Six schools in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina have received Templeton Character Awards from Education for initiatives to promote Education in values among high school students. They are Liceo Thezia, Chapultepec, Sistema de Colegios México Nuevo (Mexico), Colsubsidio Ciudadela, Nueva Granada (Colombia) and Monseñor Audino Rodríguez y Olmos (Argentina).

The awards seek to recognize Education character projects that are being carried out in schools, motivating academic staff to get involved in them and raising awareness of the value of these, through the knowledge dissemination of good practices.

The initiative is promoted by the project 'Investigate and promote the Education of character in secondary schools in Latin America'. It is being developed by the School of Education and Psychology and the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra with funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

The submission took place on the framework of the congress International 'Education of character: challenges and opportunities', which was held at Universidad Austral (Pilar, Argentina) on June 13-14, 2018.

Lizeo Thezia and Chapultepec: Integrated training Operating System

Liceo Thezia and Chapultepec have received ex aequo the award for the program 'Sistema Operativo de training Integrado: SOFI'. Its main goal is to model character through the acquisition of positive habits, following a methodology that favors freedom of action: prudence, which is reinforced through reason; acceptance, which is increased by raising motivations; and the setting of internship through constancy in small goals.

The methodology is implemented in secondary school through a book for the students and a guide for the teacher. Each week, goals are marked in the classroom that are written on a poster that is hung in the front of the class. Students and teachers work on these sentences on a weekly basis with the support of the activities in the book. In this way, good habits are forged.

SOFI is included in the school's diary every year and is present in other strategies of high school, and involves all members of the community, from director to staff cleaning. The progress of the program is monitored once a month for proper implementation.

Mexico Nuevo School System: training in Values Program CMN

The Mexico Nuevo School System has been awarded for its ' training in Values CMN Program', which has as goal to ensure the learning and implementation of the institutional values (respect, justice and love) among all members of the educational community internship .

The centers, in which more than 900 high school students study, promote the discipline of the daily work based on institutional values, healthy coexistence among the members of the school community and the projection of their talent for the benefit of society and their country as a whole.

To this end, they develop the following specific actions: redesign of the values chart, elaboration of the list of behaviors associated with each virtue to evaluate the progress of group, design of 116 sessions to promote the implementation of the values among students on internship , weekly online training sessions to share findings and resolve questions about the focus of the program, maintenance of a website where the progress of these sessions is documented, specific social outreach projects such as visits to rehabilitation centers and people in need, integration of activities during school hours.

high school Colsubsidio Ciudadela: Conjugate coexistence

The high school Colsubsidio Ciudadela (Colombia) has been awarded for its initiative 'Conjugar convivencia', focused on the integral humandevelopment . It promotes the training of character through institutional values: respect, diligence, integrity, social commitment, service vocation, sustainability and innovation.

The pedagogical action revolves around three axes: elegance in speech (assertive communication); coexistence for the common good; and recovery of institutionalism, through the exercise of civic responsibility, decision making and development of a moral criterion in the framework of virtues.

The methodology begins in pedagogical and dialogical discussion spaces. All activities involve the educational community: assemblies of class, from the first to the eleventh Degree, guided by students representing the group; experiential learning through coexistence, hug therapy...; and weekly announcements for the administrative team and the academic staff on institutional welfare, among others.

Likewise, the areas of Ethics and values and social programs of study seek to empower students in their critical and creative capacity for the assertive resolution of conflicts. From agreement with those responsible, they have contributed to generate strategies that contribute to a healthy school life and the training of character, attending to both rights and obligations. 

high school Nueva Granada: Hogar Nueva Granada Foundation

The high school Nueva Granada (Colombia) has been awarded for its project Fundación Hogar Nueva Granada, which seeks to provide educational opportunities and improve the well-being of families living in the vulnerable neighborhoods surrounding the school.

Through this initiative, the high school Nueva Granada promotes the development of solidarity, empathy, character and leadership of its students, parents and teachers by participating in activities with the community of the Fundación Hogar. Parents support it financially and also perform tasks of volunteer activities. In addition, students develop projects through department for Social Service and Responsibility.

Since the Foundation's inception, 116 students from disadvantaged backgrounds have been graduate in high school and of these, 80% have gone on to do programs of study of Education higher education.

 

Monseñor Audino Rodríguez y Olmos High School: Education Integral Affective

The project of the Monseñor Audino Rodríguez y Olmos High School (Argentina), called 'Education Affective Integral', integrates the training of character, the Education affective-emotional and the Education sexual. The goal is that the students can give the best of themselves in different areas of their lives: their family ties, their work, their role as citizens...

Through different activities, financial aid students are encouraged to grow in different virtues, skills and affective capacities for their maturity staff and the establishment of positive relationships.

They are also encouraged to build a life project and to reflect critically on the situations they face in their daily lives that involve moral dilemmas, as well as on the impact their behavior has on the life of the community and on society in general. In this work of training integral, we count on the support of the families.