The good teacher: understanding virtues in practice: research report

Abstract

This report describes research focusing on virtues and character in teaching, by which we mean the kind of personal qualities professional teachers need to facilitate learning and overall flourishing in young people that goes beyond preparing them for a life of tests. The ‘good’ teacher is someone who, alongside excellent subject knowledge and technical expertise, cares about students, upholds principles of honesty and integrity both towards knowledge and student–teacher relationships, and who does good work (Campbell, 2011, 2013; Sockett, 2012; Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi and Damon, 2001; Damon and Colby, 2014). In the Framework for Character Education (Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, 2013), we considered the character of teachers to be a crucial ingredient in the development of flourishing children. This new report describes research that examined how teachers thought about, and drew upon, character strengths and virtues in their daily professional lives.