The Values and Character Dispositions of 14-16 Year Olds in the Hodge Hill Constituency

4. If a person is honest what might they be thinking, ie. if they see a wallet on
the pavement, what might they think?

The majority of students said they would return the wallet. This could be interpreted as
giving the socially acceptable answer, but this does not appear to be what was happening.
One or two students in each group even said they would either ‘just’ take the money or
the entire wallet. Some students said they would feel sad for the victim or feel proud of a
good act. Students felt able to talk easily about pocketing the wallet, ‘I would take the
money and dash the wallet’, which tends to indicate a strong feeling that one had a moral
right to be dishonest in this kind of instance. This appeared to be what individuals
actually thought rather than group compliance since they were prepared to debate and
disagree with each other.

5. In the classroom how can you tell when a teacher is being fair? How do you
tell or recognise fairness in people?

Respondents recognised fairness in teachers as consistency, consistent behaviour,
followed by watching and determining in teacher actions a willingness to listen, a
positive attitude and an ability to provide a sense of security. Students talked about
recognising fairness as sensing ‘a kind of atmosphere’ generated around the teacher.
Many students found it difficult to articulate any response. Many responses were
anecdotal, but there was general agreement in answers to this question.

6. What do you think a citizen is? How do you understand citizenship?

Students saw a citizen simply ‘as a person in the community’. Some thought it is about
law, morals, care and responsibility. They saw citizenship contributing to society but
were uninterested in the subject with some saying there is no real sense of community.
Descriptions and definitions of a citizen were rudimentary at best with barely a single
student managing a coherent response. The Bristol study noted that kindness, care,
fairness, trustworthiness and respect were central to having a good character but none of
these character qualities were mentioned in this study in relation to being a citizen.

7. What do you think of your neighbours?

The intention was to get students to say more about the community and the impact it has
on them and their character. Responses came easily and were passionate and genuine.
Students alluded to cases of loud music and aspects of the behaviour of chaotic
neighbours as exhibiting anti-social behaviour, ie. ‘There are these Chinese people who
do Karaoke and it’s so loud.’ Examples of good interacting neighbours were fewer, -
‘Mine are nice. They are old people’.

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