Where will we find the time for character education?

Well, thank goodness some of our politicians have finally stepped in and told us how we can develop good character. After all, what better models of strong moral courage and well-rounded behaviour are there for our young people to aspire to than our political leaders? According to these politicians’ official line, it’s not all down to schools to develop this moral courage and well-rounded behaviour. Well, that’s what I hoped for until they announced that education secretary Damian Hinds would be setting up an advisory group to help find out how to “best support schools in their work to build character”; so perhaps it is going to be left to schools after all.But how do we build this so-called good character? Well from sport, creativity, performance, volunteering and work, of course – the same opportunities that have been squeezed out of schools since long ago. One would have thought the official advisory group might have come up with a solution that involves decent funding for schools. As teachers in secondary schools see their timetables increasingly fill, with group sizes growing and continuous changes to the curriculum, there is scant time left in their busy weeks for providing the extracurricular opportunities that once existed; especially when the environment is one where exam success has been the centre of external accountability.