ERASMUS+

CHARACTER MATTERS: VALUES AND VIRTUES

Today's society is flooded with incivility, insults, bullying, self-centeredness, abuse, the breakdown of families and violence. You can add technology addiction, substance abuse, materialism and dishonesty, and it seems clear that our schools cannot be ethical bystanders. Most people see the problem, but there are few widespread commitments to do something about it. Our classrooms are a kaleidoscope of students, all with needs for recognition, self-worth, empathy and belonging. And our curriculum, however, seems to be caught up in the constant pressure to raise test scores nowadays. But should it be our mission to ensure that our youngsters become the kind of quality, trustworthy human beings we all want them to be? “Education worthy of its name is essentially education of character." (Martin Buber, philosopher)

Also at the schools of the participating countries demands focussing on teaching values and values have become louder, either by parents, by teachers or even by students. So we've decided to work on the topic of character education, an approach which has been implemented in many schools around the world and whose significance is growing. Because character education focusses on the teaching of core values like trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Good character education means cultivating virtues through formation of good habits. Character education is most effective when it is spread throughout regular school courses. In science, maths,history and especially in creative subjects and sports. Many character education schools are reporting reduced violence, fewer discipline referrals, less vandalism, improved attendance and higher academic performance.

With our partners we have found a reliable group willing to work hard and enthusiastically on this project and hoping to find ways to teach e.g. the six pillars of character education in a suitable way at school which later could be used by other schools, institutes or even districts. We want to become a starting point in making a change. In our project we want to learn, we want to make experiences, we want to challenge ourselves and students and we want to distribute our results in order to open eyes and maybe change school's reality focussing on demands of today's society and its challenges.