Research investigating elite schools has highlighted how students within these learning environments embody and naturalise their privilege through discourses of merit, hard work, and innate talent and skill. However, relatively little is known about how privilege, and its associated discourses, moves with students beyond the school gate and into…

School counselors working in urban populations are often exposed to stress and potential burnout. Due to the various changes in the school counseling profession and the growing needs of urban populations, school counselors are expected to be social justice advocates as well. This role potentially involves the need for the school counselor to speak…

What is the obligation of schools in fostering compassion for others and a commitment to the greater good? In a year-long qualitative study, this research explores how one Northeastern private schooling environment aimed to cultivate social responsibility in adolescents through an egalitarian, discussion-oriented pedagogy. Guided by Westheimer and…

This article draws on a philosophical critique of the problems of denial in the face of the climate crisis and the call for an education that deals with the root causes of social and environmental injustice in depth. To respond to this radical critique in concrete educational practice, there is a need for an understanding of moral learning that…

Recent evidence suggests that higher education promotes moral attitudes typical of the progressive left. What aspects of the university experience contribute to this moral change? We conduct an exploratory analysis unpacking how curricular content and peer networks--two aspects of the 'bundle' of social influences that occur in university…

This study examined how children's and adolescents' beliefs about the distribution of wealth in society and the fairness of economic systems informed their behavior, judgments, and reasoning about access to opportunities among peers. The sample included 136 8- to 14-year-olds (47% girls, 60% White, majority middle- to higher-socioeconomic status…

This study explores the relationship between service learning and moral development. During a phenomenographic examination of a service-learning project in the Midwest, researchers identified ways that participants conceived of justice. These conceptions were analyzed with a Neo-Kohlbergian approach to post-conventional moral thinking and mapped…

In this article, we suggest that character education in sport contexts can promote social justice. After defining key terms, we suggest that rethinking competition and the nature of team relationships is required to build a team culture responsive to concerns for social justice. The character of the team provides a nexus within which to develop…

This exploratory study assessed links among children's moral concern and their ideas about the rights and protection of companion, farm, wild animals and ecosystems. Sixty-one children responded to three interview questions that were coded as either anthropocentric or biocentric in orientation. Results revealed unique links among children's moral…

The construct of moral injury is usually utilized to understand cases in which individuals perform or witness actions they consider morally wrong. In this paper, we suggest the construct of "moral trap", which entails circumstances in which teachers face pressure to act but are unable to simultaneously meet the demands of care, justice,…

The research presented in this essay is grounded in Social Domain Theory. Research provides substantial evidence that children's social development is characterized by the formation of distinctly different systems of thought, including those in the moral, social-conventional, and personal domains. A main focus here is on morality, defined as…

This paper examines Theodor W. Adorno's notion of democratic pedagogy and the role of emotions in re-educating and democratizing a society, particularly in light of the current political situation in many countries around the world in which right-wing extremism is on the rise. The paper revisits Adorno's educational thought on critical…

When opposing injustice, the failure to recognise wrong or translate knowledge into action are two problems with which moral education has to contend. The notion of 'social restitution' can be a helpful concept in addressing these challenges because it locates restitution at the level of interpersonal and communal moral responsibility. This is…

Forgiveness involves a shift from negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to positive ones after a transgression. Previous research supports the benefits of forgiving, particularly for physical and emotional health. However, debates within the character development literatures exist regarding whether forgiveness is a strength that benefits all…

The patterning of 160 U.S. 4- to 9-year-olds' (M = 6.23 years, SD = 1.46) moral judgments regarding physical harm, psychological harm, and unfair resource distribution transgressions were examined in separate latent profile analyses. Judgments regarding physical harm yielded a single Prototypical profile, where transgressions were judged as very…