What is character education?
Character education means educating to nurture a set of traits that will sustain a rich and rewarding life and contribute to a thriving society. Simple! The Jubilee Centre is a leading academic institution working on this area if you want the definitions and frameworks….
Why is it important?
Apart from perhaps the obvious statement that we all want our children to live rewarding lives, there is evidence that it is becoming an increasingly important area for recruiters. It has been noted that some employers take character education so seriously, that they are recruiting qualification-blind. ie demonstrable character traits are trumping exams when it comes to employing people. Character education is also becoming an increasingly important consideration in our schools and in school admission policies. Some schools have started suggesting that they are looking at assessing explicitly on the basis of character traits.
So what does character education actually consist of?
There are a number of ways of defining character education so it depends on the organisation and their aims. However, it might consist of nurturing some of the following attributes:
- resilience
- creativity
- determination
- humility
- courage
- adaptability
- self-organisation
- patience
- gratitude
- integrity
- good decision-making
- etc
How do you teach character education!?
Much has been written about this, but from a parenting, family or small scale perspective, you might consider the following:
- virtue literacy: talking explicitly about these traits and using the language
- teachable moments: finding opportunities to notice when people are demonstrating (or not) the traits you are trying to encourage
- autonomous reasoning: encouraging reflection to lead someone to their own conclusions about the merits of these traits
- ensuring belonging: a sense of belonging in a family or community or group is an important part of nurturing these traits
- valuing character: ensuring that the balance of praise and conversation gives weight to the importance of these traits (versus, for example, exam results, activity at any cost or inadvertently exalting the opposite of the values you are trying to encourage!)
Transformational or transactional school education?
Schools – to varying degrees – do teach character education, both formally and informally. But even outside “PSHE” and the odd teacher conversation, it is worth considering the purpose of education more broadly.
Do we learn maths to allow us to do quadratic equations for the rest of our lives? For many of us (myself included!), the answer is no. The rationale for learning maths is partly because it underpins the development of logical and critical thinking; teaches determination, resilience and patience; and helps practise self-organisation. (You may think self-organisation has little to do with quadratic equations, but when you have rows of working out going in all directions and with no order, I can guarantee it doesn’t help the final outcome). English too, may not be everyone’s idea of fun. However, creativity, understanding others’ viewpoints, open-mindedness and – in some cases – gratitude, may well be nurtured from reading and discussing literature. This is transformational education rather than transactional education…
Character education and expectation
One experienced Head explained how at the end of school everyday, she would dismiss her infants with the whisper, “You’ve had a lovely day.”. Five seconds later, the infant would be greeted by the parent asking, “How was your day?”, to which the child would invariably reply, “I’ve had a lovely day.” This would invariably lead to a conversation about why the day was lovely and the child would likely talk about something positive (there is always something positive in a busy day), thereby setting up the expectation that school was a positive place.
Expectation shapes us. If you are constantly told you are inpatient, you are likely to live up to this expectation. Consider the following list, inspired by Lao Tau:
- thoughts, turn into
- words, which turn into
- actions, which turn into
- habits, which turn into
- character, which turns into
- destiny.
The words and expectations we have around our children are important. If you’re like me, this may feel a little daunting! But one chunk at a time…
Character education ideas for home
- Challenge our own negative thoughts
- Challenge our children’s negative words as well as actions – words lead to actions
- Consider changing one habit to better nurture a character trait in the list above
- Consider actively using some of the language around virtues and character traits
- Consider instigating quiet moments within the week – whether a full-out digital detox day; some prayer or meditation time; or just some face-to-face, quiet conversation with some character education substance to it.
- Consider pointing out / discussing / reflecting on genuine beauty: art, nature, music. Stop and pause. It demonstrates a reflective quality which is increasingly lost in the modern world.
- Reflect on particular areas of life where character education might have meaning for your family. eg on the sports pitch. (And for inspiration in this area, you might take a peek at Working with Parents in Sport)
- Consider the end goal for your children: not the defined life choices, but the character traits which will allow them to make their own strong life choices. There are a number of books on the market, but a rather old-fashioned, but endearing book, is How to Raise an Adult. Just having the title hanging around is somehow helpful…
Finally, this blog was inspired by a conference on Thursday 5th October 2023, hosted by Sir Anthony Seldon, entitled Character Education. My thanks to the speakers and delegates for the input! If you would like to discuss further, please contact me.
