The Character Conference

“Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education” Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

This was the underlying theme of Monday’s Character Conference, organised by Demos and The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, to discuss how policy can build character.

Tristram Hunt, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, opened the conference stating that we must nurture the right character in our young people to narrow the attainment gap and raise social mobility. Possession of good character is a crucial indication of lifelong success and it is the responsibility of both parents and schools to teach these skills. He also discussed the role of external organisations working with schools to deliver character education and share the responsibility with the teachers.

Several interesting panel discussions followed with three key areas for development emerging from the day's discussions.

Firstly that we need a common language to define "character", largely to ensure we are all on the same page, but more importantly, so that we can equip the young people we are teaching with the words to talk and think about their own character. As George Orwell teaches us in 1984, if the words to describe an emotion, feeling, thought or action, simply don't exist, it's easy not to think about them.

Once young people have the vocabulary to talk about character, they can reflect on their personal strengths and weaknesses, and then start to make changes.

There are many character strengths, or “virtues”, worthy of aspiring to that relate to various aspects of our lives and relationships. At ReachOut we have four Character Values (Fairness, Self-Control, Staying Power and Good Judgement) which are embedded in all our activities on our mentoring projects. They have become commonly used vocabulary among our mentors and mentees and I often hear them talking about the Self-Control and Fairness needed to listen patiently to another mentee presenting their work, or the Staying Power needed in a sports match when you are losing or even Good Judgement to attend Maths booster classes after school!

“it's all about the relationships”

The second significant theme was that the quality of relationships a young person experiences in life is strongly linked to their development of character. As Sarah Darton, Director of Parent Programmes at Family Links, put it, whatever programme they are on, “it's all about the relationships”.  Therefore, the strength of the relationship between the practitioner (e.g. teacher, youth worker or in ReachOut’s case the mentor and Project Leader) and a young person is key.

According to Darton, the teenage years are the most rapid period of change, when they learn how to plan and develop empathy. During this time it is particularly important for adults to respond to young people's feelings, as well as their behaviour, combining warmth and responsiveness with clear expectations and boundaries.

ReachOut mentors develop such relationships with their mentees over the course of a 6 to 9 month project, where they take part in both one-to-one and group activities, allowing for interactions with other children and positive role models, as well as time for individual reflection and support.

The third theme of the conference was around the best ways to build character. (There was no question as to whether or not character can be taught - it can!)

Lord Holmes, Paralympic Gold Medallist, spoke of sport as a powerful way to build character, to teach teamwork, fairness, staying power and how to fail but not give up “even if we lose, we play to win”.

“even if we lose, we play to win”

In fact, according to Dan Wright of The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, all extra-curricular activities are valuable in building character as they provide an opportunity to highlight and practise virtues, build relationships with adults outside the classroom and maintain appropriate boundaries.

The recent Statement on Youth Social Actionand Character Development advocates youth social actions as important for character building, describing it as “an important mechanism for young people to develop and express their character while benefiting others.” Baroness Tyler, Co-Chair of the APPG on Social Mobility, seconded this opinion stating that volunteering directly boosts employability and hence social mobility.

The #iwill campaign by Step Up to Serve encourages us all to play our part in providing support and opportunities for young people to volunteer. At the ReachOut Junior Mentors project young people are taught teamwork and leadership skills and helped by their mentors to find appropriate volunteering placements where they can learn through experience and then reflect on how the opportunity is affecting them (read ReachOut’s #iwill pledge here).

This is the final part of the ReachOut cycle - preparing mentees to eventually volunteer as mentors, giving back to their community and helping those around them.   The combination of academic support, character development and long term involvement  that ReachOut provides helps young people to succeed, to inspire those around them and make a long lasting positive change to those communities most in need.