Nazir Moosa

Ethics Based Pedagogy – Theoretical Framework and Key Principles Behind its Integration into Mainstream Education with an Overview of the Models Developed by the Jubilee Centre for Character Education - University of Birmingham and University of Leeds Department of Education

Character Education is a concept that is as old as the child pedagogy itself and as such has been emphasized on by all religious and humanists’ traditions. These specifically outline a very detailed set of ethical virtues coupled with the structural framework of perpetual self-discipline which serve as a guiding principle on the path of bringing up a human being. 

The contemporary take on the character education deals with a question whether the ethical qualities such as for example courage, patience and self-discipline are a result of innate disposition or if they can be cultivated, and taught as a part of lifelong learning process that aims to improve the overall quality of the society which choses to live by a set of defined ethical standards. Some may argue that in a today’s contemporary society of the west with its secular, liberal, materialistic outlook and the near collapse of family and religious structure the need for the ethical pedagogy is more important than ever. Whatever the case might be  the UK education system has attempted to provide through the school curriculum a set of moral guidance and character building tools and packages to be delivered through the compulsory course of study. One of the modules of this specifically designed course is concerned with the citizenship and defining the role and a position of the youth in its interactions with the wider society. Given the contemporary challenges of security, globalization, social justice etc. developing young citizens characters through a set of defined and commonly accepted human core values is considered as one of the educational priorities. The primary focus of this paper will be the analysis of the programs and efforts which are most extensively researched, tested and which are directed toward helping children develop positive character traits in order to fulfil their maximum character development potential.  The models we propose to  evaluate are relatively  recent developments coming from a  multidisciplinary research centre for character and ethics in education – The Jubilee Centre based at the university of Birmingham, the University of Leeds Department of Education which is developing a pilot project based on a  follow up from the previous work on delivering character education in schools through a dedicated literary curriculum of Jubilee Centre and more commercialized programmes of The Value Based Education and Human Values Foundation.  Given that these programmes have run in educational settings for a number of years now we would like to evaluate how successful were they in engaging and influencing the society and what impact if any they had. The models appear to have had a significant academic output in terms of publications and research they have generated and it would be interesting to assess what tangible effect has that produced. The common core of the programmes is based on universally shared human values given the research backed conclusion that for a multiculturally diverse secular society where religiosity is of secondary importance these can be considered as most crucial predictors of a successful ethical pedagogical interventions. We will therefore assess the basis on which these are selected, for various models and what are the similarities and differences of the implementation process in the context of their underlaying philosophy be it an Aristotelian pedagogical ethics of Jubilee model or Christian Cardinal Virtues of Leeds University. 

The programmes use distinct sets of primary application tools consisting of specifically developed teacher resources, guided assessments and training material as well as academic subjects enriched curriculum that reinforces learning of virtue ethics and attempts to overcome the fragmentation that is quite often encountered in the multiple fields of knowledge. The necessity for a continuous teacher development and training has been recognized and accommodated for through the development of the online based distance learning master programmes and teacher inset training days carried out in school settings.  Finally, the paper will assess how successful was each of the programmes in bridging the gap between academe and the school community by evaluating its performance in various Independent/Mainstream/Faith schools that serve as Beacon educational examples. We will discuss how various schools approached delivery of character education with a particular emphasis on the similarities and differences in the approach between them. We will conclude the paper by having a brief overview of similar interventions internationally and look at the specific examples of models and programmes developed by various Centres for ethics research across the world.