Given this ostensible consensus, we chose to move the debate on a stage – what can ‘character education’ mean in practice? If these traits matter for happy and well-rounded children, should our schools take a more active approach in fostering these skills? And if so, how?

James O’Shaughnessy, former Director of Policy to Prime Minister David Cameron, took the room back to the meaning of ‘character’ – it was, he said, “a set of strengths or virtues that individuals can develop which contribute to leading a happy and successful life” with four component sets of virtues namely intellectual, performance, moral and civic.

James argued that certain programmes in schools can work to improve these skills, and moreover there is evidence that improving social and emotional wellbeing in turn improves academic achievement. This is a critical point for those interested in furthering the political case for ‘character’ education in schools. So even if you believe the focus of schools should remain purely academic, there is value in honing and developing such skills in our children. He explained how the existing academic programme could include this sort of education – reading a text and analysing characters for traits such as virtue, for example.

Rooting this discussion firmly in practice, Dr Jane Keeley, Head of London’s Haggerston School explained her approach, with a plan capturing how the school develops ‘character’, or ‘social and emotional skills’ in their pupils:

• A focus on oracy – for pupils the ability to articulate themselves well was a critical capability.
• Working with other agencies – with children’s services workers
• A trained workforce – we should be thinking about the training of practitioners in schools and there was, Dr Keeley said, a huge benefit in systemic training.
• An appropriate curriculum – curricula should be suited to young people and well differentiated to offer pupils the greatest chance of success.
• Engaging with employers – work experience should be more than the usual two weeks in year 10, Haggerston engages with the workforce more widely, with pupils exposed and engaging with professional adults on a regular basis throughout their school career.
• Being explicit about values – a “work hard, be nice” motto engrained from year 7. Courtesy, she said, was a great advantage for young people.
• Emotional intelligence – ensuring pupils develop self-awareness
• Exploring the big words – “moral”, “love”, “friendship”, “citizenship” – what do these mean and how can they apply to pupils’ lives? Embedding such concepts through assemblies and form times.
• Creativity – fostering creativity is key at Haggerston, important as it’s about curiosity, human experience and empathy. Enabling young people to live lives beyond their own.

It was this final point which Jean Gross, EIF Trustee and former Senior Director of the Primary National Strategy, responsible for the influential SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) approach, picked up on – if you develop empathy in children, she said, “you don’t need to tell young people what a virtuous life is, or moralise”.

Gross also assessed where schools currently were on “character” learning – in deprived areas they do some, but not enough. In the wealthiest areas, they do a lot. It was those in the middle that were missing out most, schools striving for better results in order to be ranked higher, who had no incentive to pursue anything other than a purely academic approach. Social and emotional development, she argued, “should neither be a deficit reduction model for the most disadvantaged pupils, nor a luxury add-on for the wealthiest. It should be for all.”

With important final contributions from Naomi Eisenstadt and Kathy Sylva, both experts in the field, arguing that the early years cannot be forgotten within this debate, the EIF’s Leon Feinstein concluded with a challenge – how do we get support for these sets of attributes in the school system? While there are subtle and important differences in approach, it is vital that we create a consensus which lasts beyond the whim of one or another parliament, but which is embedded within a schools system that recognises its duty to help with the formation of thriving, successful and – let’s face it – happy kids.