Researchers at the University of Navarra, belonging to the group of research Education , Citizenship and Character, have developed a project whose aim is to goal design, implement and evaluate interventions that favour the Education of character in the educational system in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries.

The project 'Character education leadership program for Mexican public schools' which is developed jointly with researchers from the Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara (Mexico), is being implemented in public schools in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, starting in May 2021. This initiative, which will run until April 2023, is funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundationwhich since its inception has promoted the research rigorous approach to actions and strategies that develop people's character.

"This international project consists of translating and culturally adapting initiatives from the Center for Character and Citizenship which, over the last twenty years, have helped hundreds of principals in different countries to transform their school communities", says Juan Pablo Dabdoub, co-director of project and professor at School of Education and Psychology at the University of Navarra.

The expert affirms that Education character is one of the educational areas that is becoming more relevant internationally, in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. "In Latin America and Spain, it is difficult to find evidence of programmes that have been measured and evaluated in terms of their effectiveness, and are implemented on a larger scale", he adds. .

For her part, Dr. Daniela Salgado, co-director of project, affirms that "In the interests of adding to a Education of character in Mexico -so urgent and necessary-, the approach is at training professor . The project is committed to developing medium and long term strategies deadline in public schools, where teachers develop that leadership, that capacity to generate educational strategies designed by themselves and in accordance with their context and their educational community".

A project that involves all members of the educational community.

Between May and June, researchers have conducted interviews with teachers, students and families in Guadalajara schools, some in areas of extreme poverty, in order to assess different solutions to their needs.

Among the activities organised with the educational community, a course on leadership at Education was given by Professor Dabdoub and attended by more than 30 principals from these schools. goal The course, which lasted 40 hours, aimed toteach effective practices and strategies to face the challenges of their schools . Specifically, the course was based on model PRIMED, an acronym for six key design principles for Education character: Prioritisation, Relationships, Intrinsic Motivation, Modelling, Empowerment, and Pedagogy of development.

Manuel Maciel, director of the Mixed Secondary School 56, emphasised: "It is evident that the current contents of the official curriculum and programmes in Mexico pretend a lot in quantity, forcing teachers to approach their activity from the point of view of fulfilling these endless indexes. The Education of character reminds us of the origins of the Education and makes us return to that essence of pedagogy which is the training of better human beings and exemplary citizens".

The researcher recalls that "this course, created by the psychologist and professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Marvin Berkowitz, has been taught and implemented in countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, Kenya, Colombia and the United States, bringing great benefits to school managers". This is the first time it has been taught at Spanish and "it is hoped that it will also be successful in Mexico", Dabdoub points out.

In addition to the PRIMED course, the first version of the LACE Academy (Leadership Academy in Character Education), aimed at cultivating virtue in school leaders, is scheduled to take place next year at Spanish . Finally, the CViL (Cultivating Virtue in Leaders) programme will be implemented , based on Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership, focusing on eight virtues: purpose noble, humility, courage, gratitude, forgiveness, empowerment, kindness and foresight.

Among the researchers who form part of this project are:Juan Pablo Dabdoub, Aurora Bernal and Martín Martínez, from the School of Education and Psychology at the University of Navarra; Daniela Salgado, director of the School of Pedagogy at the Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Ligia García and Enrique López, from the same institution. In addition, the project has the partnership of Marvin Berkowitz and Melinda Bier, co-directors of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (USA), and the administrative office of Education de Jalisco (Guadalajara, Mexico).