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 →
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 →
It is often claimed that the world in which we live is full of cruelty, ruthlessness and violence. Media reports on violence among students often paint a bleak picture of teachers and the school environment struggling to cope with manifestations of aggression among young people. It was such a news story, which reported on an... Continue Reading →
The art of cinema is the art of telling stories. For thousands of years we have used the persuasive power of stories to build cultures, imbed morals and to understand what it is to be human. From Jesus’ parables to Grimm’s fairy tales, stories resonate with us on a far deeper level than rhetoric. Today,... Continue Reading →
The goals of character building in East Asian countries is often presented as a shared cultural construct and positioned within an East-West dichotomy. However, it is not at all clear that East Asian forms of character education are as easily identifiable and distinct or that they always transcend national and cultural values. The former Secretary... Continue Reading →
Money, it is said, makes the world go round and the individuals who generate pounds, dollars and yuan are rarely out of the news. The world’s largest economy, the United States, is now run by a veteran businessman rather than a career politician. The elevation of billionaire Donald Trump to the Oval Office has ensured... Continue Reading →
Several years ago, I started to include philosophical discussions in my art classes, driven by my desire to deepen pupils’ moral reflection on art projects. I established a community of inquiry in groups of 8th grade pupils, and the first artwork I proposed was René Magritte’s “Not to be reproduced” from 1937. Given the paradoxical... Continue Reading →
There was public disquiet when a BBC investigation revealed exploited child refugees from war-torn Syria were being used to make clothes for major British stores. The “sweatshop” factories in Turkey were reportedly using children as young as 15 to work 12 hours a days, ironing garments for sale. Some workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals,... Continue Reading →
The value of engaging young people in positive social action has been working its way up the political agenda for some time. An independent review into youth social action launched by former Prime Minister David Cameron led to the #iwill campaign, which aims to harness the creativity, energy and talents of 10 to 20-year-olds for... Continue Reading →
In this Vlog, Professor Marvin W Berkowitz, Professor of Character Education at University of Missouri – St Louis, talks about the drawbacks of taking a purely pedagogical approach to Character Education. If the aim of Character Education is to develop children into good people, then Professor Burkowitz suggests that we need to adopt more sociological... Continue Reading →
On my first day of Army Basic Training back in 1998, my senior drill sergeant had us all in formation. We had just finished doing somewhere in the region of 10,000 press-ups and he said to us in a very calm, slow, and steady voice, “Privates… there are three things you have to do in... Continue Reading →
Professor Howard Curzer was a keynote speaker at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues’ annual conference at Oriel College, Oxford. Here, as Donald Trump is finally inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, Prof Curzer, of Texas Tech University, talks to journalist Richard McComb about the role of Aristotle in a “post-truth” world.... Continue Reading →
When my son was little, his aunt sent him a VHS tape of a TV character; Barney the purple dinosaur. At the end was an “educational” message from Sandy Duncan, a celebrity attached to the series: “And remember kids, real friends come and go but imaginary friends are forever.” I almost put my foot through... Continue Reading →
University of Birmingham School principal Michael Roden talks to Richard McComb There cannot be many homework planners where one of the most prominent pages asks pupils: “What virtues have you shown today?” Below the question, embedded in a heart shape, are words such as kindness, courage, service, resilience, honesty, loyalty and kindness. Anchoring the page,... Continue Reading →
Being totally absorbed, feeling optimally challenged and concentrated – these are just a few of the characteristics that constitute flow, defined as a personal experience marked by deep enjoyment and total immersion in what one does. Nine dimensions have been described to make up the flow experience: a balance between challenges and one’s skills the... Continue Reading →
“This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful.”[1] These were the words of US first lady Michelle Obama on the Hillary Clinton campaign trail in New Hampshire last month. The speech, widely lauded as one of the best of the campaign, focused on the conduct of Clinton’s Republican opponent Donald Trump, in particular his... Continue Reading →
The dying art of letter writing and the simple act of saying “thank you” are being revived in a national award scheme for children run by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. The Thank You Letter Awards encourage primary and secondary pupils to put pen to paper and express gratitude to an inspirational group... Continue Reading →
This year has seen some terrific football triumphs as underdogs Leicester won the Premiership and Wales out-performed England at the European Championships. But the last week of September 2016 will go down in English football infamy. Newly-appointed national team manager Sam Allardyce left his “dream job” by mutual consent after only 67 days in post,... Continue Reading →
What is the most important moral lesson in a school’s character curriculum? According to American educational psychologist Thomas Lickona, it is the idea that teachers can only cultivate children’s character if they display it themselves. While we have all heard the mantra that virtue is first “caught” and then “taught”, I doubt whether the meaning... Continue Reading →
