Character education and citizenship education are interrelated and can be taught together to help develop flourishing individuals. A democracy is dependent on citizens aware of what citizenry is, what the good life is, the will to do good and be good.2
The first obvious connection is the teaching of civic virtues as part of CE. Both CE and CZE focus on developing virtues in individuals in aim of developing good people and/or good citizens. Virtues are required to develop individuals that lead a flourishing life; virtues are also important for the community because with virtuous actions, humans can live together harmoniously and productively.
Citizenship education aims to develop democratic citizens that contribute to society. To make contributions to society, one must understand how to make critical decisions, employ morality, and demonstrate justice.2 CZE and CE are inherently different because being a good person and a good citizen are not the same thing. However, actions required of citizens require moral, intellectual and civic virtues.3
An individual cannot flourish and live a good life without doing what is considered best for society and making morally right decisions for all. A flourishing life can only occur in a society with individuals of moral grounding, making the goal, flourishing, an institutional change rather than that of the individual. Within the Neo-Aristotelian approach, CE and CZE go beyond the instrumentalist approach to virtue and develop individuals that can use virtues to make morally right decisions and actions, which relates to good citizenship.
Furthering the interrelation of CE and CZE via virtue development, virtues are acquired through education and formation from family, society and life experiences. Using phronesis (which is part of the Neo-Aristotelian model) entails making the best decision for all, for the betterment of society and with the goal of flourishing; this component requires an individual with moral understanding and citizenship as part of a greater society.
The intellectual virtue, known as phronesis, is the virtue that enables individuals to know, desire and act with practical sense in situations where virtues collide.1
Phronesis is what sets Neo-Aristotelian CE and CZE apart from other models because it does not just develop moral conformists, it develops contributing citizens that learn to choose the right actions and emotions through a deliberative process.