From the perspective that we live amidst an ecology of violence, we contend that educators should not circumscribe their ethical roles by endorsing the dominant individualistic goals and practices of moral education. To counter a pervading worldview of violence and tolerance for violence, we propose instead that teachers embrace the multifaceted concept of transformative moral education as informed by the beliefs and aims of peace and ecojustice education. We explore the curricular aims and the ethical foundations of transformative moral education as well as the change of consciousness and development of agency for moral educators who challenge violence within human interactions and toward other living beings and the Earth.
IntroductionTo deepen understanding of the ethical nature of educators' work to confront a pervading worldview of violence and tolerance for violence, in this paper we explore the multifaceted concept of transformative moral education. 1 This enactment of moral education encompasses critical understanding of human and environmental rights, appreciation of connection and interdependency among humans, all life forms, and the natural world, and moral and ecological imagination -transcending the prevailing form of moral education with its emphasis on conventional values and individual character traits. We describe the curricular aims and ethical foundations (holistic peace-based worldview, ethical values, and moral capacities) of transformative moral education. We also consider the transformative processes by which teachers develop identities as peace and ecojustice educators by attaining expanded consciousness of violence in human interactions and toward other living beings and the Earth as well as agency to work for transformation of dominant beliefs and societal structures that normalize violence.Our rationale for calling for transformative moral education stems from the perspective that we live amidst an ecology of violence in human interactions, discourse, and relationships with the natural world. We name this overarching phenomenon an ecology of violence as it refers to the nature of interrelationships among groups, communities, populations, and institutions and their characteristic activities within
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.