Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun
International Multidisciplinary Journal

Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun – International Multidisciplinary Journal
ISSN: 2338-8617

JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{119

Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun
International Multidisciplinary Journal

DIRECTION OF MORAL EDUCATION TEACHER TO ENRICH
CHARACTER EDUCATION
Mohd Zailani Mohd Yusoff1
Aswati Hamzah2
Abstract
This paper discusses moral education which should begin by focussing on
what exactly is meant by the term “moral human being” in Character
Education. This is because whatever approach is used has to be based on the
exact and clear understanding of the moral human being himself. A moral
human being should posses the components categorised as concept, that is, the
rules and principles which are deemed necessary to be used in actions and
feelings or emotions which support the belief that a concept or action should
be carried out. Apart from that, a moral human being should have the moral
knowledge of the surroundings, know how to interact and act according to the
decisions made. Character education will enable one to be a moral human
being who should know the good, desire the good and do good.

‫مستخلص‬
‫تناقش ىذه الورقة الرتبية األخالقية اليت جيب أن تبدأ من خالل الرتكيز على ما ىو املقصود ابلضبط‬
‫ىذا ىو ألنو مهما ـنىج يستخدم بد أن يكون‬. ‫من مصطلح " إنسان أخالقي" يف األحرف التعليم‬
‫ إنسان أخالقي جيب أن متتلك‬.‫قائما على أساس دقيق وواضح إلنسان أخالقي كوهنا نفسو‬
‫ أي القواعد واملبادئ اليت تعترب ضرورية الستخدامها يف‬،‫مكوانت تصنيفها على أهنا مفهوم‬
____________
1
2

Ed.D and Lecturer at School of Education and Modern Languages, Universiti Utara Malaysia
Ph. D and Lecturer at School of Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia
JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{119

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

. ‫اإلجراءات واملشاعر أو العواطف اليت تدعم االعتقاد أبن مفهوم أو العمل ينبغي االضطالع هبا‬
‫ ومعرفة كيفية‬،‫ ينبغي أن يكون إنساان أخالقيا املعرفة األخالقية للمحيط‬،‫بغض النظر عن ذلك‬
‫ سوف التعليم الطابع متكن واحد ليكون إنساان أخالقيا الذين‬.‫لتفاعل والتصرف وفقا للقرارات‬
.‫ رغبة يف اخلري وفعل اخلري‬،‫جيب أن يعرفوا اخلري‬
Keywords: Moral, Education, Teacher, Character Education
A. Introduction
Character education is an umbrella term for all explicit and
implicit educational activities that help young people develop positive
personal strengths called virtues. Character education is more than just
a subject. It has a place in the culture and functions of families,
classrooms, schools and other institutions. Character education is
about helping students grasp what is ethically important in situations
and how to act for the right reasons, so that they become more
autonomous and reflective.
Character education is one of the essential aspects in an
individual from birth to death. It involves training human sensitivity
to attitudes and behaviour, decisions and approaches to all types of
knowledge which are dominated by ethical and spiritual values. He
will be trained and disciplined mentally in the search for knowledge
not merely to fulfill intellectual desire or material gains, but also to
expand him self as a rational and righteous being contributing to
physical prosperity, morality and spirituality of a family, society and
humanity.
B. The Aim of Moral Education
Morality functions as the guideline in resolving conflicts among
individuals and maximises the benefits of individuals living in the same
community (Rest, 1986). Morality is centralised on the Kohlberg traditional
concept of entailing fairness and respect towards the rights of others,
emphasising justice and sympathy. Besides aiming to protect human
120} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

dignity, rules enable humans to save energy and time to think of their
behaviour. Nonetheless, a moral human being accepts values and society
norms that are universally accepted as moral, good and true.
Hence, an individual with morals has to be aware and
understand the needs of regulations in society (Abdul Rahman Aroff,
1986). A person with morals has to have noble characteristics that are
praiseworthy morally. A person with a noble personality is one with a
stable aptitude and personality in responding to a situation morally,
manifested with kindness, honesty, responsibility and respect for
others (Lickona, 1991a). More importantly, it contains ways of how a
moral person should abide by the rules of the society and react
effectively without conforming or complying with the rules blindly.
Hence, the preparation of such concepts of societal regulations
and noble personality only are not sufficient to enable an individual to
face moral dilemmas or complicated conflict values. An individual
with morals should have principles and be autonomous in making
decisions which are rational and truthful without any coercion or blind
obedience to an authority. As such, ethics based on principles of justice
and concerns are required.
Principles of justice are necessary to act in autonomous and
rational ways in any situation in order to avoid selfishness and greed,
and be able to control extreme behaviour in states of extreme anger.
Moreover, humans cannot communicate with others if they do not
understand one another. We will not be able to tolerate others who
have different opinions, unless we have mutual understanding,
congeniality and other methods to allow a win-win situation. Realising
the fact that humans cannot live alone without the involvement of
others, concern has become one of the important moral principles to
avoid selfishness. It is considered as the principal value in generating
other moral values especially the altruistic value (Abdul Rahman
Aroff, 1999).
Therefore, ethics based on principles of justice and awareness
has to be inculcated in an individual with morals besides taking into
JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{121

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

consideration the situation faced. In order to complete the concept of
ethics in a moral human being, it becomes a necessity to touch on the
dimension or the aspect of an individual’s tendency to behave morally.
There are at least three ethical dimensions: moral reasoning, moral
feelings and moral behaviour (Abdul Rahman Aroff,1999). An
individual with morals should perform everything based on proper
reasons. An individual who acts on a routine basis or fear or acts
without thinking of the circumstances is not considered as a person
with moral maturity or is doing things immorally. For instance, if we
are training our children to avoid being racists without knowing the
reasons, we are actually nurturing them immorally.
Only an individual who is doing the right action with convincing
reasons is considered as a moral person. The concept of moral reasoning
is necessary especially in this multiracial country in which the society has
different significance and conformity of their core values. Reasoning is
necessary to create justice in actions. In sum, moral reasoning will involve
rationale and independence of thoughts, and consideration is the ability
to consider and make mature moral decisions freely without being
influenced by coercion or blind obedience.
Moral behaviour, on the other hand, is related to an
individual’s action and behaviour as a result of a decision made with
full responsibility by independent and rational reasoning. An
individual who does something which is considered inappropriate,
unfair and immoral is considered as a person with low morals or one
who is “knowledgeable but is not practising the knowledge”. This
phenomenon happens to an educated individual who is able to
rationalise, yet is still doing illegal or immoral activities. An individual
with morals will be altruistic, considerate, sympathetic, and generous
as well as possess the traits of being concerned. Apart from that, the
individual should be ashamed or feel guilty of doing something
immoral. Nonetheless, a moral individual should not act emotionally
as it will lead to irrational actions. Meanwhile, an individual with very
low moral feelings is seen as being less human or impersonal.
122} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

C. Concept of Moral Education
There are major principles recognised as the guideline in
engendering human holistically, physically, intellectually, emotionally,
spiritually and socially as aspired by the National Education
Philosophy: “towards further development of individual potential
holistically in tandem with producing a harmonious human being
balanced intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically based
on faith and obedience to God”. The principles are:
a) Being responsible towards self, family and others.
b) Upholding religious belief.
c) Caring towards the environment.
d) Maintaining peace and harmony in life.
e) Being patriotic.
f) Respecting human rights.
g) Applying principles of democracy in life.
Diagram 1: Application of Values in Moral Appreciation

Diagram 1 shows that the absorption of values in learning
across the curriculum is encouraged in strengthening students’
behaviour regardless of their level of education. There are four

JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{123

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

elements in the absorption of values across the curriculum – religious
values, moral values, cultural values and aesthetic values. The
implementation of religious values across the curriculum is made up
of ethics, humanity and religion. This is done so that religious belief
could be upheld and appreciated in accordance with the atmosphere
and complexity of the human life in carrying out daily activities.
For instance, being thrifty is encouraged in Islam. Hence,
spending wisely can be applied and practised by students in their
daily lives, similar to the practice in workshops.
The application of religious values in the learning sessions will
enhance the students’ personal character. The next element is the
absorption of moral values in the curriculum which comprise of
spiritual and communal ways of living. One of the examples is
cooperating with the locals to clean public areas; thus inculcating the
neighbourhood spirit indirectly. This could be implemented in the
learning sessions by having group activities in associations, clubs and
uniformed units. Meanwhile, cultural values comprise ways of life,
social and tradition. These values embrace the variety of values
possessed bya group of people in a community such as the culture of
respecting the elders, and courtesy.
Finally, other values that should be implemented across the
curriculum are the values of arts, beauty and feelings. It includes
pleasure, satisfaction and excitement in human life especially in the
arts and culture. Arts can be seen from the production of architecture,
drawings, visual arts and others.
D. Direction/ Future of Moral Education in Character Education
Character education is the process of an individual or society
internalising culture leading to civilisation. Character education is not
only a means of knowledge transfer, but broader in which it
encompasses cultural and nurture of values. A child should get an
education that touches on the humanity dimension. The humanity
dimension includes at least three most basic points:
124} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

(1) Affective which is reflected in the quality of faith, piety and
moral behaviour inclusive of the noble character, dominant
personality, and ethical competency;
(2) Cognitive which is reflected in the thinking capacity, and
intellect to seek, expand and master knowledge and
technology;
(3) Psychomotor which is reflected in the ability to expand skills,
practise efficiency and kinetic competency.
Character education in the moral education programme
focuses on the Comprehensive Human Model which comprises of
three interrelated moral dimensions. (Diagram 2: Comprehensive
Human Model). The positive character should consist of these three
moral dimension s– moral thoughts, moral emotions and moral action.
An effective moral education should assist the students to understand
the moral values, accept and show commitment, and practise them in
their daily lives. These three dimensions are necessary to enable a
student to reach moral maturity level. The best moral development
theory is one that considers all the three dimensions. The development
of the three moral dimensions will nurture and stimulate conscience
causing an individual to feel happy doing the right thing and feel
guilty doing something immoral. Moral education should not neglect
the aspect of conscience that functions to integrate the three moral
dimensions.
Meanwhile Walker et al. (2000) describes the moral domain as
consisting of moral emotion, moral behaviour, moral thought,
commitment and noble behaviour. The discussion above indicates that
certain qualities, character or skills for a moral individual should be
identified in designing and planning the moral education process as a
whole. In conjunction with this, Abdul Rahman Aroff (1999) proposed
the concept of ethics and the moral human being which is considered
suitable especially in the context of a multiracial society in Malaysia.
Ethics is conceptualised from three perspectives: content, design and
dimension. Morality or ethics should have content that consists of the
JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{125

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

regulations of the society and noble characteristics. Each group in a
society has its own regulations in order to ensure people could live
and function well with its environment.
Thus, morality cannot expunge itself from regulations, norms,
traditions or customs in society. Due to this, as explained by John
Wilson (1973), societal regulations and noble character should be
understood by each individual as moral thoughts do not evolve in
vacuum. Human social life cannot go on without regulations as they
are yardsticks to evaluate any social activity (Wright, 1971).
The concept of moral education will be introduced and enhanced
through “inter-disciplinary” minor courses to balance the understanding of
the comprehensive education concept in Malaysia. This is to prove that
humans are the successors in the physical, social, emotional and spiritual
aspects which embrace human needs as a whole.
The aspects that are stressed in the Moral Education
programme are based on three main aims:
1. Knowledge
a. Recognise values that can contribute towards the development
of moral values such as sincerity, respect, personal
responsibility, perseverance and moral courage.
b. Explain family traditions and be familiar with qualities which
unite a family such as love, attention, being respectful, and
commitment as well as preserving the family name.
c. Explain the principles of cooperation which can make each
occupation in the community a success.
d. Realise the country’s accomplishment and identify the
appropriate behaviour of a responsible citizen.
2. Skills
a. Apply moral reasoning skills and creative thinking in making
decisions, solving problems and moral dilemma, defining
problems, evaluating suitable choices and deciding on an
action.
126} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

b. Share and understand the feelings of others.
c. Cooperate and unite in managing an action.
d. Utilise talents and abilities to do social work.
3. Attitude
a. Ability to control moral strength and personal responsibility.
b. Show courage and diligence in facing difficulties and be
prepared to act.
c. Respect the feelings of others on ethnicity, race and culture.
d. Show willingness to serve for the wellbeing of the community
and society.
e. Exhibit a sense of belonging and love towards Malaysia.
Apart from that, character development also focuses on the soft
skills concept. The definition should always refer to the concept of
integrated education and values explained above. In detail, the soft skills
concept has to be developed with the integration of seven (7) components –
ethics and moral, leadership, communication, entrepreneurship, thinking
skills, continuous learning and information management, and teamwork.
Character development is accomplished by means of the global thinking
approach; however it acts nationally, that is, in accordance with Malaysia’s
identity. With this strategy it is hoped that Malaysia produces world
scholars or intellectuals.
E. Moral Education Teachers’ Challenges in Enhancing Character
Education
Educators entrusted to teach moral education should have the
basic knowledge and skills especially with regard to inner needs and
approaches. This is because moral education is complex and has
caused a lot of confusion in character education. Teaching moral
education is not the sole responsibility of the Moral Education teacher
in the school, but it also requires the cooperation of everyone including
parents and the school especially in promoting a moral environment.
According to Puka (2002), if an educator does not know what morality

JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{127

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

is he is not qualified to teach (Abdul Rahman Aroff, 1986). Hence, the
preparation of a moral education teacher should be taken seriously
because in reality, moral education is not what it is assumed to be. The
moral concept held by educators will influence the aim, content and
especially the methods of teaching moral education. For example, an
educator who understands moral education as absolute compliance to
the rules will act as an authoritarian and the moral education
programme will be indoctrinated; the implication of which will hinder
the process of mature moral development.
Besides, the Malaysian Education Development plan of 2013-2025 has
been adjusted with the conceptual curriculum framework focusing on
nurturing the Comprehensive Human Model in all three moral dimensions –
moral thinking, moral emotion and moral behaviour. In terms of moral
psychology, the development of character in the three moral dimensions thinking, emotion and behaviour - are the essentials in the perception
framework. Moral philosophy offers us the causes and the definition of
assumptions and ideas of good deeds, and should be practised by individuals
in their relationship with others. However, moral psychology expands our
understanding of behaviour and the development of human capacity
(cognitively and affectively) in making moral judgements and acting as a

responsible moral agent (Chang Lee Hoon, 2001).
The second dimension emphasises the emotional aspect; moral
feelings. Moral feelings refer to the “right feelings” and it involves
rationalisation in the situation encountered (Ministry of Education
Malaysia, 2001). Students should be able to express their feelings sympathy, empathy, disappointment, anger and so on and so forth - while
explaining their views on moral issues. Moral behaviour, on the other
hand, is the third dimension in the student learning concept framework.
Students who have been given the opportunity to review an issue or moral
situation should be given the chance to also propose solutions to resolve
the matter. It is in this third dimension that students are able to show their
commitment physically as a manifestation of the result of their thoughts
and moral feelings.
128} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

Quality teachers are positive teachers with clear directions, able to
adapt to various situations, are creative, smart, motivated, passionate in
teaching, competent and skilful in the subject, empathetic, and moral and so on
and so forth. A teacher is considered to be a responsible moral agent in
assisting students with values of love and close social relationships. This is
because there are some students who grow up in a tumultuous and confused
society especially in the aspect of moral development. If a teacher acts
negatively, it will affect the students’ moral development (Ab. Halim Tamuri,
2007). Nonetheless, the roles and responsibilities of character education do not
rely solely on teachers, but families and society also play significant roles in
nurturing the children’s character informally. The diagram below shows the
roles and responsibilities of character education.
Diagram 2: Roles and Responsibilities in Character Education

Apart from that, one of the government’s vital agenda is to develop a
world- class education system without leaving out the aspect of character
education as a medium in character development. This system focuses on
comprehensive human capital development, is progressive, and has high
moral and ethics. Holistic human development requires physical, emotional,
spiritual and intellectual balance and the ability to become trained and
competitive nationally and internationally in line with the 2020Vision.
JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{129

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

F. Conclusion
Morality is behaviour determined by ethics. Behaviour derived
from good or bad ethics is labelled as morality. Morality is divided
into two: good; which includes all behaviour which is recognised as
ethically correct, and bad; which is recognised as ethically bad.
Morality is related to societal regulations which exist beyond
individual control. Dorothy Emmet (1979) stated that humans are
dependent on good behaviour and morality, traditions, norms and
religion in assisting in the evaluation of one’s behaviour. Behaviour in
Islam is closely related to a Muslim’s faith.
Besides, the concept of moral education intends to nurture a
quality human being who is able to perform his duties and
responsibilities as a moral person. The process of moral education
plays a significant role in educating human beings taking into account
the fact that human beings were created in terms of mind, body and
spirit. The concept will have a great impact on human life and make
human beings the inheritors of earth.

Bibliography
Ab. Halim Tamuri. 2007. Islamic education teachers perceptions of the
teaching of akhlaq in Malaysian secondary schools. Journal of
Moral Education. 36: 371-386.
Abdul Rahman Md Aroff. 1986. Makna Moral. Jurnal Kementerian
Pendidikan Malaysia (68).
Abdul Rahman Md Aroff. 1999. Pendidikan moral: Teori etika dan amalan
moral. Serdang: Penerbit Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Chang Lee Hoon. 2001. Learning to teach moral education. Paper presented at
Association of Moral Education Conference: Excellence in Moral
Education.Vancouver, November 24-27, 2001.
Chang, Lee Hoon. 2002. Perkembangan domain moral dalam
pengajaran dan pembelajaran sains sosial. Kertas pembentangan
130} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

Direction of Moral Education Teacher To Enrich Character Education
Mohd. Zailani Mohd Yusoff & Aswati Hamzah

Seminar kebangsaan Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains Sosial.
Fakulti Pendidikan, Universiti Malaya pada 19 Januari 2002.
Chang, Lee Hoon. 2004. Emosi moral dalam Pendidikan Moral.Seminar
Pendidikan Akhlak & Moral Pembinaan Insan, 23-24 Juli 2004,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Emmet, D. 1979. The moral prism. Macmillan: London.
Gilligan, C. 1982. In a different voice : Psychological theory and women's
development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. (2001). Sukatan pelajaran pendidikan
moral. Kuala Lumpur: Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum.
Narvaez, D., Getz, I., Rest, J.R., & Thoma, S.J. 1999. Individual moral
judgment and cultural ideologies. Developmental Psychology, 35,
478-488.
Ewing, C.P. 1990. When children ill. The Dynamics of Juvenile
Homicide.
Lickona,T. 1991. Educating for character : How our schools can teach respect
and responsibility. New York: Bantam.
Noddings, N. 1984. Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral
education.Berkeley, CA:University of California Press.
Puka, B. (2002). The DIT and the dark side of development. Journal of
Moral Education, 31, (3), 339-352.
Rest, J.R. 1983. Morality. In J.H. Flavell & E.M. Markman (Eds.).
Cognitive development: Handbook of child psychology (vol. 3, pp.
556-629). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Samay, S.A. 1986. Affectivity : The power base of moral behaviour. In G.F.
Mc Lean, F.E. Ellrod, D.L. Shindler & J. Character
Development. New York : University Press of America.
Walker, L. J. 1999. The perceived personality of moral exemplars. Journal of
Moral Education, 28, 145–162.
Walker, L. J. 2004. Gus in the gap: Bridging the judgment action gap in
moral functioning. In D. K. Lapsley & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral
development, self, and identity (pp. 1–20). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.

JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal

{131

ISSN: 2338-8617
Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2015

Walker, L. J., Hennig, K. H., & Krettenauer, T. 2000. Parent and peer
contexts for children’s moral reasoning. Child Development, 71,
1033–1048.
Wilson, John. 1973. A teacher’s guide to moral education. London:
Geoffrey Chapman.
Wright, Derek. 1971. The psychology of moral behaviour. Hazell Watson
& Viney Ltd.

*****

132} JIP-International Multidisciplinary Journal