Director of Education Dr. Tom Harrison has published Teaching Character in the Primary Classroom with co-authors Dr. John Ryan and Ian Morris. The text is published by SAGE and aims to provide clear, accessible advice to primary school teachers and other education stakeholders on how to enhance character education provision within the classroom. The book covers core themes including what character education is, what it is not; why character matters; and what the role of the classroom teacher is in terms of building pupils' character.
The book provides practical advice and resources for delivering vital character education provision, be that in a discrete lesson, or as part of a whole school ethos.
Director of the Jubilee Centre, Prof. James Arthur commented:
"Teaching Character in the Primary Classroom provides an excellent and very accessible overview of the emerging field of character education. It covers, in detail, the theory of character education as well as advice and guidance about how this should be applied in practice in primary schools."
Keith Ellis, Deputy Headteacher at Oakthorpe Primary School – Regional finalist for DfE Character Awards 2015 commented:
"In my role as Deputy Headteacher, Character Education in the Primary Classroom is a book I will be revisiting again and again in my own role and with schools that I am supporting. It unequivocally supports my own opinion, and the growing opinion across UK education that Character Education is a necessity for all schools and not a risk – a focus on the virtues children need to be taught to explicitly use should help to support a focus on standards rather than exclusive to it. It explores the definition and use of virtues in the primary classroom, and always presents deep thinking in manageable ways that can be taken straight from the page into the pedagogical decisions teachers and school leaders make every day.
The book is organised in a way that allows schools to re-evaluate their role in preparing children for life, rather than to solely prepare them for exam success. It practically supports schools to pick out key strategies that will help them to re-emphasise their whole school values and how schools can make their hidden character education curriculum more explicit.
Through the careful choice of chapters, this book is suitable for anyone interested in character education from system leaders who are looking to re-emphasise a focus on virtues across a number of schools, to teachers just entering the profession. It is also a perfect academic background to present to those members of staff who need further convincing that character education is of utmost importance in our current educational climate.
The publication of this book is so well timed with the current emphasis on preparing children for a fast-paced world of change. Alongside the work of the Jubilee Centre of Character and Virtues, this book will help lead the way in the UK, and global, education systems to put character education at the heart of learning."