Moral education and the primary school curriculum: A comparative review of case studies of selected Latin American and Caribbean countries
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Date
1983
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UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean
Abstract
Data from four separate case studies examining socialization and moral education in the elementary schools of Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela are compared and analysed. The analysis is intended to help national officials, university personnel, and community leaders interpret what is happening in relation to moral values and the educational process. Part 1 contains the comparative analysis, while Parts 2, 3, 4, and 5 contain the case studies for the four countries. Data show that the educational systems in all four countries explicitly define the ground rules of moral conduct in their aims, content, and activities (excluding methods of teaching, teacher behaviour, and school organization). With the exception of social studies courses in Jamaica, the development of critical consciousness and autonomous moral judgements concerning social issues is not included in the curricula. Family, communication media, church, and other social groups are also sources of socialization that reinforce traditional values and the status quo in these highly stratified and elitist countries, rather than the development of moral consciousness