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

2. Care about neighbours

Quite a few people said they didn’t know or really care much about their
neighbours. Why is this and how could we change it?

This question followed up on the questions about neighbours in the first questionnaire. In
these discussions a majority of students said their neighbours were either distant or
troublesome. Individual students said that their neighbours were often disinterested,
careless, thoughtless or did not share the same standards. There were some neighbours
who were seen positively, particularly older neighbours, who were both respectful and
longstanding. Muslim students tended to get on better with their neighbours, for example
one student spoke of kind neighbours, ‘who brought round food for a meal’.

This inquiry led to questions about citizenship in the following questionnaire.

3. Influence of neighbourhood

Think about your local neighbourhood. Many people said that their neighbourhood
wouldn’t influence their behaviour. Why would they say that? Does your
neighbourhood affect your behaviour?

These questions were aimed at further exploring the features of the neighbourhood that
students lived in and how they might impact on good character. One response was that if
you didn’t acknowledge the reality of the neighbourhood around, you were somehow in
denial and therefore deluding yourself: ‘well it’s stupid isn’t it? I mean of course they are
kidding themselves that they are not being influenced. Of course they are’.

A significant group of students said that it was important to be influenced by their
neighbourhood, especially since it was so challenging. They concluded that not to be
influenced ‘would be strange’. Overall the neighbourhood was seen negatively. One
student said that there was very little in their environment to occupy students after the age
of 11.

These questions led to questions about society and character in the following
questionnaire

4. The effect of community and environment

In what ways does your community and environment affect you? And how do you
affect it?

These interviews revealed a strong sense of Islamic solidarity within the community.
There was also a strong concern expressed by the Muslim students that stereotypes of
Asians were widespread, ‘it’s on YouTube innit? They are always saying things about us,
making stuff up’.

Most students said that they wanted to be good, despite living in a neighbourhood with a
high level of economic and social problems. However, students said that there wasn’t

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