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View from the Top: Sophie Banks on why character education is the key to unlocking a child's potential

For our latest instalment of View from the Top, Sophie Banks, the headmistress of London's Pembridge Hall School gets on her soapbox to talk about character education. Below, Sophie explains why the wider personal development of a child is just as important as academic success...

 ÍÑ¿ã°É has such a broad and overarching role, but the basic principle is to prepare children for life in the ever-evolving world they are living in. Teaching a body of knowledge is crucially important, as it enables children to wend their way through the passage of exams that the British education system requires. However, achieving top academic grades is not everything we require to succeed in our lives, as developing essential aspects of character is also necessary.

So, what is character education? Character education is the teaching of values or virtues that we use every day to make decisions in our lives. These principles are relevant to every aspect of a child’s life and the messages need to be consistent. All of this makes educating character much more demanding than educating knowledge, as so much of it cannot be simply learned and, in order for it to be effective, needs to become embedded within a person.

Character attributes such as resilience and perseverance permit us all to challenge ourselves and children need to be encouraged not to give up at the first sign of failure. Fear of failure is one of the primary obstacles to success for children and supporting them to step outside of their comfort zone, challenge themselves and take a risk is key. Resilience at this point is crucial and parents need to help children bounce back from challenges and not be tempted to take on their battles for them. As adults, we need to show children that we all make mistakes, and we use those mistakes as a learning platform. Family mealtimes are a good opportunity to discuss challenges and how you faced them. Unless families model this, children may form the impression that adults are perfect and, in their endeavour to model this perfection, will try to avoid making their own mistakes.

A trickier aspect of character education to develop is the emotional side; encouraging children to have emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise, understand and process emotions in yourself and other people. If children and young adults can master this, then collaboration with others, which is vital throughout life, will be more effective. As educators and parents, we must all work with our children to help them develop self and social awareness, as well as the ability to manage their own emotions and the needs of others. Being kind and developing skills of empathy for one another are paramount to a successful life.

It is imperative that we see the education of character as important as the education of knowledge. Doing so will promote all-round academic achievement and prepare children for life. 

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