His major research activities currently involve the aspirations and character formation of young people in deprived areas. He is Director of Citized – an organisation (funded by the TDA) in higher education promoting citizenship and is Director of a major research project on young people’s values and character dispositions (see Learning for Life –www.learningforlife.org.uk and Citized – www.citized.info). He was a member of the National Forum for Values in Education and the Community. He has participated in various consultations with QCA about values education, and was a member of the History Task Group of the National Curriculum Council to revise the National Curriculum, and has since been a member of a sub-group of the Citizenship Working Party as well as a member of groups on citizenship and personal and social education in the DCSF and in the Teacher Development Agency.
Knowledge exchange and impact
James Arthur is Director of Citized (www.citized.info) and Learning for Life (www.learningforlife.org.uk) and he has produced a series of major research reports on citizenship and values education which have fed directly into policy decision making at national government level. He has also working with the City of Birmingham on a Young International Citizens Award. In addition he is leading and collaborating with the University of Birmingham Guild of Students and the City of Birmingham on volunteering provision for the Children’s University.
Recently, the University of Birmingham has launched the Heroes campaign to raise awareness regarding some of the current research that continue to address today’s key national and global challenges. At the School of Education our ground breaking research and evaluation of education is used to inform policy-makers, assist practitioners and enhance opportunities for all learners. James Arthur is one of the featured academic experts from the School of Education and he can be seen talking about his work on this webcast.
Selected publications
Academic Journal Articles
Arthur, J. (2011) Personal Character and Tomorrow's Citizens: Student Expectations of their Teachers, International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 50 No. 3, 184-189 DOI:10.1016/j.ijer.2011.07.001
Arthur, J. (2011) Inter-Cultural versus Inter-Religious Dialogue in a Pluralist Europe, Policy Futures in Education. Vol 9, No1, 74-80 DOI: 10.2304/pfie.2011.9.1.74
Arthur, J. (2011) Religious and Spiritual Markers in Community Involvement, British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN: 0141-6200. DOI:10.1080/01416200.2011.595914
Arthur, J. (2008) Learning Under the Cross: Legal Challenges to ‘Cultural –Religious Symbolism’ in Public Schools, Education and the Law, 20, 4, 337-350. ISSN: 0953-9964.
Authored Books
Arthur, J., and Lovat, T., (eds.) (forthcoming 2012) International Handbook of Religion and Values, Routledge, London.
Arthur, J., Waring, M., and Coe, R., (eds.) (forthcoming 2012) (eds.) Research Methods in Educational Research, Sage, London
Arthur, J. and Peterson, A., (2011) (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Education, Routledge, London.Arthur J., and Cremin, H., (2011) (eds.) Debates in Citizenship Education, Routledge,London.
Arthur, J. (2010). Of Good Character: Exploration of Virtues in Values in 3-25 Year Olds Exeter: Imprint Academic.
Arthur, J. (2010) New Direction in Character and Values Education Research, Imprint Academic, 250 pages, ISBN: 9781845402112.
Arthur, J. (2010) Education, Identity and Religion, London: Routledge.
Chapters in Books
Arthur, J. (2011) Is it appropriate to teach students about morality and values? (pp 100-107) in Lexman, J and Grist, M (2011) The Character Inquiry, London, DEMOS.
Publications 2008 - present (PDF, 132KB, opens new window)
Publications 2001 - 2007 (PDF 125KB, opens new window)