alex (2), enjoying family time. I am grateful to the Law School for supporting me in balancing work and family life."

LRAP is an endowed program, with an annual budget of $500,000 that continues to expand. LRAP ensures that all eligible graduates receive benefits thanks to the generosity of its donors. No eligible LRAP applicant has ever been turned away.

"The Loan Repayment Assistance Program truly gives individuals the opportunity to pursue the career of their choice in public service,” said Will Tronsor, ‘18 J.D. and LRAP participant. “Thanks to LRAP, I started my career at Disability Rights New York, where I continue to work today, providing free legal services and fighting for the rights of individuals with disabilities. LRAP has had a ripple effect of not only helping me, but helping the many clients I have served with the many successes we have achieved. LRAP offers crucial support to those of us striving to be a different kind of lawyer, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity it provided me."

LRAP applications are due Nov. 1 of every year, and more information about the program is available on the Notre Dame Law School website . Questions can be directed to LRAP Coordinator Cathy Kustner, who can be reached at [email protected] or (574) 631-9301.

40 Facts About Elektrostal

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 01 Jun 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy , materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes , offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development .

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy , with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

Elektrostal's fascinating history, vibrant culture, and promising future make it a city worth exploring. For more captivating facts about cities around the world, discover the unique characteristics that define each city . Uncover the hidden gems of Moscow Oblast through our in-depth look at Kolomna. Lastly, dive into the rich industrial heritage of Teesside, a thriving industrial center with its own story to tell.

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• Moscow Oblast
•  » 
• Elektrostal

State Housing Inspectorate of the Moscow Region

Phone 8 (496) 575-02-20 8 (496) 575-02-20

Phone 8 (496) 511-20-80 8 (496) 511-20-80

Public administration near State Housing Inspectorate of the Moscow Region

Election latest: Rishi Sunak accused of 'behaving badly' in final debate - as he and Keir Starmer get brutal audience question

Follow reaction and fallout from the final head-to-head between the prime minister and Labour leader ahead of polling day on 4 July.

Wednesday 26 June 2024 22:52, UK

• General Election 2024

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Sunak and Starmer's final debate

• Voters can't pick a winner in snap poll
• Labour frontbencher says PM 'behaved badly'
• Audience member asks brutally blunt question
• Starmer says Sunak 'bullied into action' over betting
• 'A deal with the Taliban?' - PM mocks Labour's migration plan
• Jon Craig: No love lost between Sunak and Starmer - and it showed
• Sam Coates: Sunak put his opponent on the spot - but poll shows strategy didn't win over public
• Live reporting by Faith Ridler , Ollie Cooper   and   Katie Williams
• Police to investigate betting scandal cases
• Protester climbs on top of Tory campaign bus
• Man arrested in honeytrap scandal | Labour suspends suspect

Election essentials

• Manifesto pledges: Conservatives | Greens | Labour | Lib Dems | Plaid | Reform | SNP
• Trackers:  Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
• Campaign Heritage:  Memorable moments from elections gone by
• Follow Sky's politics podcasts:  Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Read more:  Who is standing down? | Key seats to watch | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency is changing | Guide to election lingo | How to watch election on Sky News

By  Tim Baker , political reporter, in Nottingham

One of the more amusing moments of the debate tonight was Robert, who told Rishi Sunak he was a "mediocre" prime minister and said Sir Keir's strings were being pulled by senior members of the Labour Party.

He is brought into the spin room by BBC production staff for journalists to talk to.

He tells us that he is a life-long Conservative voter - but at the moment is undecided.

Robert says he has recorded the debate and will be watching it again when he gets home.

However, he reckons he is leaning towards the Conservatives - believe Sir Keir has an "undeclared agenda".

Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, has said the UK "deserves so much better" than the leaders' debate held tonight.

Reacting to the clash between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, she said: "Tonight the audience spoke for the nation when they asked: is this really the best we've got?

"Our country deserves so much better than what we watched this evening.

"Liberal Democrats are listening to you and fighting hard for the issues that matter to people. 

"From the NHS to tackling the cost of living, we want a fair deal for our country.”

A Conservative win would mean "five more years of chaos" and Rishi Sunak has shown tonight "just how out of touch he is", Labour's campaign coordinator has said.

Reacting to the leader's debate, Pat McFadden said Sir Keir Starmer "exposed the Tory manifesto as unfunded".

"Keir Starmer and Labour will return politics to public service, putting country before party in stark contrast to partygate and dodgy COVID contracts," he said.

"On 4 July, we have a chance to turn the page and start to rebuild with Labour."

Tonight was an "important moment" for Rishi Sunak as he put his opponent "on the spot", says our deputy political editor Sam Coates .

Coates says he thinks the prime minister would have been "very happy" with his performance - and adds that some of his aides were even "punching the air" after the debate.

It was a performance Mr Sunak "desperately needed earlier in the campaign", he adds.

He says Mr Sunak had a "clear strategy... to demand answers from Keir Starmer on tax and whether it will go up, on welfare and how you get people off benefits, on 'smashing the gangs' and whether the Rwanda policy is needed..."

Coates says Sir Keir provided a "range" of answers as the prime minister sparred with him.

"Sometimes he had specifics, sometimes he did not," he says.

"That strategy, although executed in a way I think that the Conservative Party tonight is very happy with, has nevertheless been judged not decisively in Keir Starmer or Rishi Sunak's favour," says Coates, referring to the YouGov poll showing there was no winner in the final debate of the election (see 21.38 post).

The final TV clash of the election campaign was an ill-tempered shouting match, at least from Rishi Sunak. 

Sir Keir was more measured. More prime ministerial, perhaps?

As he had to as the underdog, Mr Sunak went on the attack from the start until the very end and unveiled a new campaign slogan: "Don't surrender…"

He said it no fewer than 15 times during the 75-minute debate. That’s once every five minutes.

But just like the England-Slovenia Euros match 24 hours earlier, the result was a draw: 50%-50% exactly, according to pollsters YouGov.

At the outset, the PM served notice that he wanted to talk about tax, while Sir Keir wanted to talk about politicians gambling. 

As Mr Sunak read out prepared lines, it was a smart ad lib from Sir Keir that won the first round of applause.

"If you listened to people in the audience a bit more you might not be so out of touch," he said, in a familiar Labour attack line.

But the PM was strong and came out on top in exchanges on illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

One of the best moments came when a member of the audience, Robert, asked a devastating question: "Are you two really the best we’ve got to the next prime minister of our great country?"

By the end, the debate closed out as it began - with Mr Sunak shouting over the Labour leader. It wasn't a good look.

And as the debate ended, there was no handshake between the pair, which is unusual for these TV clashes. 

At least party leaders pretend to be civilised towards each other usually.

There's clearly no love lost between these two - and it showed.

Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, is among the Labour representatives in the spin room this evening.

He's asked first about his leaked comments that Labour's target for decarbonising the economy will cost "hundreds of billions" of pounds.

Sir David Davis, who sticks around for this encounter, asks why Mr Jones's party "downgraded" their net zero plans.

"Because you guys crashed the economy," the shadow chief secretary responds.

Sunak 'behaved badly' in debate

On the leader's debate, Mr Jones says Sir Keir Starmer came across as "clearly more prime ministerial" - and adds that he thinks Rishi Sunak behaved "quite badly".

"He didn't answer questions that were put to him and was constantly speaking over Keir and Mishal [Husain, the BBC host]."

He denies Sir Keir's remarks that Mr Sunak is out of touch were "below the belt".

"Rishi Sunak is going around the country telling everyone that they've never had it so good... they crashed the economy, people at home know that because they paid the price for it."

Up to spin for the Conservatives is ex-minister David Davis.

"This debate was very important," he says, noting it's the final one before the public decides who to back.

He was a fan of Rishi Sunak's new attack line - the repeated pleas to voters not to "surrender" their borders or finances to Labour. 

"[Sunak has] faced a once-in-a-generation issue in terms of a war in Europe, he's faced a once-in-a-century issue in terms of a pandemic, and he did it with an economy from which we'd inherited massive debts in the past," he adds.

After all that, "he managed to get inflation down from 11% to 2% in six months". 

"The public will look at this and say: 'We've got a difficult world, all sorts of disruptions at home and abroad, who will deal with it the best of these two'?" he says.

"I know who I'll be voting for."

With minutes to go, a group of smiling Labour spinners arrived to watch the final summations.

Darren Jones - under fire for his comments about the cost of going for net zero, revealed in The Telegraph - tells Sky News it's clear who was more prime ministerial during the debate.

He and the other Starmer backers then burst away to the various cameras and microphones to talk up their leader.

Meanwhile, serious faced Conservatives enter from the other end of the room to give their verdicts. 

Tory candidate - and former minister - David Davis says he thinks Rishi Sunak's repetition of the "surrender" phrase will have gone down well.

This just in from YouGov - which has found there was no winner in tonight's BBC leaders' debate, the last of the general election campaign.

Asked who performed best - the results came in exactly 50/50.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates says there will likely be disappointment in the Conservative ranks over this result.

"Neck-and-neck polling doesn't seem to me like it's going to change the race," he says.

"I think there's a really interesting question about Rishi Sunak's tactics, in my view, watching that, he was effective in highlighting the choice - the policy difference between the two men.

"I wonder looking at that poll whether that's what the public are really looking for."

However, there were distinctions when viewers were asked who performed better on certain topics.

Rishi Sunak came out on top on immigration and tax, while Sir Keir Starmer performed better on welfare and the UK's relationship with the EU.

Labour also just edged ahead on the economy - with 47% saying they performed better, and 43% backing the Tories.

The Met Police has announced it will take the lead on investigating "a small number of cases" related to the Westminster betting scandal.

A spokesman said the force would "assess whether the alleged offending goes beyond Gambling Act offences to include others, such as misconduct in public office".

The Met is not taking over the entire investigation into bets on the timing of the election, they said.

"The Gambling Commission will continue to lead the investigation into cases where the alleged offending is limited to breaches of the Gambling Act only," said the spokesperson.

They added that more details would be provided tomorrow.

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