Moral Education in the Spanish Educational System

Abstract This article has two parts. The first is an explanation of the place of moral education in the history of the Spanish educational system, and the second briefly describes the research work of the Research Group on Moral Education from the University of Barcelona. The particular political and social context in which Spanish education has developed has caused moral education to acquire a special nature that is distinct even from that in other countries in the same geographical area. Moral education in schools was and is constantly infiltrated with sectarian connotations which, in turn, distorted what should have been a matter discussed calmly and rationally in an ethical and pedagogical framework. To defend a model of education of morals and values like that which guides our research and pedagogy, is to defend the coexistence of diverse ideologies and beliefs. Schools cannot fail to offer the moral and ethical education proposed (in our judgement, indispensible in a democratic and pluralistic model of education) to all citizens alike, independent of their own beliefs or ideologies