This study aimed to answer the research question: “What role do stakeholders believe character education might play in strengthening UAE university students’ local knowledge?” Implementing character education was explored in terms of its potential influence on national identity and local knowledge in UAE education. The literature review covers several studies that inform a relevant research design. The literature review determines the best-fit term to use in this study by comparing and contrasting suitability of related pedagogical fields to character education, such as citizenship, civic, moral, and ethics education. Additionally, studies that serve as useful examples, such as the Crick Report, Lee’s Taiwan study, and regionally relevant articles such as Al Kharusi and Atweh, are discussed to inform the reader of the study’s design for the Dubai context. A mixed methods methodological design was used with a two-phased approach, a quantitative questionnaire survey and a qualitative series of interviews using an interview schedule. With a relativist, constructivist interpretive viewpoint, three groups were assessed with more than 300 participants: students and administrators at a Dubai case study university were assessed, as well as a group of external education leaders. Findings generally supported the idea of strengthening local knowledge learning both in and outside of educational institutions, with a focus on culture and language familiarity. Also, stakeholders strongly felt the need for choice in how and where learning takes place. Findings that inform the current status quo include that there is already a sentiment of citizenship within the UAE by expatriate residents. Many residents allude to the ‘third culture’ phenomenon, and thus feel belonging to several societies. Thus, results show that character education has potential to influence local knowledge and national identity within the UAE, and be directed at all students, both national and non-national.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:700192 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Farouki, Dala Taji |
| Contributors | Myhill, Debra ; Skinner, Nigel |
| Publisher | University of Exeter |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/24091 |
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