Teaching Children Moral Values from the Viewpoints of the Kindergarten Teachers and Parents: The Best Practices

Abstract

: Given the importance of moral values in building the individual's personality and in the cohesion of society. In addition, importance to instilling moral values at an early stage of life, we conducted our current study. The purpose of this study was to find out teachers’ and parent’s views on the best educational methods for teaching children’s moral values. Moreover, the study explores the challenges that parents, and teachers face when teaching children moral values. A quantitative method was used to collect data through a questionnaire answered by 100 parents with children aged 3 to 6 years and 101 female teachers in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that dialogue was considered to be the best educational method for teaching moral values to children. On the other hand, the least popular method for teaching moral values to children was telling a story. The responses showed that parents and teachers considered the impact of technology and the media to be the biggest challenge faced when teaching children moral values, followed by the influence of the group and kindergarten curricula. The study also demonstrated statistically significant differences in the responses of teachers and parents in their views the study’s sub-scales.