When parents and educators engage in meaningful conversation about the virtues which they most hope to nurture in their generation, they often emphasize on character strengths such as gratitude, noble purpose, spirituality, integrity, love of learning, curiosity, and teamwork (Bier, 2021; Gillham et.al, 2011). The nurturing of virtues help the students to thrive and attain life desired outcomes such as school and work achievement, having ability to delay gratification as well as being a good leader in the family and society. Thus, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) initiated the formation of the school Servant Leadership Team (SLT) with an aim of assessing the school culture; identifying the leadership training needs; and steering the implementation of customized Character Education plan.
A case example is in Ruai Boys Secondary School where the school Servant leadership team led by the school principal as its patron worked together to implement an immersive plan of good character and virtue development. The SLT received a 4 days training on “Cultivating virtues in Kenyan school leaders (CVIL)” which was organized by the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) in partnership with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and CViL developers from the Center for Character and Citizenship, University of Missouri-St.Louis. The CViL program seeks to guide educators on a personal and professional development journey. A journey of self-discovery and a deep understanding of servant leadership virtues, character education, and skills necessary to lead school transformation.
The school leadership has embraced various effective strategies to foster character and virtue development among the students. This include the virtue of the week, empowerment of the student council, the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative, virtues integration during lessons and rebranding of the school vision, mission and core values. SLT has taken lead in guiding the entire school community in modelling virtues such as godliness, integrity, teamwork, discipline and compassion. These virtues are displayed in strategic places within the school and teachers keep emphasizing the importance of practicing them with an aim of reengineering a new school culture that produces great results. The SLT has reported that as a result of the school community embracing character and virtue development, “we have noticed improved discipline and academic performance. We have also noticed a warm friendly school environment where we live and work as a family.”
One of the favorite stories of character transformation from the school is that of the members of the students’ council mobilizing each other to raise money in order to buy a new school bell. “… what greatly touched me is when the manual school bell broke down and the prefect body decided to raise money from their pocket money which they presented to the school principal to buy a new bell,” reported the SLT. Such acts of generosity are indicators of students having a sense of belonging and ownership of the school as well as a commitment to pursue excellence.
Other schools which have shown remarkable progress in practicing the effective strategies of character and virtue development includes St. Brigid Baraka Oontoyie Girls Secondary School, Garissa high school, Nakuru Hills Special School, Mwangaza Girls Secondary School, Ruiru Girls Secondary School, Olbutyo Secondary School, Sandai Mixed Secondary School, Matobo
Secondary School and Nairobi Milimani Secondary School among others.
References
Bier, M.C. (2021). Servant Leadership for School Principals: A Virtue Cultivation Model. Journal of Character Education Special Issue, 16, (2).
Gillham, J., Adams-Deutsch, Z., Werner, J., Reivich, K., Coulter-Heindl, V., Linkins, M., Winder, B.,Peterson, C., Park, N., Abenavoli, R., Contero, A., & Seligman, M.E.P., (2011) Character strengths predict subjective well-being during adolescence, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6:1, 31-44, DOI:10.1080/17439760.2010.536773