EDUCATION REFORMS TOWARDS 21ST CENTURY SKILLS: INTEGRATING CHARACTER EDUCATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM
Abstract
This paper reviews literature on character education with a view to making recommendations on how learning institutions in Kenya could integrate character education in the curriculum in order to equip learners with skills needed for success in life and workplace. Character education is a component of learning which forms part of the four integral dimensions of a complete and balanced education namely knowledge, skills, character, and metacognition. Integrating character education in the curriculum is crucial because the goal of education is to produce confident, compassionate and ethical citizens who are well engaged in the development of their society. Teachers are expected to adequately prepare learners to face the challenges of the 21st century by instilling them with personal development and the ability to fulfill social and community responsibilities as global citizens. Teachers’ success in this expectation is pegged on the quality of their pre-service training. Thus, if teachers are to effectively impart learners with character, teacher training institutions should make character education an integral and compulsory component of pre-service teacher training. Examples of character qualities are mindfulness, curiosity, courage, resilience, ethics, leadership, equity, equality and inclusion. It is hoped that this review will shed light on the need to integrate character education at all levels of learning to enable learners acquire holistic quality education that is capable of transforming them into empowered ethical citizens who are capable of contributing to the development of the society at both local and global arenas. The paper will be followed by an empirical research in teacher training institutions in Kenya to determine whether the institutions have incorporated character education in their curricula.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
References
Andrew Churches (2015). Educational Origami- Wikispaces. edorigami.wikispaces.com/About+Me
Basic Education Act No. 14 of 2013. Ministry of Education. www.education.go.ke/index.php/downloads/.../96-basic-education-act-no-14-of-2013
Basic Education Curriculum Framework (2017). Republic of Kenya. Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
Berger, R. (2011). Character Education/Expeditionary Learning. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/358036239102667111/
_________.(2011).Character Education on Vimeo (2011). https://vimeo.com › Susanne Shavelson › Videos.
Berkowitz, M. W. Character and Citizenship. https://characterandcitizenship.org/about-us/key-players?id=8.
_________.(2012). Understanding Effective Character Education. www.character.org/wp-content/.../Understanding-Effective-Character-Education.pdf.
___________.(2013). The Importance of Character Education. An Interview. https://www.boosterthon.com/.../the-importance-of-character-education-an-interview-...
__________.The Science of Character Education, Hoover Institution. media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/0817929622_43.pdf. Hoover Press: Damon DP5 HPDAMO0300 02-14-:2 12:21:11 rev1.
Character Education of Expeditionary Learning, speaking at the 2011 Teacher Forum of the Mandel Center for Studies.
Character Education Partnership. www.character.org/uploads/PDFs/Misc_/FAQs.pdf.
Center for Curriculum Redesign: Boston (2015). www.curriculumredesign.org.
Cooper, M. (2007). Student Support Services at Community College: A Strategy for Increasing Student Persistence and Attainment. Institute for Higher Education Policy.
Education Act. (2013). International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/98654/.../F.../TON98654.pdf
Glossary of Quality Assurance in Japanese Higher Education (2007). National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation: Tokyo
Howland, J. L, Johassen, D. & Marra, R. M. (2012). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Boston: University of Missoiuri.
Ingule, F. O & Rono, R.C. (2011). An introduction to Educational psychology. Nairobi: East African Publishers.
Kafu, P.A. (2011). Teacher Education in Kenya. Emerging Issues-Europa EU. https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/file/15908/download?token=wVi2rChq.
Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Syllabus.(2002). Keya Institute of Curriculum Development. www.kicd.ac.ke/93-departments.html?start=15
Kibera, L.W. and Kimokoti, A. (2007). Fundamentals of Sociology of Education With Reference to Africa. Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press.
Ministry of Education Science and Technology. Primary Education Syllabus. (2002). Vol. 2. Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development: Nairobi.
Njui, H.W. (2010). “Analysis of the effectiveness of the Teaching-Learning strategies used in implementing the Secondary School Music Curriculum in Nairobi Province”. Unpublished Doctorate thesis. Nairobi: Catholic University of Eastern Africa
Nyerere, J. (2009). Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector mapping in Kenya. Edukans Foundation, Durtch Schokland TVET programme.
Pinar, W. (1975).Curriculum Theory: Reconceptualists. (Ed.).Berkeley: McCutcheon.
Policies/ National Goals of Education kenya.elimu.net/.../Education (Dec. 2007).
Positive Discipline, a Training Manual/Plan International (2015. https://plan-international.org/publications/positive-disciplines-training-manual
Pre-Service Teacher Preparation- IEP Learning Portal. https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org/en/improve.../teachers.../pre-service-teacher-trai..
Progress (2016): National Values and Ethics. Kenya Vision 2030. www.vision2030.go.ke/499/progress-2016-march-national-values-ethics/
Sifuna, D.N, Fatuma, N. C. & Otiende, J.E. (2006). Nairobi: Themes in the Study of the Foundations of Education. Jomo Kenyatta Foundation
Tecklemariam, A.A. (2009). Managing Education. A Handbook for student-teachers, trainers and school principles. Nairobi:CUE Press.
The Constitution of Kenya (2010). Embay of Kenya. https://www.kenyaembassy.com/pdfs/the%20constitution%20of%20kenya.pdf. Published by the National Council for Law.
The Role of Education in Society Sociology Essay (2015). https://www.ukessays.com/essays/.../the-role-of-education-in-society-sociology-essay.ph...
UNESCO. Four ‘Pillars of Learning’ for the Reorientation and Reorganization of Curriculum: Reflections and Discussions. ww.ibe.unesco.org/cops/Competencies/Pillars Learning.
Wamahiu, S. (2015). Value- Based Education in Kenya: An exploration of meanings and practices. Republic of Kenya. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Women Educational Researchers of Kenya.
National Goals of Education in Kenya-Objectives/ Aims of Education. https://softkenya.com/education/goals-of-education-in-kenya/.
National Goals of Education. www.schoolnet.org.za/conference/sessions/jogwel/national_goals_of_education.html.
Sustainable Development Goal 4- United Nations. www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/.
“Teacher effectiveness is the single most important factor in student achievement”(www.nepaltti.org/teacher-effectiveness-is-the-single-most-important-factor-in-student).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v0i0.1296
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 Harriet Wambui Njui
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).