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Why Use the Character Education Programme
in your School?Full details on what the Character Education Programme's CD-ROM for schools contains can be seen on the schools page.
Before beginning, here is an extract taken from Internet News (Source: SAN DIEGO, Feb. 8 2005 - PRNewswire): "in a study just completed by WestEd, a leading nonprofit research, development and service agency based in San Francisco, California, fourth graders who received character education outscored their peers in reading, mathematics, attendance...reduced disciplinary referrals and increased behavioral and citizenship skills..."
Some schools have come back to us asking, "Why should we use the CEPNZ Starter Pack?" and, "What difference will it really make?" and, "How do you know that it will be effective?"
All of the questions will be answered on this page.
A school that uses the CEPNZ Starter Pack is not admitting that it has problems but it is displaying its commitment to use every means at its disposal to ensure that the education provided caters for every opportunity for student advancement, interaction, personal growth and community involvement.
The CEPNZs character education programme can be put to use alongside existing stratagems to enhance the overall teaching and learning process and involve your students (and their parents) as active and important contributors in the establishment and ongoing support of a caring and just community within your school and in the classroom.
Any school that says that the character development of a child should be left up to the parents is missing its over-all mission to educate and, in the opinion of the CEPNZ, is lacking in community responsibility and falls short of the expectations of society.
How does the Character Education Programme help?
If a criminal on trial (as happened recently) was to state, "I am only a product of society", could this be true? We say - NO. Every person affects their own destiny through their own actions and their personal outlook on life. This type of statement, although an unfounded excuse, stems from the generally accepted perception of the state of our society - one of decline.
The evidence of social statistics proves that our society is in a state of character degradation. Progress has been made on treating the symptoms such as teen suicide, youth offending, child abuse and unwanted school aged pregnancies but the only true prevention lies in the education of the individual on the importance of developing good character based on virtue.
The solution to our problems does not lie solely on government legislation. Neither does the onus fall on the shoulders of the school. The solution lies in the individual as the quote from Mahatma Gandhi alludes: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
But the fact remains - how does the individual, a child, pick up the skills they need to make a difference in their own life and in society if they don't have the guidance from a society that is in decline?
As we stress throughout our content - the parents of the child are the primary source for moral education but they are also going to spend much of their early years at school and among others their own age. IF (note that we stress IF) neither the home or the school is conducive to the development of virtue, how is the child to learn the difference between what is right or wrong and come to love, do and expect that which is right and appropriate?
New Zealand's current Curriculum Framework states: "Values are mostly learned through the student's experience of the total environment, rather than through direct instruction." The view of the CEPNZ is that it must no longer be left to chance that our children will develop good character without proper guidance and involvement of the students in honest, thoughtful discussions about the moral and social implications of their actions, of what is happening around them and what they experience.
If we continue to leave it up to the students (our children) to learn their own set of values through "experience of the total environment" without guidance, then some areas within the education system are contributing to the decline of integrity by neglecting the responsibility to educate and involve the "whole person".
The NZ Curriculum Framework also states: "The school curriculum reinforces the commonly held values of individual and collective responsibility...these values include honesty, reliability, respect for others, respect for the law, tolerance, fairness, caring or compassion, non sexism, and non racism."
Therefore there must be a deliberate inclusion of virtues into the education of the child (which these particular values really are, with the exception of tolerance which should be replaced by respect) and the development of good character if we are to expect the student to receive a complete education on both how to make a living and more importantly, how to live.
Why use the CEPNZs Character Education resources?
Scattered in pockets around N.Z. schools are various 'values' based education programmes. Although all efforts to promote virtue should be encouraged and are commendable, the emphasis on 'values' can do more eventual harm than good on the development of character.
"Values are peculiar to one individual or group or culturally-specific and can be either good or bad, but suggest neither a moral commitment nor the promise of leading a good life. They can be reduced to a matter of taste or feeling and what matters is not their content but the fact that they are upheld by an individual or group.
True character education must place its emphasis not on values but on virtues that are cultivated from within and improve character and intelligence when developed." (abridged from the book "Building Character in Schools" by Kevin Ryan and Karen E. Bohlin). It is the effort to help students mature into persons of integrity, intelligence and good character by providing - and involving them in the creation of - the environment in which virtues can grow - both in the home and the school.
To date, children have modeled their behaviour on that of the people who matter to them, on behaviours they observed firstly in their parents and family and later in their friends and all those they have come in contact with. What we are concerned about is the relationship between a child's behaviour and their understanding of moral and social principles (embedded in what is commonly known as virtues), their understanding of the difference between right and wrong social behaviour.
Allegorically, when a person learns to drive from their parents - then that person teaches his son - who in turn teaches a friend, the end result would be that the last person to be taught in the chain would be able to drive but would also exhibit any combined faults inherited from those he learned from. This is why it is said to be better to learn to drive from a professional instructor who teaches and guides all in the same way.
The same applies to the persons understanding of what is right and wrong, a persons values system and perception of how they fit into society. How a child perceives these principles affects their behaviour and responses to situations which, when combined with the actions of others, alter our social environment.
It is for this reason that we need a "driving instructor" in virtues and character development with set guidelines, projects and lessons that must be graduated and progressive to cover the whole age from infancy to adulthood.
This is why we have created the Character Education Programme - to assist schools to create, maintain and enhance the school environment so that the development of good character - through the promotion, expectation and display of virtues - and full involvement of the student and parents - can be achieved with the full support of the community they are a part of. If we can teach that 1+2+3+4=10, we should also be teaching such foundational truths such as:
Responsibility + Respect + Honesty + Integrity = Good Character The CEPNZ provides you with all the resources and support you need to make character education an integral part of your school's ethos, and make the development of good character a part of daily life in your school and your community. We'll show you how to build the core virtues (responsibility, respect, integrity, honesty, etc) into your school and achieve greater academic successes by improving your teaching and learning environment.
The CEPNZ is the first and only provider of a fully interactive, online and stand-alone character education programme for schools and the community developed in New Zealand for New Zealanders.
The CEPNZ Starter Pack in Character Education is provided on a CD-ROM and gives you all the resources you will need to get started and supplies access to additional online resources and ongoing support for all the teachers in your school. Through the Starter Pack, the CEPNZ will show you how to establish character education into the life and ethos of your school and integrating it into all facets of the curriculum without creating an extra subject to teach.
We also offer a course to teachers and student teachers who wish to become a CEPNZ certified Character Education Coordinator. Click here for details.
It must be remembered that the development of good character can not be done overnight or even in one year. It is a life long process but it needs to begin somewhere. It is our vision to have character education installed from early childhood centres right through to the end of high school.
For this reason, if you are a Primary school that has started with the CEPNZ "Starter Pack", encourage your local Intermediate and High schools to do the same. This applies to all levels of teaching institutions.
In this manner it will be ensured that a child who continues their education in one locality will be able to receive the same support through each level. In the same way, a high school that begins with the programme should encourage the Intermediate and Primary schools that fill most of their role to also take it up. This way, new students coming into the school will already be accustomed to the basics of character education and the standard that the school will expect.
Through our Starter Pack and online help-desk, we will be with you all the way in ensuring you receive all the help you need throughout the years to make the implementation of Character Education successful in your school.
In summary of why "Character Education" is important for your school:
- Inevitability: Throughout a childs' school life, their actual character and the way in which they look at life will be affected by their experiences at school, either for better or worse. They learn not only from books or what they are taught but from observations and interactions within the total environment. While they are at school they are there to learn and study, and becoming serious about studying can be a challenge for many students. Therefore our schools need to intentionally help our children to overcome bad habits and to develop good ones (virtues) that will help them to learn and advance both academically and socially. Where there are clear reference points (virtues), decision making becomes easier.
- Duty: As stated before, the NZ Curriculum Framework supports the need for core values (actually virtues) to be actively included in the overall pattern of our education. However vague or indirect, its interpretation encourages the need for a plan to be put in place to help our young, future leaders develop good character within the environs and the day to day life of the school. Any school that neglects this duty is, in the opinion of the CEPNZ, lacking in community and social responsibility.
The CEPNZ has been designed to assist schools on making this happen.
Through working together - we can make a difference.Any further questions, please ask through: info@cepnz.co.nz
Copyright©2003-2008 Character Education Programme of New Zealand
PO Box 20-616, Glen Eden, Auckland (www.cepnz.co.nz)