A robust literature indicates that when people feel that they are expressing and aware of their true selves, they show enhanced psychological health and well-being. This feeling, commonly referred to as authenticity, is therefore a consequential experience. In this paper, we review a program of research focused on the relevance of authenticity for…

Religion dictates the groups against whom it is seen as justifiable (even righteous) to express prejudice: often groups perceived of as violating core religious values. We review research demonstrating that for Christians, particularly conservative ones, religion seems to sanction prejudice against LGBT individuals. We describe the causes and the…

It has become commonplace within the educational research community to invoke the transformative power of education. The call to adopt a 'transformative' approach to teaching and learning can be heard in fields as different as adult education and school leadership and as estranged as social justice education and educational psychology. While there…

In "A Theory of Moral Education," Michael Hand defends the importance of teaching children moral standards, even while taking seriously the fact that reasonable people disagree about morality. While I agree there are universal moral values based on the kind of beings humans are, I raise two issues with Hand's account. The first is an…

Life purpose is a long-term aim to make one's life "count." Education--especially moral education--might be considered a key cultural mechanism for young people to 'thread' their lives into the culture's 'bigger picture' not only of the 'good life' but also of a 'life of good.' How does life purpose relate to educationally important…

This article offers an account of the understanding citizens need in order to justify moral principles in the public sphere and it identifies an important role for moral education in the promotion of that civic understanding. I develop this account through a contrastive analysis of Phillip Kitcher's conception of public knowledge and Jurgen…

This article examines the principal arguments found in the work of Paulo Freire concerning policy and ethics in the field of higher education in Latin America. It critically analyzes the university reform in Latin America dominated by the thought and practice promoted by various international financial institutions (such as the World Bank and the…

The content and boundaries of moral education the state may require schools to offer is a matter of contention. This article investigates whether the state may obligate schools to promote the pursuit of moral ideals. Moral ideals refer to (a cluster of) characteristics of a person as well as to situations or states that are believed to be morally…

This article explores what it means to flourish in and through education and why we should position such flourishing as an issue of morality. We draw on the capabilities approach (CA) advanced by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and locate the argument in the practical context of higher education (HE) in unequal societies. We use qualitative data…

The happy victimiser phenomenon has puzzled many researchers in the field of moral development. After having learnt and internalised what is morally right and wrong, young children tend to attribute positive feelings to observed models of their age who explicitly harm other children. This has been mainly explained as a lack of moral motivation or…

This article aims to problematise and shed some new light on the idea that moral education should be oriented toward constant progress. Looking to uncover the philosophical foundations of this idea, the article examines its first historical appearance and its initial historical development, which took place in eighteenth-century British and French…

This paper examines the Quebec Education Program (QEP), particularly the new course in ethics and religious culture (ERC), in the light of Habermas's conception of the moral and ethical uses of practical reason. Habermas's discursive theory of morality is used to assess the program's understanding of what it means to be competent in moral matters.…

This article analyses the unique challenges and needs of moral and citizenship education in post-war Peruvian society. It assumes the explanation of the roots, the facts and the enduring negative consequences of violence as described in the final report of the Comision de la Verdad y Reconciliacion (CVR) [Truth and Reconciliation Commission]…

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to promote the development of students' ethical and citizenship competencies, especially in contexts of major social inequality. Graduates, who constitute a very small percentage of the population in Mxico, are the best qualified to conceive of creative alternatives to resolve its demanding…

In response to the difficult social, economic and political problems that Colombia faces, such as inequality, discrimination, weak civil society--fuelled by illegality and drug trafficking--the Colombian Ministry of Education has embarked on an ambitious citizenship education program, with the hope of strengthening the role of education by…