CCE isn't just an 'extra subject.' It's education at its core

Character and Citizenship Education has a critical role in schools as students navigate a complex and polarised world.

- Suzanne Choo

A group of Primary 5 students sit on the floor in a circle. The teacher asks them to share what the word "love" means to them, and to back this up with a reason.

Next, she divides the students into smaller groups, each with a stack of cards with words such as durian, games, parents and elderly family members. They are asked to categorise them according to "easy to love", "hard to love" and "impossible to love".

The class is abuzz as students rearrange cards and debate the categories.

At the end, the teacher pushes students to think further, from literal questions to those that are philosophical: Is love a feeling? Are there different qualities and forms of love? From whose point of view are they defining love?

Students then formulate their own philosophical questions rather than only respond to those from the teacher. In doing so, they generate their own inquiry.

This was a lesson I observed recently in a primary school in Singapore. Although it was part of an after-school English enrichment class, it is a good example of how Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) has been infused in other subjects at school.

In particular, the lesson illustrates how teaching CCE now involves more student-centred approaches, including dialogue and experiential learning. These methods allow students to connect values to everyday experiences.

CCE provides an important avenue for developing wisdom and discernment as young people are increasingly bombarded with information through their social media and virtual networks.

A school and society-wide approach to CCE requires the support of parents. When parents over-emphasise academic achievement and fill their children’s after-school schedule with tuition, this can counter important aspects of development – personal, social, aesthetic, moral and spiritual.