“Character and resilience are as crucial to young people’s future success as academic qualifications,” education secretary Damian Hinds said last month in a Department for Education press release.
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment although demonstrating this to a potential employer, or to Ofsted, is a different matter.
Mr Hinds set out Five Foundations for Building Character and pledged to work with schools and organisations to help “every child” access activities within each of those foundations.
He didn’t actually use the phrase “as crucial” in the published text of his speech (at the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership conference), but the softer “education is about more than just academic achievement, important though that is”. Encouragingly, he was “delighted” that the draft Education Inspection Framework proposes placing clear importance on personal development and positive attitudes.
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