7.00pm on a Sunday evening is a sacred time for many viewers as they watch the valiant, if eccentric, Doctor travel through time and space to battle mysterious aliens and injustice. I am usually found in a different corner of the living room during this time, but at a recent episode, I found myself completely... Continue Reading →
Religious Education teachers should have ‘a tremendous sense of humour and a hide like a rhinoceros’, wrote Bernard R Youngman in 1953. The most successful author of RE textbooks in his day, Youngman was commenting on the qualities RE teachers needed to negotiate the lowly status of RE as a curriculum subject, and the contested... Continue Reading →
A Review of The Character Conundrum: How to Develop Confidence, Independence and Resilience in the Classroom by Matt Lloyd-Rose The Character Conundrum by Matt Lloyd-Rose (Oxford: Routledge, 2018) is presented as a practical guide for schools and school teachers which outlines how they can develop character in their students and support the development of... Continue Reading →
The opening lines of A Framework for Character Education in Schools state that, while parents/guardians are the primary educators of their children’s character, they want all adults who have contact with their children to contribute to that education, especially their children’s teachers. Motivating a new stream of research at the Jubilee Centre for Character and... Continue Reading →
“The standards that govern professional practice are becoming meaningless. These conditions are central to the level of disengagement among professionals from the public, which marks the virtue gap between the professions and the people they are meant to serve” (ResPublica: In Professions We Trust, 2015). The professions hold a unique place in the public eye,... Continue Reading →
Psychologists have acquired newfound interest in examining moral development since Kohlberg’s famous studies in the 80s. Likewise, there has, in the last few decades, been a resurgence of interest in character education. We know a lot about how moral understanding and moral emotions develop. Yet the crucial question of what motivates moral behaviour, especially in... Continue Reading →
“If we want character education to be embedded within our curriculum and practised in our schools then it needs to be included in teacher training and explicitly developed and recognised in the assessment of trainee teachers. It also needs to be reflected and enhanced in ongoing continuing professional development for teachers” Nicky Morgan MP (Taught... Continue Reading →
Before coming to the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, I spent three years training and working as a secondary school teacher. Working in this role fuelled my conviction for character education within schools and allowed me valuable insight into the concerns that teachers have about the idea of its implementation. This blog explores those... Continue Reading →
Think about the last thing you did to help someone else or the environment. It might be doing the food shop for your elderly neighbour, setting up a change.org petition, or volunteering at the local Park Run on a Saturday. Did you enjoy it? Did you feel it challenged you? Did you see the benefit... Continue Reading →
The Godfather of Poker, Doyle Brunson, once said, ‘Poker actually isn’t about winning or losing; poker is about making the right decision.’ In my opinion, this is a very versatile saying. For example, if you were to substitute the word poker for life, you would have a quote worthy of an inspirational fridge magnet. Such... Continue Reading →
The newly published Flourishing From the Margins research report published yesterday (October 26th) provides a rich and comprehensive dataset for the study of character development in marginalised young people. The literature review that began the study found a gap in the research of marginalised, and sometimes NEET, young people, with a dearth of studies considering... Continue Reading →
The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership (CEFL) launched their Leadership of Character Education report at their National Conference in September. At the conference practitioners presented new character education initiatives used within their own schools; overviews of short case studies illustrated schools’ diverse approaches to, and examples of character education provision in both primary and... Continue Reading →
A new research report, launched on September 28 by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, reveals that NHS pressures are hindering ethical practice and caring among UK nurses. The new research reveals that eight in ten nurses face barriers to working in a caring and compassionate manner, and that staff reductions, time pressures and... Continue Reading →
A new research report, launched on September 27 by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham, identifies honesty and integrity as important virtues for experienced business professionals, but finds such an awareness lacking among undergraduates, for whom financial aspirations trump any references to moral virtues or the common good. There... Continue Reading →
The teaching profession's reaction to the recent publication of the Department of Education’s (DfE) report Developing Character Skills in Schools can best be described as mixed. The survey, the DfE’s first foray into the field of empirical research on character education provision, was completed by 880 education institutes, and the report has produced some interesting... Continue Reading →
It is gratifying for us working in the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues to see how the newly-published Summary Report by the Department for Education on ‘Developing Character Skills in Schools’ (August, 2017) cites our work repeatedly as providing leading theoretical insights into character education in UK schools. Kudos for work well done is... Continue Reading →
Throughout the ages there have been debates about gender differences in ethical decision making, from Aristotle to Aquinas to Freud. These arguments generally centre on the different ways men and woman make judgments when faced with a moral dilemma. Freud claims (1999, p. 237) that ‘in women the measure of what is ethically normal is... Continue Reading →
In this vlog, philosopher Julia Annas discusses the concept of Aristotelian flourishing and examines what exactly does it mean to live a flourishing life? Talking about the necessary conditions of what it is to flourish, Julia asserts that money and success are not necessarily the key components to lead a flourishing life. Julia Annas is... Continue Reading →
The Jubilee Centre has just launched its new animated introductory film, produced by Handshake Studios. The film introduces viewers to the Jubilee Centre’s approach to character and virtues and asks the question ‘what would it take for society to truly flourish?’ https://youtu.be/07jEYUqbbQc
In this vlog, Professor Thomas Lickona discusses the teaching of character education to children and the challenges that teachers face. Drawing on his own experiences, Professor Lickona uses the story of one troubled boy to illustrate how a service to others can have a positively transformative effect on the behaviour and outlook of young people.... Continue Reading →
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