In some primary schools we are also running
focus groups with children. The children
are encouraged to talk about what makes a
good person. The aim of this is to find out
how the children talk in their own words
about the moral properties of a person (e.g.
family member, a person they admire and
themselves). At the end of this discussion we
introduce the word “character” to see how,
or if, this changes the form of the discussion.
We also ask the teachers to rate the most
and least pronounced character strengths
noticed among all of the children they teach
in this year group so that we can compare
this with what the children tell us in the focus
groups.
Relating to both primary and secondary
schools, we want to know the extent to
which teachers feel that they are equipped
to develop moral character in their pupils.
This includes asking them about their initial
teacher training, the support they get from
school management and their levels of
confidence dealing with moral situations in
school. We also want to know about their
own views on the possibility of teaching or
developing character in schools, and if they
do think this is possible how this should be
done, what the content might be, and the
barriers that are working against this?
Request for Help
It is really important that we carry out this
research in a wide variety of schools that
represent all different types of educational
experiences that children might encounter.
Many schools have kindly taken part, but
we still need many more, both primary and
secondary. Please contact the author of
this article (Dr David Walker) by telephone
or email if you would like your school to
be included in this important project. We
expect that results from the research will
help to inform future educational policy
- especially in making a shift towards
developing the “whole child” Participating
.
schools will be provided with reports based
on the data collected for their school.
These reports will not identify individual
participants, but may prove useful for
identifying trends or specific areas of need.
We will also publish a final research report
covering all of the schools we have visited –
again individual schools will not be named.
This article draws heavily on the Jubilee
Centres Character Education Framework.
ethos magazine
• their clarity of purpose for character
education in school;
• training and development received in
relation to moral aspects of teaching;
• their views on the teacher as a moral
person and moral educator;
• their views on the kinds of character that
might be developed and what