How can we understand human agency, and what does it mean to educate character? In this essay Klas Roth develops a Kantian notion, one that suggests we render ourselves efficacious and autonomous in education and elsewhere. This requires, among other things, that we are successful in bringing about the intended result through our actions and the…

Explores the relationship between dispositions (i.e., continuities of inclinations and habits), episodic behavior, emotions, and desires; and the development of moral autonomy. Argues that autonomy requires a settled disposition toward the good. Contrasts theories of autonomy based on wants/desires and on ideals. (AYC)

With a renewed national emphasis on education, its teachers, and their influence, the moral aspect of teacher leadership has surfaced. It is logical to infer that teacher education, its programs, aims, and strategies would powerfully impact the kind or lack of moral leadership demonstrated by its graduates. To gain perspective, morality is defined…

Observations and interviews of 20 middle-class preschoolers and their mothers were conducted to examine the emergence of the personal domain. Found that preschoolers make a conceptual distinction between personal and moral or conventional issues, and that mothers were more likely to negotiate with children over personal than social events. (MDM)

The concept of autonomous identity, derived from Piaget's theory of personality, is distinguished from other applications of the term "autonomy" in psychological theory. Introductory comments suggest that both biological and mental development express autonomy in the same two senses: as self-regulating and progressively self-liberating.…

Research in the fields of management, leadership development, and human development is reviewed. The research suggests that the quality of an individual's personal life, the effectiveness of his/her professional work, and the lasting public value of his/her social contribution are contingent upon a coherent sense of personal integration and…

Reported are four studies of the development of moral autonomy among 720 individuals ranging in age from 12 to 21 years. A questionnaire and a focused interview technique were used to find indications of autonomy in moral judgments and the justifications for these judgments. Tasks elicited moral decisions in the areas of child rearing, schools,…

Based on the view that personal and social development are essential to children's early learning and that personal and social development must be supported by sensitive interventions from adults who understand children's needs, this book presents the theory and practice of personal and social development among young children. Using everyday…