Learning for Life has been working alongside young people and teachers in Hodge Hill to
develop a series of teaching and learning materials that cover various aspects of character
education. The intention has been to build on the research findings to give a practical
response to the challenge of developing character in young people. Learning for Life ran
a series of workshops in Hodge Hill which encouraged young people from the
constituency to consider what character education means to them and why having values
and virtues matter. The young people were then challenged to co-develop and co-design
a series of resources. To date the following teaching and learning materials have been
created:
Character First Guide Many of the young people felt that they were under pressure to
do well academically at school, but they were given little credit for being a person of
good character. They expressed a concern that they might not get the jobs they wanted in
the future as they did not have high enough grades. As a response the students helped
create a guide for young people to show that employers were looking to recruit people
with academic skills, but also people with character. The students selected seven virtues
that they thought young people should possess to be good employees and each of these
was explained in the guide.
The Value-Able Teaching Pack The young people who attended the workshops felt
that they had never been taught about values in school. As a response the students co-
developed a set of teaching activities that would enable other students to discover what
values are and why they are important. The students were very keen that the lessons were
interactive and engaging and that they encouraged debate and discussion.
Character-Building Teaching Pack Many of the young people who attended the
workshops were worried about their lives after they left school. They felt they had
developed a character to survive school, but were unsure if they had developed a
character to thrive in an environment where there would be less structure and guidance.
They suggested creating a teaching resource that explored the character required to be a
successful member of society as well as a successful employee. The resources encourages
young people to think about who they are and who they want to be, and to think about
what character they will need to be successful as individuals as well as successful
members of a society.
Other resources that have been suggested by the young people in Hodge Hill and
are currently under development are 'Character and University writing a successful
UCAS application” and “Character and Volunteering developing yourself while
helping others”.
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