Definition of Character Education

What is Character Education?

Education is conscious and deliberate effort to create learning atmosphere and learning process to make the learners actively developing their self-potential to have spiritual power of religion, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character, and skills needed for them, society, nation and country.

Based on Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (2008), Character is psychological traits, morals or manners that distinguish one person to another. Thus, character is unique values that hardwired within and manifested in behavior. Character coherently emanates from the results of paradigm, heart manner, feeling and intention manners, and physical manner of a person or group.

Character is also often associated with the term ‘temperament’ that is more emphasis on psychosocial definition associated with education and environmental contexts. Meanwhile, character seen from behavioral perspective is more emphasizes on somatopsychological element owned by a person since birth. Thus, it can be said that the process of a person’s character development is influenced by many unique factors of the person concerned which is also called congenital factor (nature) and environmental factor (nurture) in which the person concerned grows and develops. Congenital factors may be said to be beyond the reach of the community and individuals to influence it. Meanwhile, environmental factor is factor that is in the range of community and individuals. So, the effort of a person’s development or character education can be done by the community or individuals as parts of environment through modification of environmental factor. 

Character Education Factors

Environmental factor in character education context has very important role because behavioral changes of learners as the result of character education process are determined by the environmental factor. In other words, the formation and modification of environment includes physical environment and school culture, school management, curriculum, educators, and teaching methods.

Character formation through environmental factor modification can be done through the following strategies:

1. Modeling

2. Intervention

3. Habituation conducted consistently

4. Reinforcement

In other words, the development and formation of character requires modeling development transmitted, intervention through the learning process, training, and habituation continuously in the long time that is done consistently and reinforcement and should be accompanied by noble values.

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