From values to virtues: an investigation into the ethical content of English primary school assemblies

Abstract

School assemblies are unique and important events in the lives of schools. They are an opportunity for a head teacher to shape and celebrate the ethos and priorities of a school. However, the discussion of assemblies has stagnated because it is mired in the debate about legal compliance to the 1988 Education Reform Act and its interpretation in circular 1/94. This article reports on a research project which investigated the ethical ideas communicated in primary school assemblies. It is found that almost all assemblies sought to communicate a form of virtue ethics. We observed the promotion of courage, kindness, loyalty and responsibility. Further, different virtues were emphasised in different schools depending on their social location. For example, perseverance and resilience were often stressed in a school from a low socio-economic area. The article concludes with an examination of the implications of our findings for the discussion of legal compliance to the 1988 Act.

Keywords:

• school assembly
• collective worship
• virtue ethics
• values
• moral education
• circular 1/94

Notes

1. The distinction between virtues and values is very important and is developed as the article progresses. There is a large philosophical literature on the identity of virtue ethics of which the key contemporary text is MacIntyre (2007), although we recognise some have argued that MacIntyre’s A short history of ethics is in fact primary. It is not our intention to discuss the Homeric or Thomist development of virtue ethics to arrive at a workable definition for the sake of the analysis, rather we employ the pragmatic distinction between personal attributes or character traits (virtues) such as Aristotle discusses and principles (values) which are ideologically informed and seek to shape action. Halstead and Pike draw out this distinction and we discuss their analysis below.

2. The references here are to paragraphs in the circular and not page numbers.

3. The National Curriculum draft was fully prepared and ready to be implemented when the 2010 General Election was called. The website provided schools with materials to begin preparing for the new curriculum. After the General Election, the new government decided not to go ahead with the changes. So at the time of our research, the expectation was that the statement by the National Forum would remain influential. In fact, by default it has because the 1999 curriculum remains in place.

4. Italics in the original.