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report: It's who you are!
CHARACTER EDUCATION: THE FORMATION OF VIRTUES AND DISPOSITIONS IN THE 16-19 AGE RANGE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL
This research project was funded by the John Templeton Foundation. The overall aims of the study were first to understand how 16-19 year old students understood the concepts of virtues and values and what they perceived to be the main influences on the formation of their own characters and second to understand how schools can inhibit or facilitate the formation of virtues and values in this age group.
The research project comprised in depth case studies of three Sixth Form centres in one city in the south west of England between 2004 and 2006. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from students with teachers providing qualitative data as well as school documentation. The three Sixth Form centres selected for the study represented different forms of provision; the A Level centre of a General College of Further Education (FE College), a Church School Sixth Form and a Community School Sixth Form. The total number of students in the sampling frame was 551. This represented the whole population of year 12 students in the two schools and an opportunity sample of students in the College.
The research was undertaken in four phases with each phase building cumulatively on the previous one. First, preliminary theory building based on nine student focus groups provided data about how students understood values and virtues, followed by in-depth personal construct interviews with nine individuals, and semi structured interviews with ten teachers responsible for pastoral and academic development. Second, these data informed the construction of an 81-item questionnaire, which was subject to exploratory factor analysis to identify any key themes or patterns, which could be understood as dimensions of character. Third a cross sectional exploration of relationships was conducted relating the character dimensions to achievement and learning dispositions and finally nine students, who were identified as having 'high levels' of character, were interviewed for more detailed narrative explanation.
The findings emerging from the studies suggest a relational, dynamic, integral and critical vision for character education. It is relational because it is informed and shaped by the network of relationships, worldviews and traditions in which a student is located, with the most important being the most proximate and personal. It is dynamic, emerging over time and storied in the trajectory of a student's life, including their hopes and aspirations for the future. It is integral because it is embodied in an ongoing process of reflection on their own values, feelings and actions and those of others. Fourthly, it is critical because there is a tension between 'good' relating to human well being and 'bad' relating to oppression and violence and it is not always straightforward to distinguish between these, and this is reflected in the 'gaps' between espoused and practiced values on a personal, societal and global level.
To summarise, this enquiry offers findings in three crucial areas of character formation:
- 1. how young people today understand their moral identity
- 2. how education contributes towards the formation of character
- 3. what are the key influences on young people's character formation?
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