Incorporating character education into cycle one guidance curriculum at a private school in Beirut

النوع : Mémoire

Several major goals of early childhood professionals are to help children team to work with others, care for others, verbalize feelings, support friends, show kindness and exhibit other character skills and traits. When these life skills are lacking, it affects the ways in which children interact with one another and form relationships with peers and others. The need to include character development in the early childhood guidance and counseling curriculum in a way that complements developmentally appropriate practice should be emphasized. Children in Cycle One in a private school were the following: in Grade One sections A, B, C, and D there were 96 students, in Grade Two sections A, B, C, and, D, 92 students, in Grade Three sections A, B, and C, 76 students. The total number of students who participated in the character education program was 246 students. However, concerning the post-evaluation of the program, students from Grade 2B were chosen. They all filled out questionnaires about character education. From each class, 10 students were chosen randomly according to achievement, grade level, and gender. These students answered three questionnaires. Concerning grade one, they were too young to answer the post-evaluation questionnaires that were given at the end of the program. Findings of this study: There was no significant difference in results concerning achievement level and gender. However, the results showed significant difference in grade levels. It was noticed that in the realm of moral judgment, children by the end of Cycle One of the school years can at least begin to apply the Golden Rule “respect”. They also begin to understand why trust and mutual helpfulness are essential to human relationships, and to desire to be a “nice person” by living up to the expectations of significant others and the nudge of conscience. Students in Grade One didn’t fully understand character education concepts. However, children in Grades Two and Three understood character education concepts better. So, the higher the grade level is the better children understand character education concepts. Moreover, the higher the grade level is the more transformation there is of the overly autonomous imperial, egocentric self into the more fully integrated “interpersonal self’ as the child negotiates the persistent demands of his or her social world.