On Tuesday 28th June 2016, Director of Education Dr. Tom Harrison gave a keynote address at the University of Birmingham Teaching and Learning Conference: Developing the Birmingham Graduate. Tom's keynote lecture was titled 'An internal perspective - from thinking and doing to being and becoming' and communicated to delegates why character matters, revealing theoretical and practical insights on how to build students’ character for individual and societal benefit.
The abstract for Tom's lecture is below:
Abstract - 'An internal perspective - from thinking and doing to being and becoming'
Teaching and learning at universities primarily focusses on enabling students to think and do. However, education, at all levels, should also help students be and become in order to flourish - an aspiration outlined in the Birmingham Graduate. To flourish, both as individuals and as a society, we need to develop key character virtues - such as compassion, courage, resilience, good citizenship and curiosity amongst many others.
This presentation will discuss the rising interest in character education in the UK as well as globally. It will demonstrate how university education should be about learning knowledge as well as building good character in students. Good character that will be necessary for students to successfully perform the many roles they will undertake when the leave the University of Birmingham.