Emotions and moral sentiments in citizenship education

In the daily life of children, as in that of adults, many situations arise in which they experience and manage emotions, feelings and values. This paper proposes that teaching staff should focus intentionally and deliberately on this area, to create favourable conditions for the students’ ethical education so that they feel more capable of resolving morally important situations.To achieve this, reference is made to the way children’s morality is formed. Thus, explicit attention to emotions and moral sentiments is assumed to be an essential aspect of teachers’ work, and not just an added value.