Character education in teacher education programs

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which character education has a place in teacher education programs in Saskatchewan. Teacher educators (faculty and sessional lecturers) from two teacher education programs in Saskatchewan and new teachers (those with five years of teaching experience or less) from two urban school divisions in Saskatchewan were surveyed. The survey explored how participants felt about three facets of character education within teacher education programs: the teaching of character education methodology, the enhancement of pre-service teachers’ character, and the responsibility for character education. The results showed that both teachers and teacher educators felt that character education should be taught in publicly funded schools (K-12) and that character education methodology should be taught within teacher preparation programs. Survey results showed that even though the majority of participants felt that character education should be taught in public schools and that character education methodology should be taught within teacher education programs, pre-service teachers, for the most part, were not being given instruction in character education.