Preliminary Material / Dorit Alt and Roni Reingold -- Current Changes in Teacher’s Role Definition. From Passive Observer to Moral and Democratic Leader / Dorit Alt and Roni Reingold -- Just a Teacher or also a Moral Example? / Cees Klaassen -- Students’ Trends and Attitudes on Exam Cheating in Greek Primary and Secondary School Settings / Catherine Dimitriadou , Androniki Gakoudi , Anna Kalaitzidou-Leontaki and Konstantinos Kousaridis -- Teachers’ Perspectives about Participation at School / Angela Gastager , Jean-Luc Patry and Andrea Wiedemair -- Voicing Oppressed Palestinian Women / Lea Baratz and Roni Reingold -- Social Literacy Curriculum / Nir Ressissi -- Schoolchildren’s and Adolescents’ Tolerance to Contradictions / Dimitris Pnevmatikos and Eirini Papadopoulou -- Multicultural and Democratic Curriculum / Nitza Schwabsky -- Discovering Virtues with Children / Luigina Mortari and Valentina Mazzoni -- Constructivist Teaching Methods. / Dorit Alt -- Dialogical and Reflective Activities in the Classrooms to Improve Moral Thinking / Diego Di Masi -- Discussion-Based Teaching Methods Addressing Policy Issues Related to Agricultural Biotechnology / Catherine Näpflin , Fritz Oser and Philipp Aerni -- Procedural Justice in a Classroom where Teacher Implements Differentiated Instruction / Dimitris Pnevmatikos and Ioannis Trikkaliotis -- Values and Knowledge Education. / Sieglinde Weyringer , Jean-Luc Patry and Alfred Weinberger -- Moral and Democratic Education in the Context of Science Education / Jostein Saether -- Educating Teachers’ Ethos / Brigitte Latzko.

Education for democratic citizenship encompasses cognitive as well as moral characteristics. The responsibility for cultivating these democratic virtues is placed upon the shoulders of educators who are required to create and encourage democratic social life. These characteristics are constantly challenged in present society, in which subject-matter goals and instrumental skills are gaining more importance than socially-valued goals, thus tipping the scales in favour of cognitive skills. Promoting cognitive skills by itself cannot sufficiently influence the formation of a social disposition and could ultimately create, in Dewey`s words, ‘egoistic specialists’ who lack the moral and democratic virtues needed for the creation of genuine social life. This book emphasizes the pedagogical task of education in this regard, and strives to pay greater attention to the obligations of education as a moral socializing agent. This book offers four perspectives on which the education system needs to focus its attention in order to enhance democratic and moral values: Teachers’ and students’ concepts of moral and democratic education; curriculum design; democratic teaching instructional methods; and teacher education. This volume provides a valuable text for a wide audience of students, teachers, policy-makers, curriculum designers and teacher educators to use as an updated reference book for pedagogical and research purposes.

Description based on print version record.