A revisit of ‘moral and character education’ subject in junior-high school in China

Abstract

Moral education is a practice to promote the moral competence of adolescents, particularly in nurturing their moral judgement and moral behaviour. In China, under the rapid development of social work practice at schools, moral education could serve as a collaborative point between teachers, school counsellors, social workers and policymakers to promote the moral, holistic and healthy development of students. However, moral education is not as yet widely and systematically evaluated? particularly the details of relevant policy, curriculum, textbooks, teaching and learning approach, examination and evaluation. This paper takes an initiative to conduct a comprehensive literature review and theoretical discussion on the subject ‘Moral and Character Education’ (Sixiangpinde思想品德) which is a mandatory moral education subject for Grade 7–9 students in junior high schools in China. It also provides reflections and suggestions on how the subject and moral education could be promoted under the contexts of promotion of adolescent holistic development and involvement of social work practice.

德育教育是一项实践以推广青少年的道德能力，特别是培养他们的道德判断和道德行为。在中国，于社会工作实践在学校快速发展下，道德教育可作为教师、学校辅导员、社工及政策制定者之间的协作点，去推广学生的道德、全面及健康发展。然而，道德教育并未得到广泛及有系统的评估，特别是相关政策、课程、教材、教学与学习方法、考试与评估的细节。本论文先对 ‘思想品德’科目的作全面性文献回顾及理论性讨论，该学科在中国7至9年班为必修道德教育科。论文同时对此学科作反思，并且就此学科及道德教育于推广青少年全面发展及参与社会工作实践下提出建议。

Keywords:

• Moral education
• moral and character education
• theoretical discussion
• holistic development
• Chinese adolescents
• school social work

Acknowledgement

This paper was drafted and refined based on the coaching and support of Professor Daniel Shek.