ISSUES
: Body Confidence
Chapter 2: Self-esteem
36
To build children’s character, leave self-
esteem out of it
An article from
The Conversation
.
By Kristján Kristjánsson, Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics Deputy
Director, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham
I
n the last few months the UK’s two main political
parties have entered into an apparent bidding war
over which of them can elevate the teaching of
character highest on their educational agendas before
the next general election.
With an extra flourish, the secretary of state for education,
Nicky Morgan, announced a £3.5 million fund to “place
character education on a par with academic learning” for
pupils. This money will be spent on scaling-up existing
initiatives and funding more research into character
education.
This is good news. But a more worrying feature of the
recent debate about character education is the apparent
return of self-esteem and self-confidence as virtues to
be cultivated at school.
In an article I wrote earlier this year for
The Conversation
,
I warned against the unduly restrictive focus in character
education on performance virtues, such as grit and
resilience. This is being done at the expense of other
character virtues – both moral, such as honesty and
compassion, and intellectual, such as curiosity and love
of learning. After all, who wants the resilience of the
repeat offender?
Judging from recent coverage of debates around
character education, this criticism is still valid in critiques
of the views of character expressed both by Morgan, and
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt.
That said, a closer look at the full text of Morgan’s
Priestley Lecture at the University of Birmingham and
Hunt’s speech at a recent joint Demos–Jubilee Centre
conference reveals a more expansive view of character
as both steadfastly laden with values and intrinsically
important for a well-rounded, flourishing life.
Consciously building character
Some red herrings still survive in these waters. The terms
“soft” and “non-cognitive” skills are relentlessly swirled
around as designators of character virtues, at least of
the performance kind. I hope this is just a language issue
– politicians and journalists share a love of short and
catchy phrases – because from an academic standpoint
both terms are terrible misnomers.
Character traits are notoriously resistant to change, at
least after middle to late childhood. There is a lot of truth
in the words of Nobel Prize Laureate J M Coetzee that,
What is character education?
Source: A framework for chararcter education in schools, Jubilee Centre, Accessed 12 September 2016.
‘[...] the ultimate aim of character education is the development of good sense or practical wisdom: the capacity to choose
intelligently between alternatives.’
Moral virtues
Those which enable us
to respond well to
situations in any area
of experience.
Examples: courage;
compassion for others;
gratitude; justice; honesty;
humility/modesty;
self-discipline; tolerance;
respect; integrity.
Civic virtues
Those necessary for
engaged and
responsible citizenship.
Examples: service;
neighbourliness, citizenship;
community awareness and
spirit; volunteering; social
justice.
Performance virtues
Behavioural skills and
psychological
capacities that enable
us to put the other
virtues into practice.
Examples: resilience,
perseverance, grit and
determination; leadership;
teamwork; motivation/
ambition; confidence.
Intellectual virtues
Those required for the
pursuit of knowledge,
truth and
understanding.
Examples: reflection; focus;
critical thinking, reason and
judgement; curiosity;
communication;
resourcefulness;
openmindedness.
Flourishing individuals and society
Practical Wisdom / Good Sense / Phronesis
Knowing what to want when the demands of two or more virtues collides.
