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Character development is arguably one of the most consequential of all life skills. Yet it is rarely taught in schools or universities and has only recently gained prominence in curriculum-related discourse.
Professor James Arthur OBE, Founder and Former Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues is working hard to change this.
Since establishing the Centre in 2012, James has expanded its size, scope and impact, and is seeking a resurgence of character education in schools and universities.
He claims, without it, students are deprived of cultural and moral confidence about what makes a life worth living.
“A person’s character can set the tone for their relationships, and their social and professional endeavours,” he said.
“As Leon Kass summarises it, ‘[…] we are super-competent when it comes to efficiency, utility, speed, convenience, and getting ahead in the world: but we are at a loss concerning what’s it all for’.”
Should not be left to chance
While all education centres play a role in shaping character, James says few teach it explicitly, instead either leaving it to chance, or simply hoping students will adopt the values of their mission statement.
With this approach, he says there can be knock-on effects for students and the community.
“Leaving students to take responsibility for their own ethical growth, on the basis that it is a personal choice, may not promote the common good of society or help students flourish.
“The person you become, because of the total experience of being a student, means that we should not leave the fostering of qualities to chance.
“If schools are only teaching competence, knowledge, and skills, that is not sufficient to achieve the aims school mission statements often set themselves, or the value that employers and students are seeking.”
Approach
James said character education has many layers but should generally seek to answer two key questions.
“Universities and schools should encourage students to ask, who am I and how should I live?” he said.
“By character we decide not just what we ought to do, but who we ought to become.”
This line of thinking – known as the Aristotelian approach – endorses the idea that we can change ourselves with reason.
“It teaches us that we can create new habits of thinking, feeling, and doing, to build flourishing lives.”
Framework
Beyond this, schools and universities need a systematic approach to character education, James said.
After a lifetime of interest in citizenship education, he developed his own character framework – and it has since gained international recognition.
“It all began after I attended some of the White House Conferences in character building, led by President Clinton in 1995. In his welcome speech Clinton said that he personally longed for the day when there was once again a regular part in the school curriculum of every school in America that promoted character education.
“Anyway, I needed a framework for what I sought out to do and produced one based on 17 years of experience in the field – it took time.”
The Framework classifies the virtues into distinct but overlapping categories:
• Intellectual virtues relate to the pursuit of truth, knowledge and understanding.
• Civic virtues concern the engagement of institutions and individual students in their local, national, and global contexts.
• Moral virtues relate to the need for students to have a clear ethical awareness in their academic work and wider life, as well as a sense of purpose.
• Performance strengths concern the character traits that have an instrumental value in enabling the intellectual, moral, and civic virtues.
• Practical wisdom is an intellectual meta-virtue that guides the other virtues.
The cultivation of practical wisdom holds different virtues together.
Further insight
Sharing more on this framework, including how it is ‘caught, taught, and sought’, James Arthur will present the Keynote Opening Address at this year’s The Australian Character Education Summit in October.
Learn more and register your tickets here.
About James Arthur
James Arthur OBE is Former Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues and Chair of the Society for Educational Studies in the UK.
Previously, he was Head of the School of Education, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor and Editor of the British Journal of Educational Studies.
He is currently Faculty Affiliate in the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and holds numerous honorary titles in the academe, including Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Oxford.
James was made an Officer of the British Empire by the Queen in 2018.
He has written widely on the relationship between theory and practice in education, particularly the links between character, virtues, citizenship, religion and education.
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