How do you eat an elephant?

 “...an education for character, competency and wellness is the reason why we do 'school'; it’s the whole work of a school.” Dr. Phil Cummins 

This week, we were delighted to welcome Dr. Phil Cummins to the North East. It was a privilege to hear from a world-leading expert on character education on a rare visit to the area from Australia. 

Having spent time with leaders from a large local trust on the first day of his visit, we invited leaders from across independent and state sectors to a multi-school ‘Vision, Values and Character’ conference on the second day of his whirlwind tour. The setting of the Common Room of the North provided a suitable backdrop as we explored themes of belonging and heritage. 

Dr. Cummins shared the findings from several of his international research projects, ensuring delegates gained a deep understanding of what is happening in the daily practice and culture of the best schools around the world, drawing on case studies from North America, Europe, South Africa, South-East Asia, New Zealand, and his original home country, Australia. 

Here are my 10 take-aways from an inspirational session:

1. Teaching for Character and Teaching for Academic Learning are not mutually exclusive.

Proponents of character education can be pigeon-holed as ‘wooly progressives’ in the progressive-traditionalist debates that occur across edu-twitter. However, this binary framing of academic and character development as mutually exclusive pursuits can be regressive. Educating for character is not about academic results OR character, but rather academic results AND character. In fact, all schooling needs to be both.

 “Surely the idea that education is about growing good people is not controversial?”

 2. The research suggests that around 75% of breakthroughs in character happen outside the classroom, typically in sport and extra-curricular activities. Furthermore, “the skills developed outside the classroom were invariably habituated inside the classroom”. 

3. A pedagogy of character should be approached as ‘experiential’: it is through experiences that character grows - are we giving our students enough access to these experiences?

4. ‘Leaders make decisions’: when we give responsibilities to students, do we think about whether they are managers of pre-determined, closed tasks, or genuine leaders with a voice in the process?

5. A common language is vital: this may differ from school to school, but once in place, the character-learning experiences can be made explicit and intentional. “We must use language that the community wants and understands”.

6. Character can be taught spontaneously or intentionally, explicitly or implicitly.

Imagine plotting activities on a 2-D set of graded axes from explicit-implicit to intentional-spontaneous. For example, a spontaneous situation may arise as an opportunity to teach a character lesson explicitly - think of the student who owns up for a misdemeanour so that their peers aren’t punished. Any teacher would take this as a chance for a spontaneous character lesson! However, we can also plan for intentional-implicit activities: think of sports fixtures against tough opponents, where character is needed as part of a team.

A useful reflective question for staff: how many of our activities are structured to intentionally develop character in an explicit manner?

7. Character Education is not faddish: “ask Aristotle”.

8. Character begins with belonging.  If the students don’t feel safe in the space you provide for them, they are unlikely to thrive. 

9. Character can be broken down into 3 aspects: civic, performance and moral. We reflected on the ways each of these aspects can be assessed: civic character must be assessed by the community; performance can be assessed by an external observer (think: teacher): moral character is self-assessed. When building activities, allow time for student self-evaluation; evaluation of others’ contribution to the group; and teacher assessment. 

10. Inspired to build activities / frameworks / common language for character?: “start small”.

 “How do you eat an elephant? ...one bite at a time”.

Next steps: we felt the beginnings of a community of action in the room, and resolved to meet again after some reflection time. This would provide an opportunity to discuss next steps and pilot activities in our settings, which ranged from Primary to Secondary and across Independent and State schools. 

My over-arching take-away from the day was that as educators, we all have the same end-goal in mind - the development and care of our young people. We can do this so much more effectively in partnership than in isolation.

You can read more of the work of Dr. Cummins at https://www.aschoolfortomorrow.com/  

Podcast

Game-Changers featuring Dr. Phil Cummins

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/game-changers/id1503430745

Books and publications

https://www.aschoolfortomorrow.com/publications