Abstract
Previous studies have revealed the benefits of character and meaning in life for individual well-being. However, little research has been conducted on elementary and junior high school teachers who teach students between the ages of 10-15 years (late childhood and early adolescence) in Indonesia. This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions about character, meaning in life, and well-being. Interviews were conducted among 20 teachers. Our findings revealed that according to the teachers, the lessons and assessments in character education are well designed. However, coordination within the school community and with parents as well as specific roles between teachers and parents in building students’ character, meaning, and well-being needs to be improved. What teachers understood about meaning in life corresponds with the results of previous studies. Teachers’ understanding of well-being concept is still limited. They acknowledged family background, socioeconomic status, popularity, and academic achievement as important factors in students’ well-being.
 
 Keywords: character; meaning in life; well-being; teachers; children; adolescents
Highlights
This study aims to explore the perceptions of elementary and junior high school teachers regarding the application of character education in schools, the relevance of character to meaning in life and well-being, and the role of parents, teachers, and the surrounding community in supporting students’ character education, meaningfulness of life, and wellbeing
Based on the responses provided by the teachers, it is evident that character education has not been integrated into extracurricular activities, and in several cases has not been integrated into the school culture, even though it is best to conduct character education holistically and comprehensively (Astuti, 2010; Sudrajat, 2011)
This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions about character, meaning in life, and well-being
Summary
In positive psychology, Peterson & Seligman (2004) use the concept of character strength, which is an individual characteristic that can develop according to the socio-cultural conditions of the individual. The importance of developing positive character for individuals leads to further studies on how character can be developed through education. In Indonesian context, character education is a priority program since it is intended to equip Indonesia’s golden generation in 2045 (Rokhman et al, 2014). Character development provides positive benefits for students as well as the communities which make up their life context (Lerner, 2018). Teachers play an important role in the character development of students (Lestari, 2012). In character education, teachers act as designers, managers, implementers, directors, and evaluators of learning (Arifudin, 2015)
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