Using the rich intellectual resources of the Barker College to facilitate learning and growth through the School and wider community.
Patricia Garcia AO, international human rights advocate and Partnership Development Manager at the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), opened the final Barker Institute event for 2023. The IEP is an independent global think tank that aims to create a paradigm shift in the way the world thinks about peace. It undertakes innovative research, including a study of Education and Peace which the IEP is producing for the World Bank and Global Partnership for Education this year. Reflecting on her personal and professional experiences, Garcia presented a call to action in support of the idea of education not just as a human right but as an enabling right. She emphasised the role of schools in helping to shape a more peaceful world. The focus of schools on things like tolerance for difference and appreciation of cultural diversity are also great examples of how education is a significant contributor to peace.
Character education is more than the provision of an a well-intentioned, resourced, researched opportunities and programs targeting values, it involves a journey of becoming, where students learn to make wise moral decisions, think critically, live in harmony with others and be successful in challenges of life.
The understanding of what character education is has changed over time and continues to change as schools ask questions about how they may educate their students to ‘learn to know the good, love the good and do the good’ (The Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtue, 2022, p. 6).
Our annually published document identifies high-level priority domains bringing together our rich intellectual resources to facilitate learning and growth throughout the school, and the local and global community.