Informal curriculum
The CBSC project offered informal curricula
to promote students’ moral ‘knowing, feeling
and actions’. For example, discussing the
meaning of school core ethical values in
students’ class meetings; making a ‘moral/
character education passport’ recorded
with School X’s core ethical values for every
student; holding inter-school activities
mixing service learning with inter-school
interactive activities and strengthening
the active role of students’ representatives
involved in meetings and workshops.
According to interviews and observations,
the most impressive ‘curricula’ for students
were inter-school activities. Students of
experimental classes visited one neighboring
elementary school and then invited
approximately sixty students of the school
to visit their campus. They made a great
effort to prepare for this campus tour, activity
arrangements (e.g. flexible basketball game),
and performances (e.g. singing songs by boy
scouts, doing magic tricks). The majority of
students provided positive feedback (e.g.
confidence, cooperation, and caring) on
their wonderful experiences according to
interviews and observations.
Hidden curriculum
The CBSC project of School X aimed for a
campus with suitable core ethical values,
notably respect and love for others through
diversified channels. To this end, the
coordinator set up a website of moral and
character education to announce news, to
share valuable materials and to share these
with other teachers, parents and students.
Administrators held a ‘warming evening
meeting’ entitled ‘Love is Flying’ for all
staff and students of School X. In addition,
experimental group teachers displayed their
teaching materials posters which related to
moral and character education in order to
share these with other teachers and students
in school hallways. However, it revealed
some negative feedback towards the hidden
curricula. Some students expressed their
frustration at being chosen as experimental
group members, even though all of them had
agreed to participate at the project’s start.
They also complained about certain teachers’
insincere behaviour.
ethos magazine
interesting curricula aspects for students
were social studies classes involving
interviews and observations, because the
teenage students liked to have opportunities
to express their viewpoints and to debate
with other classmates.
Student progress
Indicator 8 aims to improve students’ moral
and character development. The CBSC
project in School X offered several strategies
to evaluate its effects of the process and
product. First, the CSCE members held
regular monthly meetings to reflect on
and revise the overall effectiveness of the
project. Second, I individually interviewed
the members and representatives of
students, students’ parents, teachers and
administrators in order to explore their
perceptions on students’ progress in moral
and character education. Furthermore, I
conducted a quasi-experimental design for
experimental classes in order to test the
effects of the project for students’ perception
of their school culture. According to statistical
analyses, the experimental group students
scored higher than the control group.
School atmosphere
Indicator 9 focuses on cultivating school
atmosphere with principles of justice, caring
and positive discipline. School X, according
to my observation, was pervaded with
negative school culture at the beginning
of the CBSC project. For example, the
coordinator sometimes had grievance
against the principal’s misunderstanding
and staff’s passive behaviour. A few students
and parents distrusted school’s policies and
refused to be involved. After one and a half
years implementation of the project, staff’s
negative performance changed marginally
because they found their school had
acquired reputations for moral/character
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