Aristotelian Character Education

Kristjan Kristjansson is Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues in the University of Birmingham. The Centre is explicitly devoted to Aristotelian virtue ethics, which this book thoroughly explains. There has been renewed interest in character education around the world, including with the Westminster government, although much of the emphasis has been on performance rather than moral virtues as a means of improving school grades. Aristotelian virtue ethics is explicitly moral and based on his notion of eudaemonia or flourishing, where happiness or fulfilment is predicated on virtue. Proficiency in performance virtues is instrumental and intrinsically amoral, since qualities such as perseverance and determination can be used for immoral ends. Aristotle took the view that an action is right 'because it enhances virtue and contributes to a flourishing life.' In the introduction, Kristjan articulates the distinctiveness and appeal of Aristotelian character education as well as explaining problems associated with it, which he proceeds to address in the rest of the book.

Chapter 2 is a very useful rebuttal of persistent myths about Aristotelian character education in terms of concepts and history, political, epistemological and psychological considerations. In summary, he rebuts the charges that character and virtue education is 'unclear, redundant, old-fashioned, religious, paternalistic, antidemocratic, conservative, individualistic, relative and situation dependent.' The other chapters consider the issue of measurement, the nature of phronesis or practical wisdom, whether Aristotelian character education can undo the effects of bad upbringing, the use of dialogue, and the moral role of the teacher in relation to professionalism. Considerable progress is being made on the measurement front involving triangulation of different approaches and going beyond self-report and including the use moral dilemma tests in some of the Centre's research projects.

Kristjan's concluding reflections review the arguments of individual chapters and set out four criteria for a paradigm of moral education in terms of widespread social concerns, the political climate and the backing of both philosophical and psychological theory. He highlights specific issues in the psychological area that need to be addressed while also explaining various effective classroom methods and stressing the importance of school ethos. This highly informative and rigorous book gives the best available explanation of the importance and significance of Aristotelian character education, reminding readers that performance is not enough if it is not underpinned by moral virtue and providing a desirable social vision of flourishing individuals in a flourishing society.