Character Education in Digital Society: A Scopus-Based Scoping Review, 2020-2026

Abstract

Character education within digital society confronts a conceptual gap between the development of 21st-century competencies and the formation of moral character, while literature synthesizing these three domains in an integrated manner remains limited. This study maps the conceptualization of character education, the mechanisms of integration between 21st-century competencies and moral character, and the direction of character education reconstruction within the context of digital society, based on Scopus-indexed literature published between 2020 and 2026. This study employs a scoping review design guided by an established methodological protocol, with reporting following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The search was conducted in the Scopus database using a combination of the keywords character education, moral education, moral character, values education, virtue education, and 21st century competencies. Study selection applied the Population-Concept-Context (PCC) framework, with filters for publication years 2020-2026, English language, and the subject areas of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Psychology, and Multidisciplinary. From the search results, seventeen articles met all inclusion criteria and were analyzed using a six-phase thematic synthesis approach. The mapping results identify three principal themes. First, character education is conceptualized through three patterns: character as universal moral value, as a component of 21st-century competency, and as contextual-cultural capacity. Second, the integration of 21st-century competencies and moral character occurs through integrated competency frameworks, holistic literacy, and school policy management, with empirical evidence indicating that moral character functions as an orientational prerequisite for competency. Third, the reconstruction of character education within digital society proceeds through the development of cyber virtue, digital citizenship, and digital literacy, although 53% of the articles do not address the digital dimension explicitly. This study concludes that moral character constitutes an orientational prerequisite for 21st-century competency, that the digital environment represents a distinct moral arena requiring new character capacities in the form of cyber virtue, and that effective implementation of character education requires multi-actor collaboration and contextual adaptation. Teachers’ pedagogical capacity is identified as the principal determinant variable in achieving the authentic integration of character and competency within educational practice.