CCE isn’t just an ‘extra subject’. It’s education at its core

A group of Primary 5 students sit on the floor in a circle. The teacher asks them to share what the word “love” means to them, and to back this up with a reason. 

Next, she divides the students into smaller groups, each with a stack of cards with words such as durian, games, parents and elderly family members. They are asked to categorise them according to “easy to love”, “hard to love” and “impossible to love”.

The class is abuzz as students re-arrange cards and debate the categories.

At the end, the teacher pushes students to think further, from literal questions to those that are philosophical: Is love a feeling? Are there different qualities and forms of love? From whose point of view are they defining love?

Students then formulate their own philosophical questions rather than only respond to those from the teacher. In doing so, they generate their own inquiry.

This was a lesson I observed recently in a primary school in Singapore. Although it was part of an after-school English enrichment class, it is a good example of how Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) has been infused in other subjects at school.

In particular, the lesson illustrates how teaching CCE now involves more student-centred approaches, including dialogue and experiential learning. These methods allow students to connect values to everyday experiences.

CCE provides an important avenue for developing wisdom and discernment as young people are increasingly bombarded with information through their social media and virtual networks. 

A school and society-wide approach to CCE requires the support of parents. When parents over-emphasise academic achievement and fill their children’s after-school schedule with tuition, this can counter important aspects of development – personal, social, aesthetic, moral and spiritual.

More importantly, it may reinforce self-absorption and competition if children do not find opportunities to develop their interests for the good of others.

In his National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reiterated And as the world becomes increasingly fractured and ideologically divisive, CCE plays an increasingly important role in developing the kinds of attitudes and dispositions in a person that can support multicultural harmony, a bedrock of Singapore society.

the importance of “character, values, empathy and a sense of purpose” as young people become increasingly digitally connected and dependent on artificial intelligence.

Recently in Parliament, Minister for Education Desmond Lee highlighted how Singapore has been moving away from a “narrow meritocracy” where achievement is tied solely to grades and paper qualifications.

Instead, “there will be a focus on the more important aspects of a child’s experiences in school – developing life skills, interpersonal relationships, good character and values”.

Previously, in the lead-up to Racial Harmony Day, Mr Lee told students in a class he was observing that doing well in school is important, but lessons from CCE and daily life are just as – if not more – valuable. 

“Doing well in life means knowing how to empathise... knowing what’s appropriate to say at the right time, how to pull a team together, how to face difficult situations and having the resilience to adapt and rise again,” he said.

For students, CCE should not be viewed as just another subject in the timetable. It should be embedded in all aspects of their lives. 

Not just a lesson

Over the years, the education system has moved away from an overemphasis on academic achievement to include the holistic development of students and the importance of character development, including values. 

The emphasis on values is also driven by broader global challenges, particularly in relation to young people’s increasing dependence on digital technologies.

As such, there has been a stronger move for CCE to be integrated in every aspect of schooling, from subject lessons to co-curricular activities and other out-of-classroom experiences. 

One prominent change in the curriculum is the regular discussion of contemporary issues relevant to students’ lived experiences, mainly at the secondary and pre-university levels.

The primary purpose is to develop character dispositions such as listening to others, respectful dialogue, empathy and critical discernment.

In a survey of 585 secondary school teachers I conducted with my colleagues in 2022, we found that empathy, respect and moral sensitivity were the top values teachers sought to develop in their students.

Teachers have also included a wider range of approaches to engage their students. The least emphasised strategy was to directly tell students the values they should learn. Instead, role modelling and the use of authentic and everyday experiences were most commonly employed.

At the same time, when asked about the challenges of incorporating CCE in their lessons, the most common reason teachers cited was the lack of time, given the need to cover the contents of their syllabus.

This suggests that there may be a tendency to focus on knowledge and skills, while perceiving values as disconnected. Yet, ethical values primarily ground the fundamental purposes of academic subjects such as resilience in physical education, healthy scepticism in science and empathy in the humanities.

Teachers also brought up the challenges of engaging two different groups of students. The first involved apathetic students more concerned about their own lives than social or global issues. The second group involved students who are easily triggered and show strong emotions, especially when discussing sensitive issues.

How can teachers connect with both groups through CCE?

In relation to apathetic students, teachers can make abstract ethical issues relatable by tapping examples from youth culture that students are more familiar with. A teacher might ask students, “What insights do we get about Gen Alpha’s values through slang words like ‘skibidi’ or ‘slay’? Does K-pop music reinforce liberation or sexism for women? What is the underlying social justice agenda behind Superhero films?”.

In relation to easily triggered students, CCE is all the more important in expanding perspectives and provoking reflections of their own assumptions and biases. Before discussing potentially divisive issues, teachers can gradually build a culture of care and respect in the classroom conducive for open sharing, dialogue and sense-making. 

But learning about values is only the first step; students should also be given the chance to live them out in tangible ways within their schools and communities.

Practical application

One of Singapore’s foundational shared values is racial and religious harmony. Harmony should not be seen as akin to uniformity or conformity, but essentially entails learning to live with and appreciate differences. This perspective anchors other virtues such as respect, empathy and justice. 

While conservative views of harmony have led to stereotypes of passive Asian students, self-censorship and avoidance of conflict, contemporary views support what researchers Li-Ching Ho and Keith Barton describe as “critical harmony” where students, through collaboration, learn how to engage with people with diverse perspectives. 

Translating critical harmony into action requires creating spaces where students can put these values into practice and engage directly with issues that matter to them. For instance, involving them in school policy decision-making, ranging from the design of the uniform to rules about the use of mobile devices, or allowing them to ask questions through school forums and town halls.

Such opportunities encourage students to think beyond themselves and on behalf of others. They also empower students to practise moral reasoning and be accountable for their decisions.

Ultimately, the aim is to establish schools as communities of character. Here, values do not arise from detached autonomous individuals but from shared understandings and deliberation about the common good.

As we enter a climate of increasing polarisation, schools, together with parents and the community, must continue to empower our young people with ethical literacy and its three important dimensions – awareness, analysis and agency. 

This means enabling students to be more aware of shared values as well as diverse and conflicting values. Beyond this, it involves equipping students to discern the underlying agendas of various groups, the historical contexts and implicit world views underlying beliefs and behaviours.

Finally, it involves giving students opportunities to actively participate, give voice and effect changes in their community.

In this way, young people are empowered with an ethical lens to see the world so that they are not just reactively woke to issues, but have the moral sensitivity to discern forms of injustice and discrimination embedded in today’s hashtag culture of followers and viral trends.