Research Background

The underlying theory which guides our research is as follows:

For the purposes of this research programme we define character education in the following way. First, we believe that there is such a thing as character, an interlocked set of personal values and virtues which normally guide conduct. Character is about who we are and who we are becoming; it includes the virtues of responsibility, honesty, generosity, self-reliance, self-discipline and a sense of identity and purpose. Second, that this is not a fixed set, easily measured or incapable of modification. Third, choices about conduct are choices about ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ actions, intentions and thoughts. Our understanding of character formation does not imply lack of individual consent or personal participation. Our argument is that active character development if not simply about the acquisition of academic and social skills; it is about human beings having a purpose that is beyond being an instrument or tool in social processes. This is not achieved within a vacuum; in order to become a person, an individual needs to grow up in a culture, and the richer the culture the more of a person he or she has a chance of becoming.

In contemporary British education the social efficiency and scientific management paradigm is still a powerful influence on the practice of education in schools, and is deeply embedded in teachers’ enduring and hidden beliefs and values. However, attention to the matter of personal responsibility for oneself, for society and for the environment involves more than can be defined within such limited perspectives. Education needs to be seen as a lifelong process involving families, schools, communities and employers in an ethical, political and social framework concerned with personal well-being, moral sensitivity, good citizenship and the flourishing of human society. In a word, we need to discover or perhaps recover a language in which we can publicly discuss and personally appreciate human character. Enterprise is now, mistakenly we believe, confined in the public mind to the matter of making money and being successful in business. What greater enterprise could there be than commitment to the living of a useful life and the development of the character to enable it!

We live in an age of celebrity in which the tendency is to celebrate personality rather than character. It too easily follows that the nearest we often get to a meaningful human life is to live for personal gratification – where this may precisely mean attracting as much ego-massaging attention to ourselves as possible. The modern enlightenment morality of social restraint and obligation and the post-modern ethics of personal expression and fulfilment present us with two equally distorting and unattractive pictures of the way in which moral considerations enter into human life. The result is a reduction of moral judgement to a form of consequentialism by which calculation of private or group benefit is regarded as the best if not the only guide of behaviour. We regard this as destructive of character and the possibility of the good life.

We believe that focus on character presents a way forward. A strong emphasis on character development provides a counterbalance to the worse aspects of scientific managerialism current in educational policy and practice. It also picks up the better aspects of individualism current in society as a whole.

Character development can be seen in terms of developing virtues in individuals. It would be counterproductive to impose at the outset an overall template for operationalising these virtues. This is in part because it would limit investigation of whether a particular set of virtues, whether emanating from Plato or elsewhere, does in fact give an adequate overview of character development and in part because any one virtue is a very complex construct. Developing a virtue is not just a matter of training people mechanistically to behave in an appropriate way. It also involves developing understandings and values. The virtue of justice, for example, cannot be reduced to particular forms of behaviour. It must involve valuing things as much because they serve the interests of others as much as one’s own. It must involve seeing as worthwhile in itself a balance between the interests of all and especially of the weak. Someone whose character fully exhibits such justice, in pursuing the things that are valuable and worthwhile, will go beyond forms of behaviour that others would have prescribed. The balance between the various components may be very different for different virtues.

The development of an individual’s character is not a matter of mere compliance. A person of character is one who makes moral choices about right and wrong actions, intentions and thoughts. These choices are real and relate to the person into which the individual is developing not to a predetermined target personality set down by some curricular authority or spiritual leader. Academic and social skills can be useful adjuncts to character, enabling such choices to be followed through. But character itself is more than a matter of skills and far more than a series of prescribed responses to routine situations.

The aim of this project is to conduct research on two fronts: first to explore descriptively the current situation with regard to character development, the way in which the view of character and character development changes as young people in England mature; secondly to investigate through interventions forms of moral education that place a central emphasis on character. Findings of the descriptive research will inform work on the second.

The pilot study that we conducted in Bristol has shown qualitative subtlety and quantitative complexity can usefully be combined when investigating this area. It also showed a need to avoid excessive theorisation at an early stage. Data from the pilot study relating to young people aged 16 to 18 will be re-examined alongside new data relating to children in infants schools, children passing from junior to secondary schools and young people at university or of equivalent age. The evolution of the three new investigations will be carefully monitored to ensure that interpretation of results is not unduly influenced by findings elsewhere, whilst also ensuring that all four investigations contribute to an overall understanding. The outcome will be an insight into how best to structure our thinking about character development, which virtues if any are important for emphasis at each age and how they might best be construed or operationalised. The result may not be a single neat package, but it will be an effective guide to thinking about moral education.