What are schools for? Life-skills, careers, character and love-of-learning

Written By: Author(s): Jason Metcalfe
3 min read
There is no agreed definition for character (e.g. compare Jerome and Kisby 2019 with Kristjansson 2015), which is but one reason why numerous character education programmes exist (Arthur, 2003). There is general agreement however, that character refers to the individual dispositions, strengths or traits that we possess, called virtues. Examples of virtues include, amongst others: confidence, curiosity, determination and service. Virtues tend to be grouped in clusters (Kristjansson, 2015), and there are several frameworks which attempt to group the virtues (see Lucas, 2019). Love-of-learning, one of 24 character strengths identified by Peterson and Seligman (2004), is incorporated into one of these frameworks; the Values in Action (VIA) Institute on Character Inventory of Strengths (Lucas, 2019). Character education is not a new idea (Department for Education (DFE) 2019a), but references to character in the recent Ofsted Inspection Handbook highlight that the idea is receiving seriou

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