ABSTRACT
The contemporary approach to character education in schools has been to accord the pupil a say in their own moral education, a degree of self-direction, an approach that has been largely influenced by the cognitive development theorists. At the same time adult direction and authority has suffered a great deal of criticism. Since the 1960s progressive teaching methods have emphasized childcentred learning, learning through experience, neutrality and cooperative learning and have consistently been opposed to more traditional methods, often describing them as authoritarian and indoctrinatory. This idea of education views the teacher as an adult who should not attempt deliberately to stamp character on pupils.
