When making moral judgments of past actions, adults often think counterfactually about what could have been done differently. Considerable evidence suggests that counterfactual thinking emerges around age 6, but it remains unknown how this development influences children's moral judgments. Across two studies, Australian children aged 4-9 (N = 236,…

In industrialized societies, adults exhibit stable preferences for the types of people, animals, and entities they feel moral concern for (Crimston et al., 2016). Only one published study to date has utilized the moral circles paradigm to examine these preferences in children, finding that as children age, their preferences shift to become more…

In this paper, we show how children's creativity manifests in literary aesthetics and how they explore moral subjects as a result. Literary aesthetics involve a range of artistic elements or expressions within a textual work. Writers may use aesthetic properties to express individual appreciation or how people view the world, often in relation to…

Objective: There remains a need for effective and ethical development in students, for cohesive and connected societies of moral actors. This paper adopts an authentic leadership development in students perspective as a possible complement to discipline expertise. This research explored whether taking leadership roles while studying had a positive…

Empathy enables successful communication and connection between teachers and their students, yet few studies have investigated its specific use in teaching singing. Addressing this gap, we interviewed voice teachers to discover how they articulate their pedagogy in terms of empathic practices and observed one-to-one lessons for evidence of the…

Second paradigm school bullying scholars are challenging the reliance on psychological and behavioural paradigms both in Australia and globally. Approaching bullying as "social violence" has enabled previously underexplored social and cultural dimensions to receive much-needed focus. Bourdieu's "symbolic violence" offers an…

Previous research has emphasised the importance of active citizenship in the early years for the development of tolerant and cohesive societies. This paper reports data from 174 children, aged 6-7 years, who were interviewed in the first year of a longitudinal study. Children were presented with two scenarios about inclusion of others in play. One…

Bystanders to bullying perpetration are considered an extremely important group to engage in bullying prevention and intervention. It is important to understand the key differences between students who are proactive bystanders, who try to stop the bullying and those bystanders who observe but take no action to help the student being bullied. Of…

Existing literature on teaching sociology depicts a 'liberalising effect' of sociological ideas on student values. Furthermore, research on teaching sociology in conservative contexts is largely contained to North America and, as such, is silent on the impact of diffused religion, or what we term display-aversive spirituality, in the faith-based…

This paper argues for the need to better understand the role of mothers and schooling in shaping modern conservative cultural politics. Arguing that 1970s-1980s was a critical period for anti-progressive politics surrounding schooling, the paper examines the activism of Australian Christian morals campaigner Rona Joyner. Joyner's successful…

Education is central to creating well-informed citizens capable of participating in social and political life. However, civic education in some liberal democratic societies has often focused on teaching students the mechanics and structure of party politics, overlooking many of the public virtues that help to sustain democratic life. In this…

Cyber bystanders may reduce the frequency and impact of cyberbullying incidents they witness. Recent evidence indicates that bystanders can employ constructive (e.g. comforting the victim) or aggressive (e.g. threatening the bully) strategies when intervening in cyberbullying incidents. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to…

Practice and pedagogy, influenced and informed by the approaches used in the preschool programs of Reggio Emilia is widespread across many early childhood settings in Australia, however, is less commonly used in Australian primary and secondary schools. Little research exists which focuses on the experiences of students in schools where this…

Moral reasoning in values education can promote a democratic way of life. It involves addressing behaviour expectations in responses to violence or bullying. There is increasing interest in how children make moral judgments about social inclusion within diverse cultural settings. Critical research highlights the relationship between epistemic…

Background: A growing body of research shows that the beliefs we hold about the nature of knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) may mediate moral reasoning. However, a limitation of much of the research in the area of epistemic beliefs is the lack of a longitudinal approach. Aims: The study investigated longitudinal changes in Australian…