Youngsters learn strategic negotiating skills from one another and their carers as they acquire a sense of moral awareness, a key University of Birmingham and Canterbury Christ Church University study into child development has found.
Early childhood years lay the groundwork for character development, as families, early educational professionals and peers play a vital role in shaping children’s moral awareness, said Professor James Arthur, of the University of Birmingham’s School of Education.
The findings, detailed in Foundations of Character, researched and co-authored by Dr Sacha Powell and Dr Hsing Chiung Lin of Canterbury Christ Church University, are being unveiled in the House of Lords on Friday, May 21, by Lord Watson of Richmond, chairman of Learning for Life.
It is the fifth study carried out by Professor Arthur and his research team that investigate the values and character development of children and young people.
Foundations of Character explores development in early childhood. It focuses on children, who were all aged between 36 and 48 months old when the study began in June 2008, as well as their parents, carers, professional carers and teachers.
Professor Arthur, Professor of Education and Civic Engagement, said it was clear that the way children negotiate with one another reveals that they are aware of moral complexities and have a sense of one another as well as of themselves.
“Character is about who we are and who we become. It is an interlocked set of personal values and virtues which normally guide conduct and includes the virtues of responsibility, honesty, self-reliance, reliability, generosity, self-discipline, and a sense of identity and purpose,” he said.
The team carried out a total of 86 days’ worth of observations with the youngsters, all of whom were from rural Kent and London, and found that through the children’s varied and complex interactions, they demonstrated that they: