Director of Partnerships Dr. Sandra Cooke and Centre Manager Aidan Thompson visited Podgorica, Montenegro on 23rd-24th June to deliver presentations at the Quality Education ‘My Virtues and Values’ workshop at the Bureau of Education. The two-day seminar, run in partnership between the Bureau, UNICEF Montenegro and the Jubilee Centre, brought together primary teachers in Montenegro and the project team working to develop a primary curriculum for character education in the country. Sandra and Aidan gave presentations which introduced the Centre’s work, with a particular focus on how the
Framework for Character Education in Schools was developed, as well as introducing the
Programmes of Study that the Centre has created, and how a ‘whole school’ approach to character education can be developed. The workshops mixed the theoretical and practical approaches to developing character in the classroom, and the teachers involved in the project shared their insights into experiences, successes and challenges faced in adopting a moral focus to education.
In addition to the workshop, Sandra and Aidan were invited to give a guest seminar to a group of over 50 young people as part of a UNICEF Montenegro series of lectures in the UN building in Podgorica. Sandra and Aidan presented a background to the Jubilee Centre, and challenged the audience to discuss 2 of the moral dilemmas used in the
Character Education in UK Schools project. Photos from both the workshop and the guest lecture are available in the
Media Centre.
During their visit, both Sandra and Aidan filmed a short piece to camera talking about the work of the Jubilee Centre and the importance of character education, both in the UK, and in Montenegro. The videos are available on the UNICEF Montenegro YouTube channel
here, and
here.