Character: caught, taught and sought

Character is what makes us, us. It is the essential human qualities, such as courage, integrity, resilience and practical wisdom that helps ensure we flourish throughout our lives.

Every school shapes the character of its pupils. The key question is whether they do this well or not. One of the key activities of the Jubilee Centre is to help schools take a more intentional, explicit and planned approach to character education, to help ensure children and young people develop the necessary qualities to thrive in their studies, future work and life.

School systems often concentrate on exams and test results, but our research shows that both teachers and parents want to bring back a focus on who you become, not just what you know.

Character is part and parcel of everything schools do. It cannot be viewed as another thing on the plate - it should be the plate itself. Research shows that character is linked to improved, attainment, behaviour and wider life outcomes. This means it should be part of the core school ethos, taught through and within all subjects and explicit in extra-curricular and community-based activities.

The Jubilee Centre has developed an award-winning framework for schools. It’s not a blueprint or an off-the-shelf toolkit. One of the key ideas is about how we are agents of our own character development.

Character virtues develop in three main ways in schools: they are caught, taught and sought. They are caught through the everyday culture of a school, positive relationships, and the example set by staff and peers. They are taught through lessons, activities, and resources in the curriculum. And they are sought through experiences that pupils choose or take part in, both inside and outside school. For example, courage might be caught when pupils see teachers standing up for what is right, taught through discussions about moral courage in literature or history lessons, and sought when a student chooses to perform in a school play despite feeling nervous or tries something new like representing their school in a competition.

There is good evidence that certain character strengths, such as gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion, when expressed in the right way and at the right time, can have positive benefits for people’s mental health. Pro-social activities that foster a sense of belonging and purpose can also contribute to people’s overall sense of flourishing.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping education, not only by offering new tools but by challenging long-standing assumptions about teaching, learning and assessment. As a result, attention is shifting towards what education should prioritise instead, with growing emphasis on human judgement, wisdom and character.

Intellectual virtues help students evaluate AI outputs critically, moral virtues support academic integrity and fairness, civic virtues sustain collaboration and community, and performance virtues foster resilience in the face of challenge. Ultimately, AI highlights the importance of practical wisdom: the ability to judge what is worth doing and why in a technologically powerful world. The Jubilee Centre is currently undertaking research on this topic, which is being utilised by the University to inform its response to AI.

School leaders, teachers, parents and other educators can access free resources and research from the Jubilee Centre and even join an eight-week online CPD course, Leading Character Education in Schools.

Parents can also get advice on how to support pupils from age 12 onwards who may want to consider if going to university is a good option for them. 

The University of Birmingham School has prioritised character education from its inception eleven years ago. Billie, who graduated from Year 11 in 2020, shared how character education influenced her.

Billie said: ‘Character education played a big role in helping me become who I am today. It gave me the tools to reflect, set goals, bounce back from challenges and understand the importance of qualities like respect, empathy and integrity especially in the line of work I am in (NHS paramedic).’

‘In my role, I rely on compassion, empathy, resilience, determination and teamwork every single day. These virtues aren’t just useful – they are essential. Whether I’m treating a critical patient or comforting someone in distress, these values guide how I act and respond in every situation.’