After preliminary discussion, the following propositions were adopted as a starting point:
First, 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 become and
includes, amongst other things, the virtues of responsibility, honesty, self-reliance,
reliability, generosity, self-discipline, and a sense of identity and purpose.
Secondly, there is no fixed set of values, easily measured or incapable of modification.
Thirdly, choices about conduct are selections about ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ actions and
thoughts.
Fourthly, character does not develop within a vacuum; in order to develop as a person an
individual needs to grow up in a culture, and the richer the culture the more mature a
person has a chance of becoming.
Fifthly, education is concerned with active character development, not simply the
acquisition of academic and social skills.
Lastly, at a conceptual level it is important to distinguish between the qualities of
character that define virtue from other qualities of the self, or person, which we are more
inclined to associate with notions such as personality.
Education is about active character development, not an exclusive process about the
acquisition of academic and social skills. It is ultimately about the kind of person a
student becomes and wants to become and this includes the moral, spiritual and religious
dimensions of life (Arthur, 2003 p 3).
Beyond these elements, a number of views were considered by the research team from
the outset as ideas that might need testing.
The tradition of virtue language has been eroded, and as a result an impoverished
discourse on character has contributed to a lack of coherence in the rationale of the
educational system. There is a lack of clarity in the moral objectives that schools set
themselves, especially in the area of personal responsibility. Practice in this area is rarely
evaluated. There is little support or training for teachers. Socially excluded groups of
young people are least likely to be involved in character development initiatives such as
volunteering. Moreover, while employers repeatedly call attention to lack of skills and
relevant knowledge in their new employees, they also point to the missing dimension of
personal ‘character’.
Schools and the wider educational system are subject to an understandable pressure to
provide the economy with functionally competent persons equipped to meet the
increasingly competitive demands of employment. In doing so schools may ignore or
take for granted another important dimension of education - the encouragement into
critical self-consciousness of the process by which a student learns to become aware of
himself or herself as a responsible person.
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