In August 2019, the Jubilee Centre conducted a poll in collaboration with Portland Communications, of 1,000 adults living in the UK to explore public perceptions of character education. The results of the poll show that a significant majority (85%) of the UK population think that schools should have a role in promoting character development. Of those surveyed, 63% were familiar with the term character education and 79% agreed that it should be part of a teacher’s role to encourage good morals and values in students. These results reiterate those of a poll conducted by the Jubilee Centre and Populus in 2013 with 2,000 parents; both polls indicate that character education continues to be seen as important by the UK public.
Examining potential barriers to character education, respondents in the latest poll were found to believe that the pressures schools face, either through overcrowding of the curriculum (33%) or through lack of resources and training available to teachers (36%), present a significant hurdle that prevents schools taking a larger role in character development. This compares with findings from various previous Jubilee Centre projects including Schools of Virtue and Character Education in UK Schools.
For more polling conducted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues see here.