Toward a Virtuous Generation: An Integrated Character-Education Framework and Mixed-Methods Action-Research Protocol for Secondary Schools in Sri Lanka

F. H. Bukhary, S.S Dahanayake

Abstract: Character education is increasingly expected to address not only moral knowledge but also the affective, social, and behavioural processes through which adolescents internalize and enact values. In Sri Lanka, policy discourse recognizes moral and civic development, yet a practical gap remains between stated educational aspirations and the systematic integration of values across curriculum delivery, classroom management, teacher modelling, peer interaction, school culture, and family engagement. This article synthesizes the theoretical and empirical foundations of a doctoral study and presents a publication-ready integrated framework and sequential mixed-methods action-research protocol for developing core values among secondary-level students in private international schools following the Sri Lankan national curriculum in Colombo. The framework integrates Lickona?s moral knowing?feeling?action model, Kohlberg?s developmental account of moral reasoning, Vygotsky?s sociocultural mediation, Bandura?s observational learning, and Rest?s four-component model of moral behaviour. Respect, responsibility, and empathy are positioned as focal values because they jointly capture interpersonal recognition, self-regulation/accountability, and prosocial emotional responsiveness. The proposed design combines a baseline survey of 120 students, 50 teachers, and 50 parents; purposive qualitative interviews and focus groups; classroom observation; a two-cycle participatory action-research intervention; repeated psychometric assessment using the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and the Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire; mixed-method integration; and expert validation of the final framework. The intervention operationalizes value formation through a code of conduct, a well-being domain embedded in lesson planning, cooperative/value-based pedagogies, reflective practice, and reinforcement tools. The contribution is a theoretically coherent and methodologically auditable pathway for moving character education from isolated moral messages toward school-based, observable, iterative, and context-sensitive practice.

Keywords: character education, core values, well-being domain, empathy, mixed methods, responsibility, respect, secondary education, Sri Lanka, action research, moral development

How to Cite?: F. H. Bukhary, S.S Dahanayake, "Toward a Virtuous Generation: An Integrated Character-Education Framework and Mixed-Methods Action-Research Protocol for Secondary Schools in Sri Lanka", Volume 15 Issue 9, September 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 592-600, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26906165014, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26906165014

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