On Monday Kim Allen and I hosted a one-day conference on character education in the UK at King’s College London. We had a really interesting range of interdisciplinary speakers and the day concluded with responses from Janet Batsleer from Manchester Metropolitan University and Val Gillies from University of Westminster. A recording of their responses is available here, and talks/slides from some of the fantastic papers from the day are linked below.
Also, Val’s new book on exclusion units within schools, which I would highly recommend, has some discussion of character education including its historical antecedents and the work it is doing today to legitimise the kinds of segregation practices in education that she is describing.
Kim and I are planning to edit a journal special issue on this topic – watch this space for more details.
Talks/slides from presenters:
Introduction – Anna Bull and Kim Allen Introduction
The character of stigma and the stigma of character: a history of the Social Question and character discourse in Britain – Nick Taylor, University of Warwick Character conference presentation Taylor
Erica Burman, University of Manchester. (Re)sourcing the Character and Resilience Manifesto: Suppression, slippage and selective representation of its of documentary supports Burman Kings talk
“The toughest job in the city”: strategies of distinction and condescension in fast-track public sector ‘leadership’ programmes – Steve Crossley, University of Durham The toughest job in the city
Anticipating moral order in the vocational workshop – Bill Esmond, University of Derby Moral Ed
The Employment of Ex-Military as Teachers: The Military, Masculinity and Moral Regulation – Peter James Le Gassick, Plymouth University BSA paper
Dr Anna Bull 