On 5th November the DfE published new guidance to support the teaching of character education in primary schools. Since the start of term (September 2019), character education has been a recognised element of Ofsted inspections, with the DfE stating:
"Schools have a statutory duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of pupils and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life."
The Six Character Benchmarks
The Character Education Framework introduces the ‘Six Character Benchmarks’, designed to help schools monitor the provision of character education and to assist future planning. These include:
1. What kind of school are we?
2. What are our expectations of behaviour towards each other?
3. How well do our curriculum and teaching develop resilience and confidence?
4. How good is our co-curriculum provision?
5. How well do we promote the value of volunteering and service to others?
6. How do we ensure that all our pupils benefit equally from what we offer?
Read the Six Character Benchmarks in full here.