The role of religion in character education

‘Character education is not new’ remark American character educators Berkowitz and Bier in a seminal paper on the topic. Indeed, the ancient Greeks believed education should help a person form good habits, wisdom and right action for their own happiness and flourishing – as well as the good of society in general. Arguably, every civilisation since has also promulgated similar teachings and ideas about the development of the person. In the present, character education is even considered a ‘growing movement’, with projects in Latin America and elsewhere.

The new focus on character education in UK schools, however, is something new, at least under that name. Since last year, the Department for Education has instigated a system of grants available for developing character and the Church of England, in conjunction with the Department for Education, has recently issued a report on an innovative project for character education in schools. A principal actor in raising growing awareness of character education in the last five years has been the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, led by Professor James Arthur.

‘Character education’ is a broad term that defines a range of approaches and frameworks that aim to foster the moral actions, habits and understanding of students, and not just help them pass exams. Conceiving character education as the development of social and moral virtues – positive traits, habits and dispositions – is one popular approach, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics remains a standard text for the field.

Many character educators have argued, following Aristotle’s reasoning, that character education is for everyone. The virtues are self-evident and universal and will help anyone flourish in any context. But young people need the right school environment and good relationships with their teachers to build these virtues – otherwise they might become lost.

But what about the role of religion in this venture? The world’s religions have all, in some form or another, advanced similar ideas to the Christian concept of virtue and its classical precursors. However, character educators have been keen to promote character education as something more universal than instruction within the frame of one religion, in favour of conceiving and offering it as a noncontroversial and straightforward, ideologically neutral enterprise.

This raises perplexing questions for religious adherents and educators, and for those in favour of secular public education alike. Can the development of the whole person as a moral subject and actor be neutral? To what extent can an Aristotelian framework be justified or applicable to everyone today? Is the concept of virtue quasi-religious and conservative? How can character education work in diverse and plural contexts? Should religious people give up their own traditions’ view of moral development and its sources in favour of something more universal at school?

The Church of England’s Vision for Education, the result of a consultation led by the Cambridge Theologian David Ford, as part of a more general educational rationale, gives some answers to these questions from a Christian perspective. No vision of education is neutral, it is argued, and the public space should not function on a consensus or perceived common denominators, but on the principles of reasoned debate and respectful disagreement. The Christian vision for education is for all, but located in a particular tradition that values wisdom, hope, dignity and community.

Projects conducted in several schools by a team based in Canterbury Christ Church University led by Professor Trevor Cooling show how such a vision may be enacted. A qualitative study of teachers shows how distinctively Christian values may inform practice within secondary schools. Another project in primary schools examined the impact of a cross-curricular intervention promoting the Christian virtue of hospitality. With a powerful methodology using pre and post- tests measuring the attitudes of students to diversity, the project demonstrates that values located in a particular tradition may contribute to the common good.

The role of religion is always controversial in education. What is interesting about the role of religion in character education is that religion can provide a strong source for the anchoring of beliefs and aspirations. The virtue of hospitality is one such focus that obviously serves others as well as developing the character virtue of those practising hospitality.

It could be argued that at a time when intolerance appears to be rife, tolerance may not be enough to rebuke it. Appealing to the riches of religious traditions may offer a stronger solution. Professing Cooling sees this as ‘looking for the resources religion offers for living well together’. In this way, the contribution of a Christian vision of character education may be compatible with a more complex liberalism. Rather than erasing traditions in favour of a supposed universal consensus of neutral values, perhaps coexistence and education for diversity is better served by engaging more whole-heartedly in the positions in which we may already stand.