Valuing the Self

Abstract

This author notes that, increasingly, educators agree that schools should teach values rather than merely teach about or clarify values. Thus, trends such as character education and social and emotional learning have replaced Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental approach, and ‘the self’ has emerged as an independent source and focus of value. Nevertheless, values education continues to be a divisive field. After a brief review of recent trends, the author shows how divergent views on facets of self-concept that apply to values education (self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect and personal integrity, for example) reflect an ongoing struggle between philosophers and psychologists on who should hold authority within the field. The final section of the chapter focuses on self-understanding – a time-honoured ideal of values education – and explores various practical ramifications of one philosophical (Aristotle’s) and one psychological (positive psychology’s) approach to ‘education for self-understanding’.