Integrating Character Education Across the Curriculum: Teachers' Perspectives and Experiences

The historical overview highlights the existence of numerous philosophical theories of moral education. Nonetheless, these theories may pose a challenge when put into practice. Despite its philosophical foundations, character education has emerged as the most systematic and all-encompassing approach to moral education. Of particular note, the four-dimensional taxonomy of character education could prove to be a valuable framework for incorporating character education into various subject areas, given its emphasis on the cultivation of moral, intellectual, performance, and civic virtues. This study gathers insights from secondary school teachers across different subject areas (encompassing key stages 3 and 4) in England, utilizing the four-dimensional taxonomy of character education as a theoretical framework. Based on semi-structured interviews with eighteen teachers, this study reveals that while humanities subjects such as religious education (RE) play a crucial role in fostering moral virtues, civic virtues are often addressed through subjects like history and English, whereas intellectual and performance virtues are developed through science, literature, the arts, drama, and physical education (PE). In summary, the study emphasizes that character education is not limited to a particular subject area but should be an integral part of the curriculum of all subjects and extended to the extracurricular activities of the school.