Building schools of character: A case-study investigation of character education's impact on school climate, pupil behavior, and curriculum delivery

Abstract

Within an action research framework, this investigation used a mixed-method case-study approach to investigate what impact character education has on school climate and pupil behavior within a primary school situated in an Education Action Zone of East Anglia, England. Both quantitative and qualitative data sets suggest that the implementation of a multicomponent socioculturally inspired character-education program can have positive effects on school climate, pupil behavior, and staff morale. In addition, the findings indicate that there is a positive effect on the school's ability to meet the social, emotional, and cognitive needs of pupils following the implementation of a whole-school prosocial development program rooted in empirical evidence from psychological and educational research.