American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

 Issue: April 2006

Using Narratives to Enhance Moral Education in Sport
Douglas R. Hochstetler

Abstract:
Stories play an integral role in our lives. They provide a context for us, a backdrop against which to measure our efforts. We learn through these stories or narratives—about the world, our ancestors, and our geographic region. We learn about values, beliefs, and ideas (good and evil). Stories can also reinforce moral standards important for society, providing models for living congruent with values such as honesty and integrity. Narratives, whether read or told, hold an important place within moral education in large part because of their unique characteristics. This article explores the use of narrative as a means for moral education in sport. It is assumed that sport is a viable means for promoting moral education, even though, at times, individuals and groups involved with sport act in unethical ways. There are, of course, many forms of stories: fictional and factual, short stories, and extended novels. This article focuses on published accounts of sport participants and their actions at various levels of competition and on the possibilities of sharing these types of stories with athletes (primarily in youth sports and high school) as a way to develop and preserve the moral culture in sport.

Article category: Ethics