Leeds University

INVITATION TO JOIN AN EXCITING CHARACTER EDUCATION ENGLISH / LITERACY PROJECT
WITH FREE RESOURCES (FUNDED THROUGH A RESEARCH PROJECT)

Looking to have a positive impact on children’s character after the May half term, or in September? We are writing to invite your school to participate in an exciting international character education English research project. The aim is to determine the impact of studying C.S. Lewis’ Narnia novels on children’s understanding and practice of core virtues (such as self-control and fortitude).

The curriculum

  • Built around 12 extracts from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
  • Aimed at 9-13 year olds.
  • Is designed to be completed over 24 hours of teaching time, with significant flexibility to fit into your timetables.
  • Children complete an online survey before and after the curriculum to assess impact.
  • Focuses on six major virtues: wisdom, love, integrity, self-control, fortitude and justice.
  • A strong focus on English skills, alongside the character development work. 
  • Optional home activities to complete with parents.
  • Findings so far show impact on empathy skills, and understanding of the virtues.

Resources

Participating schools will receive free PDF documents containing the teacher handbooks, student curriculum materials, and the home activities, as well as updates and ideas via email and social media. The work of the project will be reported in a series of journal articles and three books; all participating schools will be recognised and thanked. Below is a link to a 2016 issue of excellence & ethics that gives a snapshot of the project (with 12 virtues, later consolidated into 6) and some of our early findings.

Excellence & Ethics

How to get involved
We hope you’ll consider becoming a Narnian Virtues school.  If your school wishes to use the curriculum, please contact us at narnianvirtues@leeds.ac.uk.

For more information, visit narnianvirtues.leeds.ac.uk.

Please email us with any questions. 

I have attached a formal letter of invitation, and a flyer and a
 Teacher Handbook sample.

The project is funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The curriculum has been developed by the University of Leeds, in collaboration with State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland.

Kind regards,

Professor Mark Pike (University of Leeds) and Professor Thomas Lickona (SUNY Cortland)
Project Investigators
Narnian Virtues: A Character Education English Curriculum
School of Education
Hillary Place
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT
0113 3434529

 

Narnia Virtues Character Education  https://narnianvirtues.leeds.ac.uk/about/

Facebook link  https://twitter.com/NarnianVirtues?lang=en-gb