Educating Character Through Stories

What could be the point of teaching such works of bygone cultural and literary inheritance as Cervantes' Don Quixote and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in schools today? This book argues that the narratives and stories of such works are of neglected significance and value for contemporary understanding of human moral association and character. However, in addition to offering detailed analysis of the moral educational potential of these and other texts, the present work reports on a pioneering project, recently pursued by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, concerned precisely with the use of these and other stories for moral and character education in schools. The success of the 'Knightly Virtues' project is an inspiring story in its own right and should therefore be of enormous interest to all schools, teachers and parents rightly concerned with this all-important aspect of their children's educational development.

About the Author :
David Carr is Professor of Ethics and Education at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham and Emeritus Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of three books and numerous philosophical and educational papers and editor or co-editor of several major collections of essays on philosophy and ethics of education. Tom Harrison is the Deputy Director in charge of development projects at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. He specialises in research and development programmes relating to character and citizenship education.

Review :
"This book, arising from the work of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtue, makes an important contribution to the literature and to the practice of character education at a time when its importance is being increasingly emphasised. It does so in three ways. First, it provides an incisive and clear philosophical introduction to this often muddled area. Second, it demonstrates the importance of stories in such development. Thirdly, it translates all this into a teaching stories of 'the knightly virtues' - a project which has been successfully taken up by many schools in Britain and abroad." -- Professor Richard Pring, University of Winchester "Illuminating, engaging and informative, Educating Character Through Stories is a compelling and important read for educators, school leaders and policy makers on the power of narrative. Carr and Harrison offer a robust and vivid account - replete with practical examples - of how teaching classic stories can raise the level of moral reflection and literacy in the classroom, and, more importantly, awaken aspirations to greatness that promise to serve pupils well beyond the classroom." -- Dr Karen E Bohlin, Senior Scholar, Boston University Center for Character and Social Responsibility, author Teaching Character Education Through Literature "This book, emerging from the Jubilee Centre at Birmingham, makes a general case for character education as well as for stories as moral knowledge... The feedback to the programme has been really excellent in terms of moral literacy and understanding as well as character formation. It has also encouraged a closer collaboration between home and school." -- David Lorimer Network Review