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Calls have been made recently for the renewal of public and private virtues, not least because of the serious scandals that have beset our banks, political system, as well as our health and social welfare provisions. The public appear to want people to be of good character, and so improve the qualit...
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Calls have been made recently for the renewal of public and private virtues, not least because of the serious scandals that have beset our banks, political system, as well as our health and social welfare provisions. The public appear to want people to be of good character, and so improve the quality of public life. And yet Britain today is a pluralistic society in which our values and virtues appear to be constantly changing and where children are exposed to a variety of perspectives on moral right and wrong. We seem to regard identifying with any set of virtues to be problematic and we often appear to lack any clear conception of what virtues are, which virtues are to be promoted, as well as knowledge of how to promote them.

In recent weeks both Michael Gove (03/02/2014) and Tristram Hunt (12/02/2014) have begun to identify their key policy objectives for the forthcoming election cycle. The speeches made within two weeks of one another contain elements which mirror one another and interestingly highlight character devel...
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In recent weeks both Michael Gove (03/02/2014) and Tristram Hunt (12/02/2014) have begun to identify their key policy objectives for the forthcoming election cycle. The speeches made within two weeks of one another contain elements which mirror one another and interestingly highlight character development as a central tenant upon which both of the major political parties intend to build their campaigns. These two speeches stressed the importance of high academic standards and the need for character education within schools, but offered a radically different interpretation of the concept.

It seems obvious that resilience is a quality that we ought to develop among young people. It is a favoured term, too, in many different settings ranging from social work and health all the way through to the United States Army (Seligman, 2011). Even so, resilience has its limits. After persisting f...
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It seems obvious that resilience is a quality that we ought to develop among young people. It is a favoured term, too, in many different settings ranging from social work and health all the way through to the United States Army (Seligman, 2011). Even so, resilience has its limits. After persisting for years through multiple injuries to win two Olympic gold medals Dame Kelly Holmes recently disclosed her on-going struggle with post-athletic life and her deliberate self-harm. Similarly, in cycling, Sir Chris Hoy announced on retiring that he has used up 'every last ounce of energy and effort at London 2012', adding that despite wanting to go on for another year to win a seventh gold medal, he realised that he could not do so (BBC, 2013). It seems as if resilience can come and go; it can run out; and it can resist transfer from one domain of life to another even for the most talented and toughest.

The role of virtues in general decision-making is not only relevant to people and their lives, but also to business decisions. Organisations often state the values which guide their behaviour and make these accessible to external stakeholders through mission, vision and values statements. This paper...
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The role of virtues in general decision-making is not only relevant to people and their lives, but also to business decisions. Organisations often state the values which guide their behaviour and make these accessible to external stakeholders through mission, vision and values statements. This paper presents introductory thoughts on the values statements adopted by largely UK-based organisations, some international, across a range of industries with a particular focus on the differences in approaches to mission, vision and values statements, the role such statements play in public relations and the impact of the linguistic content.

The issue of teaching character, which until now has mainly been debated within the ivory towers of academia, is suddenly all the rage in policy circles in the UK, in the wake of the report by the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on social mobility, and Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt’s...
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The issue of teaching character, which until now has mainly been debated within the ivory towers of academia, is suddenly all the rage in policy circles in the UK, in the wake of the report by the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on social mobility, and Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt’s latest speech (http://www.governmentworld.com/schooling-for-the-future-speech-by-tristram-hunt/). The report suggests that teaching ‘character and resilience’ should be an essential part of every school’s ambition, and Hunt argues, in a similar vein, that character and resilience are vital components of a rounded education, a good preparation for a career – and that instilling them in young people ‘should not be left to chance’.

Students completing their Initial Teacher Education talked about inspirational teachers: They had an enthusiasm for education and a love of learning which translated across to the children, they worked well as a team and created a positive working environment...they used creativity to create a varie...
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Students completing their Initial Teacher Education talked about inspirational teachers: They had an enthusiasm for education and a love of learning which translated across to the children, they worked well as a team and created a positive working environment...they used creativity to create a varied and interesting curriculum. They are engaging, give fun yet challenging lessons for their pupils but also they demonstrate character in how they interact outside the lessons, in corridors, on the playground, always being fair, thoughtful and interested in the students they work with. Every child in the class feels valued. The classroom feels a happy and vibrant place to be.

In recent years fictional doctors with unappealing character traits have become a trope of television depictions of medical settings: the eponymous Dr House who misanthropy extends to both patients and colleagues. Dr Cox of the hospital-set comedy Scrubs who bitter tirades reduce his subordinates to...
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In recent years fictional doctors with unappealing character traits have become a trope of television depictions of medical settings: the eponymous Dr House who misanthropy extends to both patients and colleagues. Dr Cox of the hospital-set comedy Scrubs who bitter tirades reduce his subordinates to tears, and the curmudgeonly 'Doc Martin', a rural GP whose gruff demeanour perplexes and offends his patients, to give a few examples. But despite their objectionable behaviour, these characters are simultaneously presented as brilliant doctors whose diagnostic wizardry and cool-head in a medical crisis more than makes up for their lack of a pleasing bedside manner. In reality we are less compromising, and while technical knowledge and clinical competency are of course crucial attributes of the good doctor, we are also concerned with doctors' manner and behaviour - with their character.