By Gord Kerr and Ken Thurston

Published in the February 2003 Edition of Orbit

By Gord Kerr and Ken Thurston

Character Education, in one form or another, has always been part of the fabric of our society. While parents and families have had primary responsibility for their children’s character development, they have relied upon schools, religious institutions and community organizations for support.

Traditionally, public education has played a significant role in the character development of students. Despite the fact that the role of public education in character development has changed over time, success has always depended upon schools supporting and enhancing the efforts of families and the community.

In recent years, educators have paid less direct attention to character development. In part, this has been due to a focus on the delivery of academic content. In addition, strict discipline rather than attention to character development has been the preferred means of ensuring safe schools. Further, public education has struggled to identify common values within our pluralistic society. At the same time, many families have struggled to instill and support values in their children.

Recently schools and school systems are showing renewed interest in educational programs that address and support character development. It is evident to many that focussing solely on academics and strict discipline has limitations.

Character Education’s popularity with parents and educators is that it acknowledges that schools, families and communities cannot be successful in developing character if any one of them acts alone – or if any partner shirks its responsibility. Character Education is a shared responsibility.

This was one of the key messages at the recent symposium, The Quest for Character, hosted by the York Region District School Board.

What role can schools play in Character Education? Should educators take on a leadership role, a supporting role or a coordinating role?

Dr. Joyce Epstein’s studies of school, family and community partnerships provide an interesting perspective on this question. The basis of her work is that three main spheres of influence affect children. These spheres are family, school and community. Sometimes children receive consistent signals from all three and sometimes they do not.

The greater the consistency, the better the chance that students will understand and accept information. Where there is inconsistency or a failure by one sphere to support the work of another, students recognize the inconsistency. When this occurs, students become confused, unsure of what to believe or cynical and selective about what he or she chooses to believe. Consistency creates a united front. Inconsistency provides opportunities for students to slip between the cracks.

The implications for Character Education are clear; the more that schools, families and the community can work together to identify and reinforce a common set of values, the better the opportunity for success. Consistent signals from all three spheres of influence demonstrate to students the importance of values embedded within Character Education.

Schools can play an important supportive role by ensuring that the character attributes commonly held by families within the community are taught and reinforced regularly. Further, schools can play an important leadership role in building a comprehensive approach to Character Education that coordinates the three spheres of influence. So now the challenge … how?

In the York Region District School Board, the Community Building Arena Team, a committee of parents, educators and community representatives, recognizes and advocates that Dr. Joyce Epstein’s framework of six types of involvement is a useful tool for focusing the energies of schools, school councils, parents and the community. The framework outlines the six types of involvement as Parenting, Communicating, Volunteering, Learning at Home, Participating in Decision-Making and Collaborating with the Community. In addition to addressing character development within the instructional and co-curricular program, a comprehensive Character Education strategy will include activities related to all six types of parent and community involvement.

In the following section, we explore how each of type of involvement can advance Character Education, including examples from York Region school communities.

Focus schools, school councils, families and communities on the identification, development and reinforcement of commonly held character attributes.

Use the Six Types of Parent and Community Involvement to create a balanced and systematic approach resulting in a school, family and community partnership focused on Character Education.

Parenting activities assist parents with the challenges of developing character in children through effective parenting.

At Whitchurch Highlands Public School in York Region, evening sessions were held to introduce parents and the school community to the positive messages and values embraced by the "Future Aces" program. The program includes specific roles for parents to carry out at home.

To support Character Education, many schools and school councils offer:

Two-way communication is essential to healthy school, family and community relationships. Effective communication is critical to ensure that common values are identified, shared and reinforced. It is also essential to share and celebrate positive results at school, at home and in the community.

In York Region, an extensive consultation process involving secondary students, parents, educators, community and religious leaders led to the identification of commonly held values that focus the Character Education program for secondary schools, families and communities throughout the Board. The values identified were respect, responsibility, honesty, empathy, fairness, initiative, perseverance, courage, integrity, and optimism.

Schools might also consider:

Traditional volunteering involves people coming into the school to share their time and expertise in a variety of ways. It might also involve organizing students to volunteer their time within the community as a strategy for students to apply values developed at home and in school.

Many York Region students volunteer in local seniors’ homes as reinforcement for values such as empathy and caring.

Some schools also:

This type of involvement helps parents assist with learning outside of school. Parents sometimes need guidance on how to approach homework in a constructive and supportive manner.

Many schools involved in Character Education:

This type of involvement includes parents and the community in decisions that affect the school community. In Ontario, school councils play a key role in this type of involvement.

School councils throughout York Region have input into school improvement plans. Many schools and school councils are identifying Character Education as a priority and are clarifying the specific values to be addressed along with the strategies that will be implemented.

Other activities might include:

This type of involvement establishes links between the school and the broader community to maximize school and community resources in support of student learning.

In York Region, schools, families and communities in Georgina Township have come together in an initiative called "Supporting Student Success in Georgina". One of the many objectives of this group is to have commonly held values reinforced throughout the community by coaches, municipal leaders, parents, educators and community service providers.

Many schools also:

Character Education is a community responsibility. The education system can take a leadership role in focusing community discussion and it can take a leadership role in embedding it within the curriculum, but to be successful, it must engage parents and the community.

Epstein’s framework of family and community involvement provides a useful tool for schools to coordinate the efforts of parents, the school council and the community in supporting character development.

It takes a whole community to raise a child. Engaging parents and the community in Character Education reinforces the message that this is a shared community responsibility.

York Region District School Board, The Quest for Character, An International Symposium on Character Education, April 26 – 28, 2001

Epstein, J. (1995). School/Family/Community Partnerships, Caring for the Children We Share. Phi Delta Kappan. May 1995, pgs 701 – 712.

For more information about the Six Types of Involvement framework, please visit:

www.partnershipschools.org

www.schoolcouncils.net

Ken Thurston is currently Superintendent of Education with the York Region District School Board, with responsibility for school councils across the Board. Previously, he was the Director of Policy and Research with the Education Improvement Commission, responsible for numerous reports including ‘Road Ahead III; The Role of School Councils.’ Ken was also a teacher, principal and superintendent in the former Muskoka and Victoria County Boards.

Gord Kerr is pursuing an M. Ed. with Nipissing University, focused on advancing partnerships between home and school. He was co-chair of the Community Building Arena Team with the York Region District School Board and provides workshops for parents and administrators in York Region and neighbouring Boards. Gord has spent the past six years as a co-chair, vice-chair or chair of school councils at Denne Public School and Whitchurch Highlands Public School. Much of his work on school councils can be found at www.schoolcouncils.net.