Expressive pedagogy: The Assumptions in The Theory of Moral & Character Development.

There are many theories of moral development that pedagogues like to share for how schools should develop citizens of ‘good character’ or virtuous people.

My issue with many of these theories is that

1. They’re either based on values monism and come packaged with a list of the institution’s values (usually written on some wall somewhere) which biases western ideals. This is dangerous because how a school defines something like honesty and how I personally define honesty are different in practice and by context. These institutional top down ‘Values’ are really norms to comply with rather than something I can discover if i find it meaningful and reflect on. I’ll write more about this later in the series.
2. They propose staged models of human development which tend towards rigid discreetness, claim universality and defy empirical validation.

Over the next few essays I’ll propose a new theory of character development. Expressive pedagogy. It’s far from complete.

Here’s a list of assumptions in my Expressive Pedagogy theory of moral development:

1. Moral development is not staged, but rather a continuous process of reflection on our choices between how we act in, and which ‘social games’ we participate in.
2. Individuals make choices between different social games, which contribute to their moral development.
3. Moral choices are not necessarily subject to scientific comparisons (i.e., =, <, >).
4. Values serve as attentional policies that guide individuals’ decisions and help focus their attention on what they find meaningful.
5. Maximizing “time well spent” (living by one’s values and minimizing regretful choices) is a key objective in moral development.
6. The limited number of social games available in schools hinders moral development by restricting the opportunities for children to explore their values.
7. Extracurricular activities and social games outside of school provide more opportunities for children to discover and develop their moral values.
8. Exposing children to an intentional array of social games and providing time for reflection can help them develop morally and increase their time well spent.
9. A meta-value (or virtue) of reflection is essential for individuals to discover their true values.
10. Authentic choice is often obstructed by internalized norms, such as professionalism, punctuality, and obedience, which can be mistaken for genuine values.

With that out of the way. I’ll spend next essay sharing what Expressive pedagogy is and how I think character forms as we make choices through the world. Over time I’ll need to reduce the assumptions in the theory.

Most of the thinking behind how we should think as education system designers and teachers is based on the work of my friends at The School For Social Design. Watch this overview video as a primer to my following essays explicating Expressive Pedagogy.