BEHAVIOUR, INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER MATTER!

Interestingly, someone asked me the other day if values were important in education. I think values define who we are and when they are lived and shape the way we behave they attract people to the cause, the endeavour, the organisation. And importantly they enable people to decide if they want to be part of the cause, the endeavour, the organisation. Colleagues don't come to work to be part of something ordinary they want to be part of something important and special.

I passionately believe that behaviour, integrity and character should lie at the heart of everything we do together with children and young people and our colleagues and should guide our provision and practice across our learning organisations and at every stage of a child's learning. Behaviour is how you conduct yourself and is the aggregate of all the responses you make. Integrity is an individual's steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. Character is the sum of an individual's moral or ethical qualities. Of course behaviour matters and integrity is simply doing the right thing for the right reason but, as we have seen during the Olympics and the Paralympics, character defines you and guides your actions. Whatever the curriculum looks like, it should be built on strong foundations of behaviour, integrity and, most important of all, character!
Chris