The Foundations and Futures of Education series focuses on key emerging issues in education as well as continuing debates within the field. The series is inter-disciplinary, and includes historical, philosophical, sociological, psychological and comparative perspectives on three major themes: the purposes and nature of education; increasing interdisciplinary within the subject; and the theory-practice divide. Around the world there is concern about the climate of values in which young people are growing up. Liberal ideas about personal morality and the value of (...) individual choice are spreading worldwide, but often meeting resistance from more traditional values. Everywhere people look to education to promote the right values and help stem the tide of values that are seen as threatening. But what is it that we should be expecting education to do? This book, written by a philosopher of education, casts new light on that question by seeing values education, not as a separate activity within schools, but as an aspect of education that both reflects the surrounding climate of values and can help to change it. Graham Haydon argues that all of us - whether as teachers, parents, students or citizens - share in a responsibility for the quality of that ethical environment. We must ensure that what happens in schools will: · enable young people to appreciate the diversity of our ethical environment · help them find their way through its complexities · contribute to developing a climate of values that is desirable for all. This book shows that values education is too demanding to be left to parents and too important to be entrusted to government initiatives. For teachers engaged in values education - including those teaching citizenship, personal and social education, or religious education - this book brings a fresh perspective to what they are doing, within a realistic view of their responsibilities. For students of education it shows that practical issues can be illuminated by insights from philosophy. (shrink)

After distinguishing several ways in which the notion of the moral roots of citizenship and citizenship education can be understood, this paper focuses on the question 'Is there some underlying attitude that citizens should have towards their fellow citizens?' It argues for respect, rather than love or care, as being the appropriate attitude, in part on the grounds that the emphasis on respect helps to make moral sense of the notion of global citizenship. The rest of the paper argues that (...) while understanding a person's cultural background is necessary to respecting the person, there are two further connections between respect and culture. First, respect itself is in part a cultural phenomenon. Secondly, there is a case for saying that persons should respect not only other persons but cultures as such. It is argued that this case is flawed in its presupposition that distinct cultures can be identified. What is needed, rather, is respect for human cultural contexts in all their diversity. (shrink)

This article, drawing on philosophical sources, proposes a certain way of seeing the nature and scope of values education: as a matter of 'sustaining the ethical environment'. The idea is introduced that just as we live in a physical environment we also live in an ethical environment, 'the surrounding climate of ideas about how to live'. It is argued that there are some illuminating analogies between our responsibility for the quality of the physical environment and our responsibility for the quality (...) of the ethical environment. Values education, in turn, can be seen as an important way in which we can collectively attend to the quality of the ethical environment; in doing so, we should put positive value on diversity within that environment. This way of seeing values education suggests a way in which teachers can realistically see their own responsibilities for values education. (shrink)

This article examines the work of R. S. Peters on moral development and moral education, as represented in his papers collected under that name, pointing out that these writings have been relatively neglected. It approaches these writings through the lens of the ‘familiar story’ that philosophical work on this topic switched during, roughly, the 1980s from an emphasis on rational principles to an emphasis on virtues and care. Starting from what Peters called ‘the paradox of moral education’—roughly, that a rational (...) morality must be developed in part through habit—the article discusses not only Peters' rational morality of principles and rules but also elements of his thought concerning virtues and care. Running through the discussion is the question of whether Peters, in drawing for instance on Aristotle as well as Kohlberg, is attempting to combine incompatible ideas. Against this, it is suggested that in reading Peters now we can learn from his explicit claim that we need a pluralistic, not a monolithic, approach to moral development and moral education. (shrink)

This article is a response to Robin Barrow's John Wilson Memorial Lecture ?On the duty of not taking offence?. The present article takes issue with some of Barrow's claims and explores further the implications for moral education of some current views on the giving and taking of offence. Accounts are offered both of ?inherent offensiveness? (an important theme in Barrow's lecture) and of offence to persons. The questions ?are people too ready to take offence?? and ?are we too concerned about (...) offending others?? are discussed, and attention is given to offensive language and the moral educational stance we should take towards it. Finally, it is argued that the chief value that should underpin the judgements we need to make about the giving and taking of offence is respect, and that we have a general duty to educate respect. (shrink)

Abstract It is sometimes thought that in a society in which a plurality of moral traditions and points of view are represented, the cognitive content of moral education must be thin, being confined to a recognition of a few shared values. It is argued here, to the contrary, that citizenship in a plural democracy demands a cognitively substantial form of moral education. The argument for a shared, and cognitively demanding, form of moral education to some extent parallels the argument in (...) a plural society for political liberalism??where the strongest argument may be a pragmatic one. Both democratic participation and the pragmatic demands of toleration demand a level of moral understanding which can only be achieved through a cognitively rich moral education. (shrink)

This paper asks whether it would be better not to talk about morality in schools. The issue is raised through a consideration of changes in public discourse and especially in educational discourse, where categories such as ''personal, social and health education'' and ''citizenship education'' are more salient than ''moral education''. Drawing on John Wilson's arguments, the paper considers claims for the indispensability of the concept of morality. It is argued that such claims, in Wilson's own writings, are applied to both (...) an ''individual'' and a ''social'' conception of morality. Contrary to Wilson, the paper argues that the ''wisest strategy'' for public education is to take the social conception of ''morality in the narrow sense'' as a central focus. (shrink)

What are values? Where do our values come from? How do our values make a difference to education? For educational leaders to achieve distinction in their practice, it is vital to establish their own clear sense of values rather than reacting to the implicit values of others. This engaging book guides readers in thinking for themselves about the values they bring to their task and the values they intend to promote. Crucially, the book promotes critical thought and constructive analysis about (...) the underlying values involved with: - aims and moral purpose in education - individual qualities in educational leadership - vision in education - school ethos and culture - the school as an educational community. By inviting reflection using valuable case studies and work-through activities, as well as referring to a wide range of academic literature, this book will be an important resource for those working towards professional qualifications such as NPQH, and invaluable for anyone aspiring to excellence in educational leadership. Graham Haydon is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, where he teaches on Masters courses in Values in Education and Applied Educational Leadership and Management. (shrink)