Applicability of Stoic Philosophy to Character Education

Character education requires an interdisciplinary approach of education, philosophy, and psychology. Philosophical school of Stoicism is well positioned to be used as an underpinning philosophical theory to reinforce and fortify the effectiveness of character education, as it resembles both virtue-based approach and shares virtues with those promoted by character education. The article contains an example of Latvia’s government regulations and approach to virtue-based character education. The aim of a study is to explore how Stoic philosophy can be instrumental for educators implementing a character education approach within school education. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods, by analysing sources of Stoicism and applying them to contemporary concepts and understanding of character education. The results of the study consist of the identified seven key insights how Stoic philosophy can make a valuable contribution, supplemented by recommendations for each key insight in a form of conclusion. Stoic philosophy emphasises teaching through context, role models, and through Stoicism itself, based on an assumption of a sustained process. Since character education in schools is a growing movement, today’s educators can draw ideas directly from these findings, as well as approaching character education through a lens of Stoicism.