SCCCE Forum Series
Missed our Forums? Tune in to the sharing of perspectives and discussions among educational policymakers, researchers and practitioners on CCE.
2025
Children’s Moral Agency and Moral Development: Implications for Character Education
Watch the recording here.
Title: Nurturing Resilient Youth: Findings from Singapore’s Prospective Cohort Study
Synopsis:
In this talk, I will explore the fascinating paradox within Singapore's parenting landscape, where strict parenting practices coexist with strong family cohesion and positive child outcomes. This apparent contradiction challenges our conventional understanding of "optimal" parenting and highlights the crucial role of cultural context in shaping developmental trajectories. Drawing on the latest findings from Singapore's largest prospective cohort study, I will illustrate how our unique sociocultural environment offers valuable insights into childhood resilience, development of moral values, and the formation of lasting parent-child bonds.
I will discuss how we can harness these cultural insights to foster positive youth development in Singapore and beyond. By examining the interplay between parenting practices, cultural values, and child outcomes, we can develop more nuanced, culturally-informed approaches in our Character Education curriculum to support families and children. This talk aims to inspire a constructive dialogue on understanding child development with audiences in research, policy, and practice to contribute to the well-being of future generations in Singapore.
Profile of Speaker:
Assoc Prof. Setoh Peipei is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A/Prof Setoh holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she researched cognitive development in infants and young children. A/Prof Setoh is the director of the Early Cognition Lab at Nanyang Technological University, and she leads the Social Science team in Singapore’s largest prospective cohort study, Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes, GUSTO. Her current research focuses on how family and parenting influences children’s outcomes.
Watch the recording here.
Title: Becoming A Moral Agent
Synopsis:
As caregivers and educators, we are often concerned with nurturing children’s emerging moral agency: we not only want children to learn right from wrong, but we also want them to deliberate on options, independently and skillfully make good moral choices, take responsibility, and accept the consequences of their actions. In this talk I explore developments in moral agency, beginning in toddlerhood and early childhood with the emergence of prosocial behavior, and intent-based moral judgment, and increasing self-regulation skills. But these developments are not the end of the story – key conceptual changes in middle childhood (especially in concepts of choice and free will) lead children to understand that moral actions are not determined by circumstances, but rather are “up to” the person themselves. I’ll end by speculating on mechanisms by which this change occurs, and the consequences of this emerging understanding for moral education and the development of moral character.
Profile of Speaker:
Prof. Tamar Kushnir is a Professor in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, and the director of the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory. She received her M.A. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan and was previously on the faculty in the Department of Human Development at Cornell University. Kushnir's research examines learning and conceptual change in young children with a focus on social learning and social cognition. Her work is motivated by a long-standing curiosity about the developing mind, and in particular by how children learn about themselves and others from actively exploring the world around them. Research topics include mechanisms of causal learning, the developmental origins of our beliefs in free will and agency, cultural influences on early social and moral beliefs, normative reasoning, and epistemic trust, and the role of imagination in social cognition, motivation and decision making.
Watch the recording here.
Title: Two Models of Character Education in East Asia: Reflection vs. Indoctrination
Synopsis:
This paper argues that the conventional association between Confucian character education and conformism and indoctrination results from the failure to distinguish between the Confucian reflection model and the Legalist indoctrination model. Though both models of Chinese character education aim to build and maintain a well-ordered society, there are significant differences between the two in terms of nature, method, and purpose of character-building. While the indoctrination model is primarily concerned with the development of dispositions and (passive) virtues that incline individuals to uncritically conform to the rules and regulations promulgated by the state, the reflection model underscores critical engagement in learning, which aims to produce reflexive moral agents who contribute to an active yet critical citizenship, thus rendering the process of social harmonization interactive, dynamic, and transformative. This paper concludes by drawing attention to the underappreciated connection between the political system and character education.
Profile of Speaker:
2024
Speaker: Professor Marvin Berkowitz
Dr. Marvin W Berkowitz is the inaugural Sanford N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education and Co-Director of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was the inaugural Ambassador H.H. Coors Professor of Character Development at the US Air Force Academy (1999), and Professor of Psychology at Marquette University (1979-1999).
He earned his Ph.D. in Life-span Developmental Psychology at Wayne State University in 1977.
His scholarly focus is in character education and development. He is author of Parenting for good (2005), You Can’t Teach Through a Rat: And Other Epiphanies for Educators (2012), and more than 100 book chapters, monographs, and journal articles. His most recent book, PRIMED for Character Education (2021), has been translated into Spanish, Korean, and Chinese, and been named Best Book of 2023 by the AERA Moral Development and Education SIG. He is founding co-editor of the Journal of Character Education. He has served as PI on numerous grant projects (John Templeton Foundation, US Department of Education, NIDA, SJ Bechtel Jr. Foundation, etc.)
Dr. Berkowitz received the Sanford N. McDonnell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Character Education Partnership (2006), the Good Works Award from the Association for Moral Education (2010), the University of Missouri President’s Thomas Jefferson Professorship (2011-12), and the Kuhmerker Career Achievement Award from the Association for Moral Education (2013).
16 August 2024
Synopsis:
To effectively lead a school of character, a leader needs a suite of character strengths and design principles. This seminar focuses on “being vs doing”, making character education an authentic priority, and focusing on nurturing the kinds of relationships, especially among adults, that optimize the character impact of schools. The seminar is conducted by Professor Marvin Berkowitz, who was invited to Singapore by the SCCCE in August 2024.
Watch the recording of the Forum here.
21 August 2024
Synopsis:
Character education is more about being than doing. Central to that is the impact of modelling. This seminar will focus on the centrality of adult modelling in character education. The seminar is conducted by Professor Marvin Berkowitz, who was invited to Singapore by the SCCCE in August 2024. It was held at Greenridge Primary School.
Watch the recording of the Forum here.
Speaker: Professor Wiel Veugelers
Professor Dr. Wiel Veugelers has been Professor of Education at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht (the Netherlands). He studied developmental psychology at the University of Amsterdam. From 1979 till 2015 he worked as Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Teaching and Learning of the University of Amsterdam. Since 2002 he has a chair as Professor of Education at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, in particular in the area of moral education and citizenship education from a humanist perspective. Since 2019 he is Emeritus Professor.
His research and teaching is in the areas of citizenship education, moral development, teachers’ pedagogical professionalism, educational policy, educational change, networking between educational institutions, identity and citizenship development, and youth studies. He has been coordinating several international academic networks, including the network ‘Education for Democratic Intercultural Citizenship’ (EDIC) in which eight European universities work together in education and research.
Professor Wiel has also received several international awards for his books, and the most recent one was the Outstanding Book Award by the SIG Moral Development and Citizenship Education of the American Education Research Association (AERA) in 2024 for the book ‘Moral and Political Dimensions of Critical-Democratic Citizenship Education’. In 2015 he received the Kuhmerker Career Award of the Association of Moral Education.
1 October 2024
Synopsis:
In narratives about values in education different concepts are used. What are similarities and differences between concepts like values education, critical thinking, moral development, character education, and critical pedagogy? What does this mean for the methodology of teachers and the learning processes of students? How can a meaningful mixture of methodologies be made?
Watch the recording here.
7 October 2024
Synopsis:
Students develop values in a social-constructive process of personal meaning giving, in dialogues with teachers and other students. Teachers guide these processes. A whole-school approach includes subjects, methodology, and the school culture. They all influence the moral learning of students. How can schools work on pedagogical goals like adaptation, autonomy and social concern? Arguments are given for a critical-democratic perspective on character education and citizenship education.
Watch the recording here.
9 October 2024
Synopsis:
Worldviews are influencing goals and practices of character education and citizenship education. In the Western world, and in particular in the Netherlands, humanist ideas are important in educational thinking and debates. The development of autonomy is essential, but also social concern. What does this mean for education? In the past 50 years the attention for moral values showed different articulations. What are contemporary developments and what do we need in the future? How can a critical-democratic perspective be made stronger? What are similarities and differences in moral education between the East and the West, and what can we learn from each other?
Watch the recording here.
3 October 2024
Synopsis:
The Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education (SCCCE) and Seoul National University Character Education Research Center jointly organised an online Conference on “Global Citizenship Education in a Fragmented Age and Possibilities
for the Future” on 3 Oct 2024.
- “How Globalisation Influences Perspectives on Citizenship Education” by Professor Wiel Veugelers, Emeritus Professor of Education, University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht
- “Competencies, Capabilities or Cosmopolitan Virtues: The What and Why of Global Citizenship Education” by Associate Professor Suzanne Choo, Head, Research, SCCCE & Associate Professor, NIE - English Language & Literature
- “Approaches to Global Citizenship Education in South Korea’s Moral/Ethics Education Textbooks” by Professor Hyungryeol Kim, Department of Ethics Education, Seoul National University
- “Peace Education as a Form of Global Citizenship Education in Universities in Divided Settings: Challenges and Prospects” by Professor Kevin Kester, Department of Education, Seoul National University
Watch the recording here.
2023
Synopsis:
With the crisis and disruption brought by COVID-19 and the pervasive use of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media, our learners are now presented with new challenges in identity, relationships and choices. Across the education sectors, students are grappling with issues as individuals and responsible social beings whilst confronting challenging and controversial issues. It calls for us to rethink what education is needed to prepare our young to survive and thrive well in the future. This forum would share on the transformational shift of our education, from preparation for the workforce with focus on personal attainment towards a stronger focus on nurturing holistic development and human flourishing (Stevenson, 2022). It would also discuss the developments in Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) and shifts in CCE pedagogy to provide a values-anchored education for our students.
Speaker:
Prof. Tan Oon Seng
Dean, Special Projects and
Centre Director, Singapore Centre for Character & Citizenship Education (SCCCE)
Synopsis:
Various concepts have been used to describe the twenty-first century – an age of hyper-globalization, post-truth, the 4th Industrial Revolution. Youths are more digitally connected than before and more civically active. Within such a context, teachers today play a fundamental role in cultivating fundamental character dispositions in students that will enable them to be more empathetic, discerning and ethically conscious.
In this presentation, the speakers report on findings from a survey on Character Education pedagogy in secondary schools as part of a two-year project on enacting values pedagogy funded by the Ministry of Education and managed by the National Institute of Education. The survey’s design was based on a character capabilities framework developed from a comprehensive literature review which details how this occurs across three key levels – awareness, analytical, agency – and in connection to personal and relational dimensions of character. A key aspect of the survey was to explore how teachers infuse character education in their various subject disciplines. Key findings indicate that teachers have moved away from a didactic approach to teaching values, a greater focus is placed on making students become aware of good values than analyzing how values are contextualized and constructed, and there are different character education pedagogical emphases between teachers of different subjects. The presentation offers suggestions on how teachers can more intentionally infuse and scaffold character education in their teaching subjects.
