ERIC Number: EJ1097526
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1361 7672
EISSN: N/A
How to Assess Children's Virtue Literacy: Methodological Lessons Learnt from the Knightly Virtues Programme
Davison, Ian; Harrison, Tom; Hayes, Dan; Higgins, Jenny
Journal of Beliefs & Values, v37 n1 p16-28 2016
Character education is of growing importance in educational discourse. The Knightly Virtues programme draws on selected classic stories to teach eight moral virtues to nine- to 11-year-olds; it has proved to be hugely popular with UK schools. A finding of the trial was the different levels of "virtue literacy" in faith and non-faith schools. This article outlines the key features of this trial which yielded the positive results and details its methodological strengths and potential shortcomings. Overall, statistical concerns are less problematic than the practical concerns of running trials designed to measure the impact of character education interventions. Of greatest theoretical interest is the conflation of general and virtue-specific literacy; in addition, we tease apart differences in understanding and motivation. The article highlights and discusses the challenges of running trials designed to measure character education, as well as providing insights into promising methodological approaches.
Descriptors: Ethics, Ethical Instruction, Program Descriptions, Moral Values, Elementary School Students, Statistical Analysis, Intervention, Literacy, Foreign Countries, Program Evaluation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A