The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) together with the School Principals and teachers in some of our Character Oriented Schools were privileged to host Adam Seldom, UK -based teacher and author. Adam was on journey to understand what makes a good school and the purpose of education as he is writing a book that its titled “Around the World in 80 Schools”. At CCL, we champion the development of good character that helps the learners to flourish in life beyond the school. Accompanied by the Director of Character Education Programme, Peter Kingori and Justina Ndunge, Programme Assistant from CCL; Adam visited 3 public Secondary Schools namely Ruai Boys Secondary School, Dandora Secondary School and Buruburu Girls Secondary School. The visit included a series of interviews with the school principals, teachers and students majoring on how the school teaches character, school culture and identity, and how the school shapes behavior and the wider educational development of the child. Additionally, the visitors spent some time as they attended classroom lessons with an intent to deepen their understanding on how teachers integrate values such as honesty, diligence, caring and respect during subject lessons.

Notably, Principals shared valuable insights on why educating for character and academic excellence are intertwined and inseparable. At Ruai Boys Secondary School, Principal and teachers attributed teaching of character and values to students modelling good behavior and excellent performance. They shared a story of hope and success by giving an example of the top students who scored grade A- and the most improved students in the last 2 years in
national examination. The schools have documented several Character Promising Practices including virtue of the week initiative, branding of school vision, mission, motto and core values, and integration of values during subject lessons.

At Dandora Secondary School, Principal shared his personal perspective on the purpose of education and stated that ‘a great school should aim to bring up a holistic child who is competitive in academics but has admirable character.’ He attributed teaching of character within the school to an improvement in the number of students who qualified to join university after they sat for national examination as he compared KCSE results for the past two years. This included 12 students in 2023 to 31 students in 2024. One noticeable activity
which the school have used in teaching character is the ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue’ initiative.

At Buruburu Girls Secondary School, CCL team together with Adam were impressed on how teachers integrate values during subject lessons as they attended Kiswahili and Christian Religious Education lessons. Besides that, several classes have written their classroom values on the wall and students are keen to practice and model the virtues. Additionally, school culture includes an aspect of identifying a key virtue from distinguished visitors and
planting a tree that it’s tagged with the virtue and name of the visitor. Students tend to inculcate those virtues as they take care of the trees.

In each school, Adam delivered a speech to the students, offering valuable insights on how to be successful as a student. Key points of his message included having resilience and effort, focusing on what matters, early study and revision, developing a reading culture, having interest and values over wealth and modelling gratitude.

It takes a village to raise a moral child! As adolescents and youth grow up to become caring and responsible citizens, they require significant caring adults who acts as good role models and mentors. The value of a good mentor is immeasurable as they help the adolescents and youth to discover their life purpose, nurture talents and abilities, inspire career growth and
live a meaningful life besides other positive outcome.

“Good mentors offer priceless advice that comes from their own experiences – both successes and failures. They teach us, they guide us, they encourage us, and they increase our chances for success in life. Every kid and every adult should have mentors,” Dr. Lorraine.

With this background, the Centre for Character and Leadership in collaboration with East African Cables donated 500 tree seedlings and facilitated a mentorship program for adolescents and youth during a Mentorship and Tournament event, held at Enkasiti Primary School, Kajiado County.

Oganized by Hon. Joyce Yiapaso Sunte and the community leadership, the event brought together sports team including Ereteti FC, Enkasiti Queens and adolescent students who participated in tree growing, sports competition and character-building mentorship program.

Speaking during the event, Margaret Kiprono, Director of Environment and Service Program urged the participants to embrace the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative as it involves the participants to plant, adopt and tag the trees with virtues which they aim to nurture in life as the trees grow. Notably, Hon. Sunte planted a tree and was tagged; generosity; demonstrating her aspirations and quality of being kind and generous to the local community.

Recognizing the unique needs of young women and adolescent girls, a Mother to Girl Talk; session was organized and facilitated by women leaders. The session provided a safe space for young women and girls to discuss issues specific to their growth and empowerment.

Towards the end, the winning sport teams were awarded with trophies and all members were appreciated for the active participation. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teams who participated and those who made the tournament successful,” said Hon. Sunte.

A Cohort of Secondary school principals from Nairobi County are currently enrolled in a series of virtual mentorship and coaching sessions on Cultivating Virtues for Leadership (CViL). The CViL modules were designed to guide and support educators on a personal and professional journey of growth and development through the cultivation of servant leadership virtues. The
mentorship sessions are being hosted by the Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori, in collaboration with stakeholders from the Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC), University of Missouri-St. Louis and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Regional Director in Nairobi County. The mentorship sessions are being offered to the Principals in line with the TSC policy that stipulates on the need of providing mentorship to ‘institutional administrators by building and enhancing skills and competencies for proper management of learning institutions’ The participants include newly appointed school administrators.

The first mentorship session featured inspiring insights from Dr. Melinda Bier, a research scientist and developer of CViL model from CCC. Dr. Melinda’s message was centered on servant leadership—a philosophy that prioritizes on valuing and developing people, sharing power, promoting trust, and building a sense of community. Unlike traditional leadership models, servant leadership places the leader in the role of a servant first. A servant leader strives to model virtues such as noble purpose, humility, courage, forgiveness, gratitude,
integrity, empowerment, foresight and stewardship. Speaking about nurturing of noble purpose, she challenged each participant to know his/her ‘why’ citing that “Successful people stay grounded in their why.” She added that ‘noble purpose drives a person to make a positive difference in the world.’

The second mentorship session on “Creating a Culture Where Everyone Grows: Every Educator is a Chief Empathy Officer” was facilitated by Dr. Thomas Hoerr, Scholar in Residence, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Emeritus Head of the New City School, USA. Dr. Hoerr shared invaluable insights on the transformative power of empathy, appreciation, and trust in creating a thriving organizational culture. He urged school principals to ‘create spaces where every individual feels seen, valued and heard,” as he said that ‘culture happens when the leader inspires and gets everyone to buy in’. He added that creating such a positive environment begins with leaders encouraging open communication, and ensuring that everyone feels safe to
express their thoughts and concerns. Further, he urged educators to intentionally cultivate gratitude in order to create a culture of care in the school community.

In conclusion, participants have found the mentorship and coaching sessions being valuable in their individual life as they are able to gain skills and competencies which enable them to serve their school communities as servant leaders.

In a concerted effort to promote virtue development, education for sustainable development and community engagement; the Iveti Zone Curriculum Support Officer (CSO) in Machakos County, in collaboration with the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) and East African Cables (EAC) spearheaded a tree growing drive. The EAC donated 1000 tree seedlings which were planted by teachers and learners in 11 Primary Schools as part of adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.

The ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is a service-learning best practice which is implemented by involving the learners to plant, adopt and tag the trees with virtues which they aim to nurture in life as the trees grow. Through this initiative, learners take on the responsibility of caring for their tree and the development of their chosen virtues as a ‘personal project’ under the guidance of a teacher or staff mentor.

Speaking during the occasion, the Iveti Zone CSO, Margaret Kiprono emphasized on the need of nurturing servant leadership virtues as she urged the Headteachers, teachers and students to internalize, practice and model virtues into their lives. Mr. Peter King’ori, Director of Character Education Programme, elaborated on how servant leadership virtues like noble purpose, gratitude, courage and empowerment shape the character of each student and the culture of the school. He encouraged the learners to practice and model the virtues into their everyday lives, illustrating their profound impact on individual character growth and community wellbeing.

Additionally, Peter Kiiri from East African Cables engaged the pupils in interactive discussion about the significance of trees. The students enthusiastically shared their thoughts, highlighting the crucial role trees play in purifying air, protecting the ozone layer, beautifying mother nature and promoting biodiversity.

The learners showcased their understanding of servant leadership virtues through recitation of poems that reflected their commitment on environment stewardship and individual development of good character.
“Our virtue is empowerment. To empower is to give permission to do something. For example, we are empowered to plant trees in order to curb climate change. So, our virtue is empowerment,” said one of the learners.
“Our virtue is courage. Courage is the ability to do something without fear. For example, we are determined to do away with the effects of global warming in the near future by planting more trees. So, our virtue is courage,” he added.

The launching of the tree growing event was hosted by Mr. Daniel Muthoka, headteacher of Kyamwee Primary School. Over 10 headteachers from Iveti Zone attended the event.

In conclusion, this collaborative effort between CCL, East African Cables, Zone CSO and local educational institutions in Machakos County exemplifies the power of collective action in nurturing virtues and restoring greener spaces in schools. By investing in education for sustainable development and character development, we nurture future generations of responsible citizens, contributing to a better future for our communities and the environment.

The Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori, together with stakeholders from the Ministry of Education organized a capacity building and research dissemination workshop that was hosted by the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI). The workshop brought together over 65 Principals from Nairobi County working and managing public secondary schools under Teachers Service Commission. Other stakeholders included speakers from Kenya Methodist University, Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC) and Cohort 1 representative pilot schools.

The ultimate goal of the workshop was to communicate research results of the ‘Cultivating Virtues in Kenyan School leaders’ (CViL) project and promote open science practices among the Heads of institution. The principal is the most responsible person in the education system for establishing the vision and overall ethos of the school. Thus, CViL was designed to guide and support educators on a personal and professional journey of growth and development through the cultivation of servant leadership virtues.

The occasion was graced by Wycliffe Wasike on behalf of Executive Director, KEMI. Speaking during the event, Mr. Wasike urged the school principals to become moral exemplars as he said ‘you have two critical roles, the role of being a good example to the staff that you lead and the role of being a good example to the young people who are learning in your respective institutions.’ He added that ‘they want to see good character, values and virtues in us so that we can be able to impart something in them.’ Additionally, Dr. Hellen Boruett from the Ministry of Education shared about the 8 National Goals of Education and emphasized that a school leader should always aim to ‘foster nationalism, patriotism and promote national unity.’

Dr. Melinda, research scientist and developer of CViL model from CCC, University of Missouri-St. Louis shared a keynote presentation on ‘Cultivating Virtues for Leadership Model as Professional Development for Educators.’ She challenged the principals to embrace servant leadership as she claimed that the ‘model theorizes that servant leaders are motivated by compassionate love which encourages moral emotions and strengthens virtuous attitudes which in turn motivate leadership behaviors that lead to the well-being and development of followers.’  The CViL Model encompasses learning and modelling 9 virtues namely: noble purpose, humility, courage, gratitude, forgiveness, integrity, empowerment, foresight and stewardship.

Furthermore, Daniel Kerandi from Kenya Methodist University shared a presentation on ‘Promoting Research Uptake Through Open Scholarship.’ He emphasized on the need for school principals and academic scholars to embrace Open Scholarship as it has the ‘potential to lower barriers to knowledge by making the processes and products of scholarship more distributed, transparent, and accessible.’ He added that embracing different forms of openness in the scholarly and research environment such as Open access, Open science, Open research and open education stimulates and enhances a culture of open scholarship at the institutions of learning.

Lastly, participants were informed that the CViL pilot program was delivered to two cohorts with a 7-month gap between each cohort.  The findings of the pilot study showed that school leaders and teachers who participated in the CViL program reported that the training was worthwhile and informative, and that it improved their understanding and appreciation of servant leadership virtues. Also, participants found the CViL program appealing and relevant to their contexts, and shared positive feedback on training personnel, activities, and logistical support. The evaluation also found that participants’ understanding and appreciation of servant leadership improved post training.

The CViL pilot project was supported with funding from Templeton World Charity Foundation. The Cultivating Virtue for Leadership Through Open Scholarship workshop was supported with the Open Scholarship Seed Award granted by the Open Research Funders Group.

The Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori, gave a keynote address to the school Principals and teachers during an open day on ‘Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching (TIMEC) Programme’. The mentorship event brought together over 70 School Principals and teachers selected as the first cohort of Mentors and Mentees in an effort to institutionalize the TIMEC programme in Secondary Schools and Primary Schools in Embakasi Central Sub County. The event was hosted at Edelvale Primary School on May 24, 2024 and was coordinated by the office of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Sub County Director and Regional County Director, Nairobi.

The occasion was graced by TSC Chairperson, Dr. Jamleck Muturi. Speaking during the event, Dr. Muturi reminded school Principals and teachers that they are called to serve as he said ‘serve God’s purpose and serve your generation.’ He further urged the school administrators to avoid the shame and bad character that comes with power, money and possessions.

In his Keynote address titled ‘Application of Induction, Mentorship and Coaching in the Teaching Service’, Peter King’ori emphasized on the need of structured mentorship in the teaching profession. ‘Teachers require support systems to manage the challenges associated with globalization, social dynamics and technological changes due to their effect on people’s conduct and professionalism,’ he said. He expressed that a professional teacher should possess moral character and performance character beside having moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation and consistently modelling ethical actions. He urged the mentors and mentees to strive to become servant leaders and good moral exemplars who can be emulated by other teachers and learners within the school community and beyond.

“Good mentors offer priceless advice that comes from their own experiences – both successes and failures. They teach us, they guide us, they encourage us, and they increase our chances for success in life. Every kid and every adult should have mentors,” Anonymous.

The Teachers Service Commission is committed to institutionalize the TIMEC Policy in learning institutions in order to enhance teachers professional conduct and performance in the teaching service. You can read more about the TIMEC Policy here

The Centre for Character and Leadership in partnership with East African Cables PLC, generously donated over 1000 tree seedings at Ereteti Primary, Ereteti Secondary; and at Enkasiti Primary School during an event that was graced by State House Comptroller, Dr. Hon. Katoo Ole Metito. The trees donation was part of stakeholders’ commitment, including the Member of County Assembly (MCA) towards environment conservation and cultivating virtues in learners through the ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue’ initiative.

The ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is a service-learning best practice which is implemented by involving the learners to plant, adopt and tag the trees with environmental related virtues which they aim to nurture in life as the trees grow. At Enkasiti Primary School, Dr. Hon. Metito led the learners in a tree growing drive by planting a Thika Palm tree that was tagged the virtue of generosity, inspiring all present especially the students. Additionally, he handed-over a 55-seater school bus that was generously donated by the President, H.E William Ruto.

Speaking during the occasion, he urged the parents to embrace good morals and instill them in their children. “I would like to ask the parents to take good care of these children. Help them to grow up by having good morals, teach them how to respect their teachers, you as parents and themselves. The Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) allows parents to be teachers too,’ said Hon. Metito.

The school community lead by the Headteacher expressed their joy and gratitude as they received the bus since it will ease transport challenges and enhance safety of the pupils. “For a very long time we have suffered while traveling and today our problem has been solved. Our pupils will not be using TukTuk or matatus when coming to school. They will be coming to school early and there will be no lateness any more. It is a big relief to the community,” Abdala said.

In conclusion, modelling generosity exemplifies the transformative impact of collective action in enhancing learner’s safety, fostering character development and restoring greener spaces. Through such endeavors, we sow the seeds of a brighter and more sustainable future for our communities and the environment.

In a concerted effort to promote virtue development, environmental sustainability, and community engagement; the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Sub County Director of Embakasi Central, in collaboration with the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) and East African Cables spearheaded a tree growing drive. The stakeholders donated and engaged learners in Komarock Primary, Komarock South Primary and Busara Primary School to plant and take care of over 400 tree seedlings as part of adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.

The ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is a service-learning best practice which is implemented by involving the learners to plant, adopt and tag the trees with environmental related virtues which they aim to nurture in life as the trees grow. Research shows that nurturing of virtues such as appreciation of beauty, love of learning, bravely, curiosity, spirituality, gratitude, social intelligence, kindness and zest predicts development of positive environmental attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Also, students who are exposed to nature through environmental education tend to experience nature connectedness.

Through the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative, learners take on the responsibility of caring for their tree and the development of their chosen virtues as a ‘personal project’ under the guidance of a teacher or staff mentor. The trees include both the indigenous and fruit trees.

During the occasion, students received education on tree planting, nurturing of virtues, and environmental conservation. This holistic approach fosters character development alongside environmental awareness. Ms. Pauline, TSC Sub County Director addressed the learners and the teachers and emphasized on the need of taking care of mother nature as she said, “In the Bible, human beings are commanded to take care of God’s Creation.” Mr. Peter King’ori, Director of Character Education Programme, reiterated CCL’s commitment in the cultivation of virtues in learners through experiential learning approach as he said, “we champion development of good character through nurturing of virtues.’

In conclusion, this collaborative effort between CCL, East African Cables, TSC Sub County Office and local educational institutions in Embakasi Central exemplifies the power of collective action in nurturing virtues and restoring greener spaces in schools. By investing in environmental sustainability and character development, we nurture future generations of responsible citizens, contributing to a better future for our communities and the environment.

References
Diessner, R., & Niemiec, R. M. (2022). Can beauty save the world? The character strength of appreciation of beauty predicts proenvironmental behavior and moral elevation better than 23 other major character strengths. Manuscript under review.
Merino, A., Valor, C., & Redondo, R. (2020). Connectedness is in my character: The relationship between nature relatedness and character strengths. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1707-1728.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) had the privilege of hosting a day-long leadership and mentorship training session at Dandora Secondary School. Over 70 members of the student council from this esteemed Public, Mixed Day Secondary School, situated in Nairobi County, participated in this transformative event.

At the heart of CCL’s leadership and mentorship program for student council members lies the servant-leadership model that emphasizes on ethical decision-making, sense of community building, and holistic character development. Student councils serve as vital links between the school administration, teachers, and students, that contribute to a conducive learning environment within the school community.

The training sessions were interactive and educational, covering topics such as servant leadership, virtue development, and the pivotal role of student leaders in supporting the school management. A notable exercise led by the facilitator was a virtue-reflection session, where participants identified their most and least developed character traits and crafted personalized improvement plans. Emphasizing character development’s importance in enhancing leadership capacity, students were encouraged to cultivate virtues like noble purpose, humility, responsibility, and courage.

Cooperative learning activities engaged students in team tasks, such as defining the roles of School Captain, deputies, prefects, and other leadership positions, aligning them with the school’s vision, mission and core values. Discussions also delved into leadership qualities, role models, and conflict resolution techniques, alongside strategies for emotional regulation.

The training culminated in a circle session where student leaders pledged to apply the virtues they learned as echoed by their testimonials.
“I’ll work on my least developed virtues such as integrity and forgiveness in order to become an effective leader;
“I have learnt to be a good mentor and I will commit myself to mentor other students in my class.”

The training was facilitated by the Centre’s Director Mr. Peter King’ori, together with Concepta Muthoni. In attendance was the school principal, deputy principal among other teachers.

The Director of Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori gave a presentation during the 49th Annual Conference of the Association for Moral Education which was held from October 26th – 28th, 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The Conference was hosted by the Texas Christian University with the theme “Positive Youth Development and Moral Education: Building Bridges”. His presentation was entitled “Promoting Development of Character Strengths and Flourishing Among Adolescents Students.”

The conference brought together individual researchers and practitioners from 27 Countries across the world who are engaged in research and practice of positive youth development together with those who are engaged in the study and practice of moral education. The three days conference featured inspirational key note speakers, symposiums presentations, papers and posters presentations drawn from the field of philosophy, sociology, religion, education, psychology, and political science among others.
Additionally, Peter Kingori served as the Chairperson of the Poster Award Committee along with Prof Christine Gouveia from University of Pennsylvania in the USA and Prof. Jiang Fei from Northeast Normal University in China.

The Association for Moral Education gives the Poster Award for outstanding Poster presentation addressing important topics in the areas of moral development and education. Other Kenyans who presented during the Conference included Grace Ngugi from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and Esther Chongwo from Aga Khan University.

Grace’ presentation was entitled “Mainstreaming values and life skills education in the curriculum to foster character development among the youth: the Kenyan landscape; while Esther’s presentation was entitled “Mabrouk’s Measure of Adolescent Optimism: Development and Validation of a New Scale of Adolescent Optimism.”

More information about the conference can be found here 

The Director of Character Education Programme, Peter Kingori together with Dr. Melinda Bier, Deborah O’Reilly, Dr. Satabdi Samtani and Prof. Marvin Berkowitz have contributed a Chapter to The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development.

The Chapter is titled ‘Changing the Character of Schools: Promoting Servant Leadership Virtues to Solve Internationally Relevant Problems in Education.’ The chapter discusses the need, history, philosophy, and research behind Servant Leadership, and its potential for meeting the challenges faced by schools in various contexts.

Further, the authors described the development and implementation of a particular character-based Servant Leadership model, Cultivating Virtue for Leadership (CViL), in the U.S.A and for Secondary schools located in Kenya.

Further details, and the Chapter itself can be found here

The Centre for Character and Leadership in partnership with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues was privileged to host the Africa Regional Platform Conference under the theme ‘Global Innovations for Character Development.’ The conference was held from October 4-6, 2023 at Sarova Panafric Hotel, Nairobi.

Sponsored by the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), the conference brought together delegates who included researchers and practitioners in character development from 9 African countries as well as the USA and Bahamas. Dr. Tracey Farquharson and Andrica Smith-Munroe represented the TWCF and spoke about the commitment of the foundation to fund innovative research in order to build and expand the field of character development.

Global innovations for character development (GICD) was created by TWCF as an initiative that seeks to promote character strengths across the world. Character strengths includes attributes or virtues that enable individuals to lead better lives such as gratitude, compassion, integrity, forgiveness, hard work, humility, empathy, noble purpose and self-control.
Throughout the 3 days conference, delegates had an opportunity to meet, learn and network with each other. The training sessions were facilitated by the GICD platform managers.

Sessions included contextualizing character constructs and measures; Cognitive interviewing for measures development, program and evaluation life cycles and using theories of change to communicate with stakeholders and funders among others. The GICD facilitators were from Montclair University and Tufts University.

The delegates also had an opportunity to participate in a tree planting activity that was being hosted by the Dandora Secondary School. They all planted a giant bamboo seedling with the help of a student and jointly tagged a virtue on the tree. The students committed to nurture and model the virtues as they take care of the trees. The bamboos’ are intended to purify the heavy smoke that emanates from the dumping site which is located next to the school. The activity was part of the Centre’s work of promoting character development and climate smart solutions in learning institutions through the ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.’
“Those of us who value good character, quality of life and human flourishing, we should dare to dream big dreams with the hope that through education and service; the heart, soul and conscience of man can be re – ignited in realizing sustainable development goals,” said Peter Kingori during the tree planting event.
Towards the end of the conference, the delegates committed to establish an association that will bring together different stakeholders working in the field of character development within the horn of Africa.

On 11th August 2023, the Centre for Character and Leadership hosted a virtual conference on Cultivating Virtues for Leadership that was attended by various stakeholders working in the education sector. These included secondary school principals, teachers and government representatives from the Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission.

The conference was held as a culmination of two years pilot implementation of the ‘Cultivating Virtues in Kenyan School leaders (CViL) project with support from the Templeton World Charity Foundation. CViL was designed to guide and support educators on a personal and professional journey of growth and development through the cultivation of servant leadership virtues. The virtues included noble purpose, integrity, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, foresight, and stewardship.

During the conference, principals and teachers from the CViL pilot schools located in 16 Counties made inspiring presentations of the character-based best practices which they have documented over time. The practices are helping in fostering good character among the learners as well as supporting improvement of school culture and climate.

Notable promising practices included:

• Virtue of the week initiative, talking pillars initiative and establishment of family mentorship meetings by Ruai Boys High School in Nairobi County.
• Incorporation of virtues in school activities, and engaging learners in community service learning by Matobo Secondary School in Kericho County.
• Peer mentorship program and project based learning initiatives by Kamirithu Secondary School in Kiambu County.
• Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative by Buruburu Girls High School in Nairobi County.
• Character-based recognition of learners by Mutira Girls High School in Kirinyaga County.
• Touch a soul initiative by Drumvale Secondary School in Nairobi County
• Peer Counseling Hour by Baraka Oontoyie Secondary School in Kajiado County
• Talking walls initiative by Kaabazi Secondary School in Nakuru County.
• Parents involvement program by Sandai Secondary School in Baringo County.
• Psycho-social support program by Kenya Institute of Special Education in Nairobi County and,
• Academic excellence mentorship program by Kiamutugu Boys Secondary School in Kirinyaga County.

The preliminary research findings indicated that principals and teachers have found the CViL program being appealing and relevant to their contexts thereby leading to a better understanding and appreciation of the Servant Leadership virtues. As a result, teachers are becoming more empathetic and fairer to all students; teachers are doing the assigned responsibilities in the right way and always being truthful in their work; and teachers are gaining confidence from colleagues and students.

Also, the presenters attributed the implementation of character -based promising practices to the improvement of greener and more beautiful learning environment; students becoming more hospitable, responsible and determined; students being respectful to one another thereby leading to reduced indiscipline cases; students being honest and not cheating in exams; schools’ improvement in academics during national exams and openness among the students in sharing about their issues.

The Cultivating Virtues in Leaders (CViL) project was recently featured in the Character and global leadership report published by the Oxford Character Project. CViL is offered to Kenyan school principals and their leadership teams with an aim to develop servant leadership virtues among them and skills necessary to lead school transformation.

The report was carried out by a multicultural group of researchers who examined academic literature and educational programmes focused on character-based leadership, with particular attention to five regions comprising 137 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The regions included Southern and East Africa, Central and West Africa, Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, and South and Central Asia. The researchers investigated prevalent values, reviewed leadership literature, and analyzed leadership development programmes in each region.

The study was guided by the following questions:

1. What leadership character traits/virtues are relevant to LMICs?
2. What is the current scholarly understanding of character-based leadership in LMICs?
3. Who are developing character-based leaders in LMICs and how?
4. What are the gaps in character-based leadership research and programmes in LMICs?

The idea of character-based leadership is an expansive one, encompassing theories and models such as authentic leadership, ethical leadership, servant leadership, social justice leadership, spiritual leadership, values-based leadership, and virtuous leadership.

The report key findings indicated:

• The most highly valued leadership virtues across LMICs are empathy, honesty, courage, transparency, and care.
• The most prominent educational virtues emphasised in educational programmes are integrity, responsibility, service, compassion, empathy, inclusion, courage, wisdom, perseverance and purpose.
• Consistent increase in published papers on character-based leadership across LMICs.
• Over half (55%) of research papers focus on the corporate sector, with education second at 22%.
• Servant leadership is the most prominent model in academic research.
• The largest provider of character-based leadership programmes is the NGO sector, followed by universities.
• Common programme components and educational strategies include service-learning projects, role models, and learning communities.

You can read more about Character and Global Leadership Report here:

https://oxfordcharacter.org/research/character-global-leadership-report-2023

Character and Global Leadership 2023

The Centre for Character and Leadership has collaborated with the East African Cables to donate tree seedlings in various Primary Schools across the country in an effort to scale up the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.

The ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is a service-learning best practice which is implemented by involving the learners to plant, adopt and tag the trees with positive virtues which they aim to nurture in their life as the tree grows. The trees include both the indigenous and fruit trees. The learners take on the responsibility of caring for their tree and the development of their chosen virtue as a “personal project’ under the guidance of a teacher or staff mentor.

Through this initiative, learners are engaged in experiential learning activities that foster development of good character. This not only helps in enhancing students character growth and well-being but it’s also becoming a great education innovation towards promoting sustainable development goals such as food security and climate action. Additionally, trees growing in learning institutions is part of “mitigation measure that will see the country grow 15 billion trees consequently increasing the tree cover from the current 12 per cent to 30 percent by the year 2030.”

The recent beneficiaries of the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative includes Thika Primary School for the visually impaired in Kiambu County; Paranae Primary School and Osimlai gifted hands School in Kajiado County; and St. Michael Primary School, D.E.B Iveche Primary School and Kangaru D.E.B Primary school in Embu County.

In conclusion, the act of engaging learners to understand, internalize, nurture and model the virtues has a positive effect on school culture and climate. “Great improvement in terms of behavior and performance has been noticed in our school since the introduction of character and nurturing of virtues. Every stream in the school has chosen its own virtue and learners keep nurturing and modeling it in their day to day activities within school” said an elated teacher.

The Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori, facilitated the training for Master Trainers and Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) on Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching (TIMEC) at a workshop that was organized by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The workshop participants included leaders who are in-charge of teachers’ management at the Regional, County, Sub-County and Zonal level from the 47 Counties.  The training was held at the Kenya School of Government-Embu Campus from June 12-17, 2023.

TSC is committed to institutionalize the Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching Policy in order to enhance teachers professional conduct and performance in the teaching service. This includes retention of teachers within the teaching service; reduce the number of teachers who are involved with cases of professional misconduct; and establishing a life-long learning culture that is attractive to teachers who desire opportunities for career growth in the teaching profession.

Throughout the workshop, the participants were engaged in critical reflections and interactive dialogue in order to deepen their understanding and application of Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching in the teaching service at this time of global transition.

The discussions were spurred by questions such as: How can institutions of learning develop a flourishing community of all staff in an era of globalization, social dynamics and technological changes? How do we educate and raise moral citizens for the 21st century? How does one cultivate leadership in others? How are the virtues manifested in your words and actions? How important is emotional intelligence in our personal and work environment? What are the causes of inter and intrapersonal conflicts in the work place? How can Induction, Mentorship and Coaching contribute to flourishing of teachers within the teaching service?  

Evidently, teachers require support systems to manage the challenges associated with the changes due to their effect on people’s conduct and professionalism. To act morally, a professional teacher needs to develop moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation and consistently model ethical actions. The TIMEC programme uses a preventive approach to promote positive discipline as it mainly targets to empower the newly recruited teachers, newly appointed institutional administrators/ heads of institutions, teachers with identified performance gaps and those with professional misconduct.

The institutionalization of TIMEC is structured in a manner that mentors and coaches are recruited within the teaching profession. They are required to provide coaching and mentorship to the mentees even at the institution level and as well develop community of practice. Each school is required to establish a mentorship and coaching committee with the head of institution as the supervisor.  The committee should meet regularly to review school level implementation of TIMEC and to ensure sustainability of the programme. You can read more about the TSC Induction, Mentorship and Coaching Policy here

The Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter Kingori, participated in the development of Values-based Education resource materials in a 10 days writing workshop that was organized by the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development.

Values based Education (VbE) is anchored on 8 core values which are derived from the Kenyan Constitution 2010 and Basic Education Act 2013. The values include integrity, love, responsibility, respect, social justice, peace, unity and patriotism. VbE is part of the curriculum reform in line with the newly introduced Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in the Kenyan education system. In the CBC, values are transmitted through the VbE model employing the Whole School Approach (WSA). WSA entails recognizing that all aspects of the school community have an impact on learners.

During the workshop, invited stakeholders worked collaboratively in the development of VbE resource books for Primary School teachers, Secondary School teachers and School leadership (Heads of Institution). The stakeholders included representatives from the Ministry of Education, Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development, Kenya National Education for UNESCO, Teachers Service Commission, Primary school teachers, Secondary school teachers, Academia/University lecturers, Civil Societies, National Council of Churches of Kenya and Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims among others.

The adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative is not only helping in nurturing good character among the students in Primary and Secondary schools but also becoming a great education innovation towards achieving sustainable development goals. The ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is a service-learning best practice which is implemented by involving the students to plant, adopt and tag the trees with positive virtues which they aim to nurture in their life as the tree grows. The trees include both the indigenous and fruit trees. The students take on the responsibility of caring for their tree and the development of their chosen virtue as a “personal project’ under the guidance of a teacher or staff mentor.

A case study example is in Mutira Girls High School where the School Servant Leadership Team (SLT) has collaborated with the school principal to establish a green garden for fruit trees. 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,

With the guidance of the SLT, every class teacher engage their students in interactive discussions with an aim of identifying a virtue which they would like to inculcate and model as a class. The class teacher together with the students’ representatives from each class participate in the launch of the green garden for fruit trees. Each class is then tasked to take care of its fruit tree as they encourage each other to nurture and model the virtue. The virtues tagged on the trees include stewardship by CCL, empathy by Form 1W, respect by Form 1U, considerate by Form 2V, forgiveness by Form 3X and generosity by Form 4W among others.  Currently, the trees are doing well and have started to bear the fruits. In addition, the SLT has reported that as a result of virtue development, “students in the school have become more hospitable, responsible and more determined.”

One of the favorite stories of character transformation from the school include students sacrificing their pocket money in order to raise funds to pay school fees of a needy girl. A form two class prefect mobilized her class, teachers and the whole school to raise money for a student who had been away from school due to illness for three months. A total of sixty-four thousand Kenya shillings was collected to finance the medical bill. This was indeed a kind gesture that showed selflessness and love, reported by the SLT.

Other schools which have embraced the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative includes Ruai Boys Secondary School, Drumvale Secondary School, Buruburu Girls Secondary School, Kiamutugu Boys’ Secondary School, Ole Tipis Girls’ Secondary School, Kirimari Boys Secondary School and ACK Mukengesya Secondary School. The aforementioned schools received an in-kind donation of indigenous trees from the East African Cables in collaboration with CCL. A total of over 4300 trees have been planted through the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative in year 2022 with a goal of planting 12000 trees in 2023. These concerted efforts go along way not only on fostering students character development through service learning but also in realizing sustainable development goals such as food security and climate action.

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

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) collaborates with schools to provide mentorship training sessions to students in order to help them excel in their studies and develop virtues in their pathway to success. The mentorship training sessions include academic excellence i.e. study habits and finishing strong, reading culture, relationships, drugs and substance abuse, social emotional competencies and character building. The mentorship sessions have produced numerous positive outcomes, from raising esteem, encouraging healthier behaviors, improving social and emotional development and improved performance in academics.

CCL staff has been facilitating the mentorship training sessions in various secondary schools across the country. The topics include developing positive study habits and target setting; drug and substance abuse prevention; handling negative peer pressure and managing social media; sexual relationship and character building; and personality and career guidance among others. The sessions aimed at encouraging the students to adopt a healthy lifestyle that benefit them to lead flourishing lives that significantly provide an authentic sense of purpose and meaning.

During the sessions, the students were trained on how to inculcate character traits and virtues such as integrity, noble purpose, gratitude, teamwork, self-control, courage and forgiveness among others. CCL character building and mentorship model gives an opportunity to the students to practice social emotional and leadership skills such as being good communicators, resource builders, visionaries, problem solvers and role models. The delivery approach included interactive group discussions, moral dilemma discussions, visual aids, role plays, service learning, team building and a variety of other innovative teaching techniques to keep the participants wholly involved in the session. Towards the end of the mentorship sessions, students were given an opportunity to ask questions which were answered by the trainers and fellow students.

Kajiado Governor H.E. Joseph Ole Lenku has launched a tree planting drive in celebration of Jamhuri day celebrations at the Bare KCB grounds in Kajiado town. The drive will see 200,000 trees planted in its first phase. This is in line with the Kenyan Government appeal for citizen participation in National tree planting initiative as a “mitigation measure that will see the country grow 15 billion trees consequently increasing the tree cover from the current 12 per cent to 30 percent by the year 2030.” The tree seedlings were donated by the East African  Cables in partnership with the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL).

Led by Ms. Margaret Kiprono, Adopt a Tree Ambassador at CCL, the governor planted an indigenous Pondo tree which was tagged with an inspiration virtue as he aims to build and strengthen his lasting legacy at the County’s leadership “Legacies define success of leadership, separates leaders from politicians.” The governor was accompanied by the First Lady, H.E. Edna Lenku who planted a tree which was tagged “Serving Communities is Serving God.” Also, the Deputy Governor, H.E. Martin Moshisho planted a tree which was tagged “great Leaders start small, and grow in humility.” These concerted and coordinated efforts in planting and growing trees goes a long way towards building servant leadership and inculcating the National tree planting culture across the country. CCL aims to inspire a generation of loving citizens who are environmental conscious and dedicated in mitigating the effects of climate change, global warming and enhanced food security.

Other dignitaries who planted the trees included the County Commissioner, Speaker of the County Assembly, and County Woman Representative among others.

In an effort to enhance the 10% forest cover and mitigate the effects of climate change and global warming, Centre for character and leadership (CCL) in collaboration with environmental actors planted 400 indigenous tree seedlings at KBC Police Station. The occasion was graced by Evans Mose, Deputy Sub-County Police Commander, Matungulu Sub-County. The tree seedlings were donated by the East African Cables.

Speaking during the occasion, Mr. Japheth Ouda, Director of Environment and Service Program (EASP) at CCL, emphasized the need for individual responsibility towards environment conservation. “Environmental conservation is a responsibility of each individual. We should therefore take responsibility of our environment by growing more trees,” he said. Driven by the motto ‘Plant a Tree, Save the Future’, CCL aims to inspire a generation of loving citizens who are environmental conscious and dedicated in mitigating the effects of climate change, global warming and enhanced food security.

Although the primary responsibility of the Kenya Administration Police is law enforcement, CCL collaboration with the KBC Police station in tree growing initiative will have a long-lasting impact on the community wellbeing. The Police station is located in a semi-arid area and its surrounding community have very few trees compared with the desired goal of 10% forest cover as stipulated in the blue print Kenya Vision 2030 and the Constitution. “I like planting trees; we shall join hands together to ensure that our environment and country as a whole is very green” said Bernard Mugasia, Officer Commanding KBC Police Station as he led the stakeholders and police in planting the trees.

Towards the end, Joyce Mbugua, Procurement Manager at East African Cables urged the police to take care of the trees. “We usually donate our personal time to make sure that the tree growing project does not fail. So, take care of the trees,” she said. Other partners who participated in the tree growing initiative included Restore Man’s Integrity Foundation and Kenya Forestry Research Institute.

School leaders are largely responsible for establishing the climate and culture of a school (Bier, 2021). They have a significant impact on the well-being and achievement of both teachers and students. However, the rising cases of school unrest, cheating in exams, teenage pregnancies and abuse of drugs across the Country is an imminent threat to democratic community, a thriving economy, and a flourishing society. Nationally, there is a recognized need for new approaches to school leadership to meet the current needs of our schools and students (Levin, Bradley; Scott, 2019)

In this background, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) conducted the Cohort 2 training targeting secondary school principals and teachers. The four days’ workshop was held from July 4-7, 2022 at KICD with the theme ‘Cultivating Virtues in Kenyan School Leaders’ (CViL). The purpose of CViL workshop was to help guide the school leaders on a personal and professional development journey of self-discovery and commitment to leadership that promote excellence and well-being of all stakeholders and the flourishing of school communities – holistically.

Speaking during the Workshop, Grace Ngugi, Deputy Director, Department of Special Programmes at the KICD shared the opening remarks on ‘Virtues and Leadership in Curriculum Development’ on behalf of Prof. Charles O. Ong’ondo, Chief Executive Officer, KICD. She emphasized on the need of implementing Values Based Education through whole school approach as entrenched in the newly developed Competency Based Curriculum for both Primary and Secondary Schools. The participants were engaged through interactive sessions on Servant Leadership, Character Education, and virtue development. Greenleaf (1977) conceptualizes Servant-leadership as a virtue-based philosophy and style of leadership in which leaders focus on relationships and persuasion rather than command and control. The servant-leaders take a holistic approach to work and see themselves as stewards of the  people and the resources entrusted to them (Van Dierendonck, 2011). The individual virtues workshops included noble purpose, integrity, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, foresight, and stewardship.

The facilitators integrated participatory teaching methods in order to keep the training lively and interactive. In addition, participants had an opportunity to listen and learn some of the best practices in servant leadership and virtue development from the CViL Cohort 1 schools i.e Ruai Boys Secondary and Buruburu Girls Seconday School. Some of the documented best practices included use of talking notice board where students write and post individual virtue transformation narratives; virtue of the week initiative, talking walls and pillars which are branded with virtues as well as the ‘adopt a tree and tag’ a virtue initiative.

The educators testified that the training was timely and impactful: “From this workshop, I was so touched when my colleague said that I am her role model…let’s be servant to our clients,” said an inspired teacher.
“I cannot regret those days I have attended the workshop…I am going back wealthier than I came. In fact, this is what we need to change the world – Character!” said a transformed participant.
“Learning is so important…the more we learn, the more we are empowered, the more we become humble and simple…your methods of teaching were great,” said an elated teacher as he shared about his leadership transformation.
“This is very important for me as an individual, school and our families… As parents, we need to instill and cultivate virtues in our children,” said an inspired School Principal.

“Transformation start with us …let’s go back to our schools and make a difference. Start small and you will grow,” asserted Dr. Christine Obaigwa, CCL Council member from the Kenya Education Management Institute as she officially closed the workshop. All the participants were awarded with Certificates. This training was supported with the funds from Templeton World Charity Foundation and facilitated by the CViL developers research consultants from the Center for Character and Citizenship – University of Missouri St. Louis, USA led by Dr. Melinda Bier and Deborah O’Reilly. Other members of the Character and Leadership Council who addressed the workshop included: Dr. Hellen Boruett from the Ministry of Education and Dr. Dimba from Strathmore University. Mr. Peter Kingori, CViL Project Leader appreciated the support of all stakeholders and commitment of School Principals and teachers for attending the workshop despite it being a short school holiday.

References

Bier, M.C. (2021). Servant Leadership for School Principals: A Virtue Cultivation Model. Journal of Character Education Special Issue, 16, (2). Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). The Servant as Leader. Retrieved from http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/52/07879745/0787974552.pdf
Levin, S., Bradley, K., & Scott, C. (2019). Principal Turnover: Insights from Current Principals.
Report from The National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1228–1261.

A developmental Psychology Professor, Marvin Berkowitz in his work on raising ethical children observes that “no society can endure, or at least flourish, if it fails to take seriously the eternal task of socializing the next generation of youth, to whom we, as the keepers of our societies and cultures, will bequeath that which we have shepherded and crafted.” In reality, the future of any great nation is anchored in the character as well as in the imaginative, creative and innovative mind of its young people. Researchers in the field of moral education reasons that students need to develop survival skills such as self-regulation, curiosity, creativity, and resilience in their pathway to success. They are required to inculcate ethical virtues such as justice, courage, temperance, practical wisdom and other character virtues which may enable them to become their best selves.

Other than through the family, the development of character and virtues largely takes place through education systems. The internalization and practice of moral virtues contribute to flourishing through virtuous living. Thus, human beings have a responsibility to discover and cultivate the virtues within themselves and in support of their community. The Centre for Character and Leadership has been implementing the Cultivating Virtues in Kenyan School Leaders (CViL) project in selected pilot secondary schools which are located in 11 Counties across the Country. The CViL model entails offering Servant Leadership and Virtues development trainings to the school Principals and teachers. This includes a series of nine individual virtues workshops (noble purpose, integrity, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, foresight, and stewardship) that promote understanding and development of the virtues in self, staff and students.

School leaders are largely responsible for establishing the climate and culture of the school. They have significant impact on the well-being and achievement of both teachers and students. Through the implementation of CViL model, the school leaders are helping the students to understand and cultivate the virtue based practices that are essential in building a positive school culture. For instance, schools have incorporated specific environmentally based service learning such as ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.’ This involve students planting and adopting the trees as well as tagging the trees with positive virtues which they aim to nurture in their life as the tree grows. The students take on the care of their tree and the development of their chosen virtue as a “personal project’ under a ‘mentor’ relationship with a designated member of the school faculty or staff.

Schools which have demonstrated noteworthy progress in the integration of service learning through the ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ includes Buru Buru Girls Secondary, Ruai Boys Secondary, Drumvale Secondary, Kamirithu Secondary, Mutira Girls High School, Nakuru Hills Special School and Kirimari Boys Secondary School among others. The integration of service learning within the school culture through the ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ contributes to:

1. Good character formation among the learners through internalization of moral virtues and practice.
2. Building of a positive school culture with a conducive environment for meditation and learning.
3. Support the achievement of 10% forest cover through growing trees in schools and communities as stipulated in the Kenyan’s Constitution, Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
4. Address the effects of climate change and global warming through advocacy in reforestation.
5. Support the achievement of Education for Sustainable Development Goals through planting of fruit trees.

In conclusion, the provision of education to the learners without helping them to internalize and practice moral virtues cannot bring about sustainable development. For example, young people who does not possess good character in the work place cannot sustain their jobs. Hence, the act of helping and mentoring learners to practice moral virtues is important in order to enable them flourish in life, school and the workplace.

References

Berkowitz, M.W. (2016). Raising ethical children. In D. McGowan (Ed.), Parenting beyond belief, 10th anniversary edition. New York City: ANACOM Books
Hyemin Han (2015) Purpose as a moral virtue for flourishing, Journal of Moral Education, 44:3, 291-309, DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2015.1040383
Lickona, T., (2004). Why Character Matters. Chapter 2 in Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. New York: Touchstone. 3-30.

Throughout history, and in cultures all over the world, education rightly conceived has had two great goals: to help students become smart and to help them become good. Through formal education, schools are entrusted with the responsibility of shaping children’s social, emotional and ethical lives as well as their cognitive development. In the real sense, school leaders are largely responsible for establishing the climate and culture of a school. They have a significant impact on the well-being and achievement of both teachers and students. Besides, the rising cases of school unrest across the Country is a clarion call for school leaders to implement interventions that address students character and virtue development.

With this background, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) organized a four days Cultivating Virtues in Leaders (CViL) Academy Workshop which was held between December 27-30, 2021. The workshop brought together a team of Principals and teachers from 18 randomly selected Secondary Schools located in 11 Counties across the Country. The purpose of CViL workshop was to help guide the school leaders on a personal and professional development journey of self and other awareness and appreciation, a deep understanding of servant leadership virtues, character education, and skills necessary to lead school transformation.

Speaking during the Workshop, Grace Ngugi, Deputy Director, Department of Special Programmes at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development shared the opening remarks on ‘Virtues and Leadership in Curriculum Development’ on behalf of Prof. Charles O. Ong’ondo, Chief Executive Officer, KICD. The participants were engaged through a series of nine individual virtues workshops which included noble purpose, integrity, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, foresight, and stewardship. The training was supported with the funds from Templeton World Charity Foundation and facilitated by the CViL developers research consultants from the Center for Character and Citizenship – University of Missouri St. Louis, USA led by Dr. Melinda Bier, Deborah O’Reilly and Dr. Thomas Hoerr.

“Who was the worst boss you’ve ever had or known and who was the best leader you’ve ever known?” Dr. Melinda asked the participants as she shared on servant leadership and noble purpose. She emphasized on the need for educators to individually establish an imaginary board of directors. This may include good role models or moral exemplars who have a direct or indirect positive influence on a person’s life purpose. “The Principal must be the School’s Chief Empathy Officer,” asserted Dr. Thomas as he shared on the ‘Formative Five Success Skills’ which included Empathy, Self-Control, Integrity, Embracing Diversity and Grit. He reiterated that exceptional school Principals use empathy to create an environment in which everyone grows.

The facilitators integrated participatory teaching methods in order to keep the training lively and interactive such as circle time, short videos clips, group discussions and presentation, Live Zoom Webinar, Character strengths surveys and sharing of best practices. The best practices included a session where participants learnt on how to enhance students character formation through adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative. The teachers appreciated and testified that the training was timely and relevant to their daily teaching work in school.

“I have learnt that kids don’t learn from the people they don’t like. When I go back to school, I will put a smile and encourage students to do their best including low performing students,” said an inspired teacher.

“I have never thought of a creative way of using our school stair. As I leave this place, our staircase will be full of virtues,” said a committed teacher.

“I have been telling girls that I am busy when they come to ask questions and it happens I don’t see them again after turning them away. I will practice to be more listening and creating time for them.” said a transformed CViL Academy participant.

“I will no longer practice – teach and go home. Instead, I will aim in nurturing positive and friendly relationships with the students,” said an elated teacher as she shared about her leadership transformation.

The CViL Academy workshop ended by awarding certificates to the participants. Mr. Peter Kingori, CViL Project Leader appreciated the support of all stakeholders and commitment of School Principals and teachers for attending the workshop despite it being a Festive season. Other speakers who addressed the workshop included members of the Character and Leadership Council: Dr. Helen Boruett from the Ministry of Education; and Dr. Christine Owinyi from the Kenya Education Management Institute. In attendance were CCL board members and staff.

On 21 st September 2021, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) commemorated the International Day of Peace themed “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable World’ through planting trees and offering  students mentorship. The day is purposed to promote the ideals of peace to the human race by providing opportunities to build a peaceful world where all humanity can live together without enmity regardless of their skin color, religion, nationality and ethnicity. Throughout human history, the yearning for lasting peace has remained to be a universal dream. However, true peace can only be realized by raising individuals of outstanding character. It is in this  background that CCL inspired the students of Highway Manyatta Mixed Secondary School to strive to be peace loving citizens and environmental stewards.

The 2021 peace theme aimed to inspire humanity from across the world to think creatively and collectively about how to transform our world into one that is more inclusive, sustainable and healthier.

Speaking during the tree planting activity, the School Principal urged the students to be agents of peace as he said, “always strive in developing peace within the self as a foundation of your character growth and harmonious existence within the school.”

The school leadership together with the students has committed in planting and taking care of trees as part of their environment responsibility. The activity was exciting as students, parents’ representatives and teachers took turns to plant the trees and water them. Students were also urged to each adopt a tree, tag a virtue and nurture the virtue within self as the tree grows. During the mentorship session, students were engaged on an interactive learning lesson with a focus on helping them to develop a positive attitude, reading culture and goal setting as they prepare to sit for the end of term exams. Guided by the school motto which says ‘Education is Power’ the students were encouraged to pursue their dreams and keep trusting in God. Also, students were challenged to believe in the self, manage their time well, set SMART goals, avoid the dream killers, love their teachers and school, complete assignments and submit for marking, develop personal time table, use of peer teaching and possess a winners’ spirits among others.

On developing a positive attitude, the speaker emphasized that “embrace a positive attitude since it’s the most important factor in determining success or failure.”

Towards the end of the lesson the students chanted that “I believe in myself because I know I am the best.” CCL appreciates the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) for the donations of trees and the school for taking ownership in environment conservation.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) is collaborating with the East African Cables in planting trees in secondary schools across the  country. The pre-selected secondary schools are involved in the Implementation of the Cultivating Virtues in Leaders (CViL) Project. The CViL program seeks to guide the school principals and teachers on a personal and professional development journey. A journey of self-discovery and appreciation, a deep understanding of servant leadership virtues, character education, and skills necessary to lead school transformation.

Students are benefitting from the CViL project by getting coaching and mentorship from adult teachers who model and teach the virtues. Also, the CViL model gives an opportunity to the students to practice leadership skills such as being good communicators, resource builders, visionaries, problem solvers and role models to their peers.

For instance, students are engaged in the implementation of ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.’ This is a service-learning best practice that involves the students to plant, adopt and tag the trees with positive virtues which they aim to nurture in their life as the tree grows.

The ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ has a potential of helping students to mold their character through virtue development and as well address the issue of climate change. Climate change poses a serious challenge in Kenya. A key measure that has been adopted by the Kenyan government to mitigate the effects of climate change is to increase the forest cover by 10%.  With this background, CCL collaborated with the East African Cables in planting 400 indigenous trees at Kiamutugu Boys High school in Kirinyaga county.

“At East African Cables, we connect lives and endeavor to give back to the society through tree planting,” said Dr. Gatitu Gitau as he offered the tree donations to the school administrator.

The ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is being spearhead by the school Moral club – a students’ peer group that is committed in modelling virtues and offering mentorship to other students’ peers. “If I don’t provide water to my tree, I feel like my character is fading,” said a Moral Club student as he urged the form one students to take care of their adopted trees.

During the tree planting, students tagged their trees with virtues such hard work, love, respect, obedience and joy. “Don’t just practice the virtue that you have tagged on your tree, practice other virtues as well,” said Millicent Diang’a , CViL Project Officer as she urged the students to become good role models and ambassadors of the school.

While protecting the environment and planting trees is a global responsibility, it is even more personal and requires collaborative effort to take the action. Wangari Maathai in her autobiography ‘Unbowed’ states that “the future of the planet concerns us all, and all of us should do what we can to protect it.”

Similar projects have been carried out at Drumvale secondary school and Ruai Boys Secondary School in Nairobi County. CCL appreciates the East African Cables for the donation of trees and the schools for taking ownership in environmental conservation and virtue development.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) was  privileged to conduct a one-day leadership training to a group of 55 members of the student council from St. Francis Girls’ High School, Mang’u. St. Francis is a girls boarding secondary school located in Gatundu North Sub-County with a population of over 1000 learners. The school is driven by ‘toil for sound character and knowledge’ as its motto. Indeed, knowledge without character is dangerous. This calls for educators to integrate in learning the initiatives that foster character and virtue development among the learners.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant-leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The elected members of the student councils act as an eye or a link between the administration, teachers and students. They support in the development and maintenance of a conducive environment for learning within the school community.

During the training, students were engaged through interactive and educative sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in supporting school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools.

Speaking during the training, the facilitator urged the students to strive in developing passion in leadership as he reminded them the words of John Maxwell who once said ‘a great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” He added that a leader must have a passion for the mission; passion for change; passion for people; passion for personal excellence; and passion for honoring God.

Throughout the sessions, the participants were engaged on interactive group discussions which included moral dilemma discussions, partner chat and individual reflection scenarios. As a result, students were able to identify their leadership strengths and weaknesses as well as develop personalized leadership improvement plan. In addition, they were able to develop an action plan which will help them to address the issues which are affecting negatively their school culture and climate. The issues included negative peer pressure, stealing, rebellious attitude among the students, noise making and poor time management.

Towards the end of the training, the School Principal shared the closing remarks and emphasized on the need for having a willing heart in leadership. She affirmed that ‘a willing heart sees a thousand opportunities while the unwilling heart has a thousand excuses.” The training was facilitated by Peter and Millicent. In attendance were Mrs. Janet Gachie and Mrs. Njagi (School Deputy Principals) among other teachers.

The Centre Directors delivered presentations at the 48th Association for Moral Education (AME) Annual Conference which took place between 20 th – 23 rd July 2022 at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. The theme and title of the conference was ‘Moral Education and Moral Development in Global Transition.’ The conference was hosted in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Moral Education and in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific  Network for Moral Education.

In his welcoming message, the joint Conference Chair and Chair of Journal of Moral Education Trust, Professor James Conroy stated that “as we confront the enormous political, cultural, economic and social challenges that have emerged from financial turmoil, the pandemic, social unrest and political instability, there has rarely been a time when our deliberations on moral education have been more important and prescient.” The AME President, Professor Doret De Ruyter affirmed that hosting of the in-person conference after 2 years of the COVID 19 pandemic and virtual conferences will “help us to rebuild the collegial spirit by providing a physical space where old academic friends can meet and newly members quickly feel to be part of the community.”

The conference brought together researchers, practitioners and activists who engaged in critical, academic dialogue in order to understand the relevance of social, political, religious and cultural interactions with philosophy, psychology, sociology, and moral education at this time of global transition.

The discussions were spurred by questions such as:

• Is ethical sensitivity in teaching culturally bound?
• How do public and private values inform a social ethos of moral responsibility, agency, and citizenship, and can they do so across cultural borders?

The conference garnered a series of speakers to explore the ‘politics of moral education’ and how current moral education practices guide civic engagement and pedagogy towards public good. For instance, Dr. Kirsi Tirri delivered the Kohelberg Memorial lecture on ‘the Moral Teacher in a Global Transition “Educating students for their purpose calls for purposeful teachers,” she said. She emphasized on the need of raising moral citizens who are well equipped with the 21st Century skills by teaching all components of morality through the combination of excellence with ethics.
During the conference, Peter Kingori presented a paper on the ‘promoting virtue development among students’ based on his current work of engaging schools to implement the Cultivating Virtues in Leaders (CViL) project. Dr. Mwangi presented a paper on ‘the nexus between provision of Character Education and the effectiveness of student councils in public secondary schools in Kenya.’

He emphasized that Character education is attributed to the ability of student councils to pacify potential students’ unrests, provide a healthy link between students and the school administration, and above all foster a sustainable positive school climate. More information about the conference can be found here.

Compiled by Dr. Boniface Njuguna Mwangi, PhD-CCL Board Member and a Senior Lecturer at Africa Nazarene University, Nairobi, Kenya.

To develop good character, school leaders should intentionally create an environment that enhances virtues development in all aspects of daily school life. Also, all the teaching and non-teaching staff should lead as moral exemplars in the modelling of virtues. Lastly, students should be engaged in virtue reflection activities which helps to deepen their understanding and practice.

Berkowitz, M.W., Bier, M.C., & McCauley, B.  (2017). Toward a Science of Character Education. Frameworks for Identifying and Implementing Effective Practices. Journal of Character Education, Volume 13(I), 2017, pp. 33-51

Bier, M.C. (2021). Servant Leadership for School Principals: A Virtue Cultivation Model. Journal of Character Education Special Issue, 16, (2).

Hoerr, T. (2017). The Formative Five. Fostering Grit, Empathy and Other Success Skills Every Student Needs. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

The Character Education Partnership. (2007). Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45655772_Eleven_Principles_of_Effective_Character_Education

Schwartz, M. J. (2008). Introduction to Character Education and Effective Principles. Effective Character Education: A Guidebook for Future Educators. McGraw-Hill Publishers. P. 1-23

There is no single society that can remain vital or even flourish without imparting timeless or universally shared values to its younger generation. In other words, ‘young people are the future trustees of our society’. In this regard, parents, educators, schools and communities have no greater responsibility than to strive to raise virtuous and industrious citizens who are committed in building a nation. For instance, caring communities and educators need to work together towards helping learners to develop a vision, sense of belonging as well as to stretch their imagination and creativity ability.

Building strong and caring school communities is the foundation for raising good citizens. Culture in itself drives result! Successful schools create a “values- based” culture which embraces timeless Values such as Positive Attitude, Responsibility, Trustworthiness, Brotherhood, High Expectations, Respect, Generosity, Hope and Courage. These values if well embedded in the school curriculum, simultaneously help educators and learners to blend naturally in the culture. A value based school culture has potential of improving the learners’ behavior and academic outcomes. In addition, teachers and students tends to flourish in learning communities where there is a positive and conducive climate.

It is therefore important for school communities to be re-engineered to become more caring and productive in nurturing learners who are exposed to the incredible world of self-discovery, self-reliance and personal independence. Voice is a powerful tool, as Clifton Taulbert says “youngsters still need to hear the voice of the adults with whom they share their lives: voices that say we believe in you, we expect you to do well, and we admire your accomplishments.” Subsequently, the art of developing a productive and caring school climate demands for a collaborative effort of community actors ranging from parents, leaders, educators and related stakeholders from the society. No wonder the African saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’ The Centre for Character and Leadership continues to work closely with schools and helping them to develop caring and productive climate driven by timeless values.

Parents! Be close to your children, the world they live in is different from the world we were raised in several decades ago. Parenting comes with a responsibility of not just raising men and women in the society but raising a generation of youth that possess virtuous character, empathetic and committed global citizens. In recent days, the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely effected the normal school calendar. Unusually, children will be spending more time at home after school closures and recess while the 8 th grade and Fourth form will be sitting for their national examinations. Thus, parents are required to adjust their roles and take more time to counsel and interact with their children.
A key question in parenting is how to nurture healthy relationships, good morals and high discipline levels among the children. Secondly, how safe as parent can we control and support our children in relation to obeying the COVID-19 safety measures such as social distancing, wearing of masks, hand washing or sanitizing. A famous maxim in parenting is that ‘children are
watching’ and hence it requires parents to be good role models. Ideally, families are the bedrock of society and they are equally important in teaching and modeling virtues to the children. Psychologists argues that parents contribute to children’s moral development by providing an emotional environment and culture within the family that fosters the development and nurturing of virtues such as compassion, empathy, respect, humility, hard work and integrity among others.

During school holiday, parents and guardians are so called to accept and adopt parenting practices which can help to instill discipline and good morals to the children. Evidently, adolescent youth tend to be the most difficult persons to handle during the turning point of their lives from childhood to adulthood. Adolescents are faced with developmental conflict experiences attached to psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development. At this stage of life, parents should be close to their children and be able to understand their needs according to gender and developmental stage.

The adolescent stage is lethal to both genders. The adolescent behaviors are influenced by factors such as negative peer pressure, lack of parental supervision, lack of school attendance, family dysfunction and gender norms. For instance, the negative peer pressure can easily Influence the young people into risky behaviors such as drug abuse, sexual orientation, violence and crime amongst other. Therefore, if the adolescent behavior is not successfully addressed at the developmental stage, the child’s future is likely or may completely take a diverted role.

In conclusion, parenting is not about physical beating, insulting and critiquing a child on his/her physical appearance, aptitude or competence. Parenting requires constructively engaging the child in one on one talk; building healthy relationship with the child; listening and understanding/ providing the child’s needs; appreciating the child; making a schedule of daily routine of work to keep the child busy; identifying and nurturing the child’s talent; and lastly set the best foot on the path for responsibly and accountable upbringing of the child for a successful future.

Educators argue that “early adolescence is a turbulent period since an adolescent is besieged with multifarious challenges and if these challenges are not resolved, he/ she may become a social misfit.” The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) through it’s close work with schools have observed that numerous learners are silently experiencing several psychological counseling needs including but not limited to; academic stress, negative peer pressure, relationship problems, stealing, cheating in exams, drug and substance abuse and low self-esteem leading to poor social behaviors both in school and communities. Schools ought to embrace strategies that support learners to cope up with personal development needs and career counseling needs in order to promote holistic growth of students.

Peer counselors is a group of young trained learners appointed by guidance and counselling department to specifically provide an ear to their fellow peers in school. These are students who interacts on a day-to-day basis with their fellow students at a very open and understanding manner. School peer counselors are advocates, leaders, collaborators and go between students who create systemic change by providing counselling services to their fellow peers. As students, peer counsellors understand each other better because of their similar mindset and exposures. Peer counselling in schools is very vital as it gives students an opportunity to freely express their emotions confidently.

CCL has been working with several schools with the goal of building the capacity of students’ peer counsellors. This includes Hospital Hill High School and Uhuru Secondary School. In our training sessions, students are led through an interactive forum on the meaning of peer counselling; purpose of counselling; goals and principles of counselling; stages in the counselling process; counselling strategies, and basic techniques in counselling among others. In addition, students are taught on how to conduct one-on-one and group counselling sessions by use of group discussion activities, video clips and practical demonstrations. The trainings are usually conducted either through a one-day intensive training or a weekly one-hour training session.

As a result of the training, the peer counsellors are becoming more proactive and supportive while carrying out their roles –bringing counselling services closer to their peers. “I feel so empowered through the training. I am now able to counsel my peers including my close  friends in the community,” said a peer counsellor. Another student said, “since we started these weekly trainings, my behavior has changed tremendously. I have to lead by example.”

The department of guidance and counselling is entrusted with the responsibility of providing counseling services, guidance and teaching life skills to the students as well as building capacity of the peer counselors.

On 28th October 2021, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) conducted a mentorship training for the Form 4 and 3 students at Ndung’u Girls Secondary school. The school admit the girls from the neighborhood community since it’s a day school located in Ndeiya, Limuru Sub-County.

The closure of schools and imposed lockdown due to COVID -19 pandemic caused numerous negative effects on the school going children. According to the media reports, there have been rising cases of teenage pregnancies among adolescent girls while boys are affected with the habit of drug and substance abuse as well as involvement in criminal activities. On the other hand, researchers argue that ‘no society can endure, or at least flourish, if it fails to take seriously the eternal task of socializing the next generation of youth, to whom we, as the keepers of our societies and cultures, will bequeath that which we have shepherded and crafted.’ The future of any great nation is anchored in the character, morals and creative mind of its young people. If so, young people are the trustees of the future and there is a dire need of mentoring them as they grow to mature in character.

Thus, CCL conducted the mentorship for the girls with the aim of motivating them to focus on the development of their individual character and become more focused towards attaining their academic goals. This was in line with the school mission “to provide quality and holistic education to the girl child for better future.” The mentoring session focused on developing study habits/reading culture, finishing strong, relationship and character building. Speaking during the session, the facilitator urged the students to focus on developing a positive attitude towards learning and teachers as he emphasized on ‘change your mind, change your life.’ The form four students were urged to focus on finishing strong as they prepare for their final exams while the form three students were strongly urged to think about their ‘Damascus moment’ as they make use of the teachers, text books and involve themselves in active studying. Holistically, the students were urged to avoid distractions which may ruin the development of their individual character and attainment of their academic goals. These include negative peer pressure, irresponsible sexual behavior, bad attitude, pride and laziness among others.

During the training, students showed their thirst to learn more and willingness to apply the best practices and life skills lessons in their individual life. Towards the end, the facilitators engaged the students on a question and answer interactive session while integrating peer teaching strategy in character development. In this case, some of the students participated in responding to some questions raised by their peers. Students expressed their gratitude for the mentorship session as a representative said, “We are very grateful to the facilitators. Our study habits and academic grades will improve and our character will develop as we aim to become better students.” The school Guidance and Counselling teacher, Mrs. Njuguna shared the closing remarks and urged the learners to seriously take into account the life skills and best practices that had been shared and apply in their daily life and academic journey. The training was facilitated by Peter, Millicent and Gilda.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) has been collaborating with the East African Cables in planting trees in secondary schools across the country. The pre-selected secondary schools are involved in the implementation of the Cultivating Virtues in Leaders (CViL) Project. The CViL program seeks to guide the school principals and teachers on a personal and professional development journey. A journey of  self-discovery and appreciation, a deep understanding of servant leadership virtues, character education, and skills necessary to lead school transformation. Students are benefitting from the CViL project by getting coaching and mentorship from adult teachers who model and teach the virtues. Also, the CViL model gives an opportunity to the students to practice leadership skills such as being good communicators, resource builders, visionaries, problem solvers and role models to their peers.

For instance, students are engaged in the implementation of ‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative.’ This is a service-learning best practice that involves the students to plant, adopt and tag the trees with positive virtues which they aim to nurture in their life as the tree grows. The ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ has a potential of helping students to mold their character through virtue development and as well address the issue of climate change.

Climate change poses a serious challenge in Kenya. A key measure that has been adopted by the Kenyan government to mitigate the effects of climate change is to increase the forest cover by 10%. With this background, CCL collaborated with the East African Cables in planting 400 indigenous trees at Kiamutugu Boys High school in Kirinyaga county.

“At East African Cables, we connect lives and endeavor to give back to the society through tree planting,” said Dr. Gatitu Gitau as he offered the trees donation to the school administrator.
‘Adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative’ is being spearhead by the school Moral club – a students’ peer group that is committed in modelling virtues and offering mentorship to other students’ peers.

“If I don’t provide water to my tree, I feel like my character is fading,” said a Moral Club student as he urged the form one students to take care of their adopted trees.

During the tree planting, students tagged their trees with virtues such hard work, love, respect, obedience and joy.

“Don’t just practice the virtue that you  have tagged on your tree, practice other virtues as well,” said Millicent Diang’a , CViL Project Officer as she urged the students to become good role models and ambassadors of the school.
While protecting the environment and planting trees is a global responsibility, it is even more personal and requires collaborative effort to take the action. Wangari Maathai in her autobiography ‘Unbowed’ states that “the future of the planet concerns us all, and all of us should do what we can to protect it.”
Similar projects have been carried out at Drumvale secondary school and Ruai Boys Secondary School in Nairobi County. CCL appreciates the East African Cables for the donation of trees and the schools for taking ownership in environmental conservation and virtue development.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) was privileged to conduct a one-day leadership training to a group of over 50 members of the student council from Ofafa Jericho High School. The school is located in Makadara Sub-County with a population of over 1000 learners. The mission of the school is to provide quality education services that meet the needs of the learners guided by the values of commitment, fairness, professionalism, integrity and excellence. Since an empowered leader tends to be an effective leader, schools’ leadership trainings are important as they help the student council members to become more effective while carrying out their duties and responsibilities. It is important to offer student leaders the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to lead as their success greatly impacts the culture and performance of their schools.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant- leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The elected members of the student councils act as an eye or a link between the administration, teachers and students. They support in the development and maintenance of a conducive environment for learning within the school community.

During the training, students were engaged through interactive and educative sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in supporting school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools. For instance, the facilitator led the participants on a virtue-reflection exercise where individually, they were able to identify character traits that are most and least developed within the self and eventually develop an improvement plan. He urged them to strive in developing character traits which will enhance the development of their character and leadership capacity. The character traits included: humility, courage, self-control, compassion, kindness, responsibility, sacrifice, respect, thankfulness and perseverance among others.

In addition, the facilitators led the students through cooperative learning where students were assigned specific tasks to discuss and present their work as a team. The tasks included developing the roles of School Captain and his deputies, Class prefects, Academic Perfects, Dormitory Prefects and Dining hall prefects among others. Further, the students were able to identify the issues which are affecting negatively their school culture and climate. The Council A cross section of Student Leaders engaging in a group activity was led in developing an implementation plan which will guide them while addressing the issues. For example, the Council unanimously agreed that if any student is caught with a stolen item, he will be required to make an apology during the school assembly. Other outcomes included enhancing the school reading culture and dismantling unnecessary peer groups.

The School Principal, Mr. Linge assured the Council of his support and commitment in ensuring that they are able to effectively execute the action plan as he said “Commit all your plans to God, and you will succeed.”

The school Captain as he gave the vote of thanks said that “I have been reminded on some things that I have been slacking on and I will work to make myself better.’’

The training was facilitated by Peter King’ori and Gilda Waithira. Teachers who were in attendance included Mrs. Thuranira and Mrs. Musembi among others.

Education is mainly regarded as the passport for the future. No society which can progress positively without investing its resources in educating for ‘character and intelligence’ to its younger generation. Global economics are propelled to greater heights by educated, committed and hardworking citizens. Teachers are therefore trusted with the responsibility of molding the learners from a very tender age to grownup adolescents and mature adults who are able to make independent moral decisions and contribute positively to the workforce.

Teachers are the best reflection of the society; they have a sole responsibility of making a positive change in the life of students. While doing so, every teacher would love to horn and craft his or her teaching skills for higher accomplishment hence improving the learner’s behavior, academic performance and achievement. Students on the other hand, they do bring their life to school and some tend to be dull, angry, distressed, unforgiving and stubborn. No wonder the saying, “You can’t teach them unless you reach them.” In order to be successful towards imparting knowledge, values and excellence; a great teacher should be a caring teacher. A caring teacher embraces special qualities of attraction that are appealing to learners such as love, care, understanding and enthusiasm among others. For example, a caring teacher makes students feel connected to each other, cared for, understood, and worthwhile within the classroom or school community.

A caring teacher strives to nurture enduring positive relationships with the colleagues, learners, parents and the surrounding community. Positive relationships across the board are essential in reinforcing discipline, enhancing a reading culture and building a sense of community. The caring teachers usually go an extra mile by greeting and welcoming the learners with a smile to school every morning; motivating learners; and helping them to approach the difficult subjects positively. In addition, caring teachers ought to develop new models of teaching techniques grounded by morals, values, mission statements and golden rules. The statement/ golden rule serves as a reminder to the learners to commit themselves in respecting the self and others as well as working towards achieving high standards of expectations.

Lastly, caring teachers protect and safeguard children from toxic environment, toxic words and mishandling by their fellow learners. They do so by urging learners to embrace positive attitude; appreciate each other through use of kind words; be good listeners; care for each other; and practice good habits. Good habits are the basis of good character development and academic achievement within the school community. And so the BIG question is: Are you a caring teacher? Are you a caring Parent? Are you a caring adult?

Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) conducted a one-day leadership training to the members of the student council at Drumvale Secondary School located in Njiru Sub-County. With structured guidance and mentorship, the student leaders were empowered to make ethical decisions, take ownership of their actions, share responsibilities with their peers, and reflect on their character growth and academic achievement.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant-leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The student councils are entrusted with responsibilities that help to build up or strengthen school culture and climate. The elected members of the student council acts as a third eye of the school; giving support to the school management; maintaining the smooth running of school activities; linking the students to the school management; and disciplinary roles such as identifying and reporting cases of indiscipline and making sure that the school rules are adhered to.
A good student leader needs guidance, knowledge and wisdom. During the training, students were engaged through interactive sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools. Speaking during the training, the facilitator urged the students to embrace the school vision, mission and build a community that inculcates their school core values which include godliness, self-discipline, fairness and commitment. Other key sub-topics that were covered included qualities of a good leader, role models, how to become a good member of the student council, student council roles and responsibilities, student council code of conduct as well as causes and effective ways of resolving or mitigating conflicts.

The participants enthusiastically shared their leadership experiences and brainstormed through group discussions on various challenges which are effecting their school culture negatively. This included negative peer pressure, poor time management skills, poor reading culture, prevalence of boy-girl relationships among students and school indiscipline i.e. stealing cases and noise making with the help of the facilitators, the students designed an implementation plan which will guide them to monitor and control the prevailing incidents as well as enhance the development of a positive school culture and climate. An immediate outcome of the training was the commitment of the teacher in-charge of guidance and counselling to work collaboratively with the student council in order to identify and recruit the peer counsellors. In conclusion, the students were highly impacted by the training as captured by the following testimonials.

“I have worked on my anger management since the last leadership training. I am now able to practice the virtue of self-control,” said the Nutrition Captain
“Thank you so much for bringing to us someone whom we can easily identify with; she has really inspired me to work hard and get an excellent grade in order to go to the university,” said an elated student leader.
“Thank you so much for the training. You have really inspired us to become better leaders. We promise to work together as student leaders in order to achieve better results,” said the School Captain.
The training was facilitated by Peter, Millicent and Gilda. In attendance were teacher Nancy and Mr. Maela.

The wave of school unrest has been sweeping the Kenyan secondary schools each year and it is perceived as a great threat to the moral and academic attainment of the school going youth. This trend with its negative effects has not only resulted in students’ violence, rioting, strikes and the burning of school properties such as dormitories and laboratories but it has also led to the premature death of students.

Experts says that the leading causes school unrest include negative peer pressure, drug and substance abuse, exam phobia, students’ malicious actions, poor diet, harassment by teachers, high handedness by school administration. electrical faults, ineffective guidance and counselling programs, media influence, lack of good role models and broken families. In addition, there is an increasing rate of youth who drop out of school and college and some end up being engaged in crime and violence.

As of February 2021, numerous surging cases of school unrest has been reported across the country since the schools re-opened on January 4th. To some extent, experts have argued that the closure of schools for a period of 10 months in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic have largely contributed to the deteriorating discipline among the learners. In addition, many teenage girls were reported to be pregnant during the schools’ lockdown.

In the real sense, schools have a key responsibility for raising students who are not only intellectually vibrant but also morally strong and socially responsible. Researchers and education experts have put across numerous prevention strategies which can be used to prevent students unrest and burning of schools. This includes creating a friendlier community atmosphere in schools; establishing effective communication and reporting channels, strengthen the guidance and counselling departments; building positive relationships between students and teachers; assigning students adult role models and caring teachers as moral exemplars, and educate and prepare students on how to respond to fire alarms.

The Centre for Character and Leadership will continue to work closely with schools to implement Character Education Programme as the initiative offers practical research driven strategies designed to steer working relationship between parents, teachers and communities in the interest of nurturing good character and morals into the lives of the young people.

On November 19, 2020, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) celebrated the World Toilet Day by planting 1000 indigenous tree seedlings in partnership with Ruai Boys Secondary School, Highway Manyatta Secondary School and KBC Malaa Police station. The tree seedlings were donated by the Kenya Forest Service. The World Toilet Day celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 4.2 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. The World Toilet Day 2020 was celebrated under the theme ‘Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change.” Globally, climate change is accelerating and its devastating effects are affecting humanity. In the real sense, things like drought, flood and rising sea levels are threatening the sanitation systems.CCL efforts and partnership in growing trees aims at promoting reforestation and support of the 10% forest cover hence mitigating the effects of climate change.

“Environment conservation is a responsibility of each individual. We should take responsibility of our environment by growing more trees,” said Japheth Ouda, Director, Environment and Service Program as he delivered the tree seedlings at Ruia Boys Secondary School.

The form four students together with the teachers being led by the school principal each planted a tree along the school fence.

“We are so grateful to our stakeholders. We will plant and take care of the trees,” said Mr. Thiong’o, School Principal.

Speaking during the tree planting, the CCL representatives encouraged the stakeholders on the need of scaling up ‘own a tree’ initiative – an environment best practice that challenges every citizen to take personal responsibility by planting a tree during his/her birthday. Students were encouraged to strive to nurture virtues such as hard work, determination, and generosity in their lives as they nurture and take care of the trees. The act of restoring the glory of our devastated ecosystem requires mutual collaboration and ownership. CCL will continue to champion collaborations in environment conservation through growing 10,000 trees.

Our country is in a serious moral decline. Every day, the mind of the citizens is bombarded with the happening/s of evil acts across the nation. The vices such as social injustices, merciless killings, cheating culture in exams, high levels of corruption, unwed babies, broken marriages, and the biggest challenge is an erosion of unemployed youth who are engaged in various sort of criminal activities such as drug abuse and burglary to name but a few. In amidst of all these social challenges as well as social development, the country has no greater responsibility than to strive to raise virtuous citizens of good character and Citizenship.

Education psychologists argues that ‘good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good.’ Education is a mutual connection that revolves around the individual’s habit of the mind, habit of the heart and habit of action. Good citizenship is assured when these habits are intertwined in social settings and services. Indeed, there is a dire need to foster on applied morals and good character development to the young people, such effort requires a diverse collaboration of actors such as parents, teachers, educators and government among other stakeholders in the society.

Character development among the leaners does not happen in a vacuum but it functions within a social environment which is deeply embedded in teaching and nurturing of values, knowledge and skills from childhood. Navigating and changing the complex systems of moral decline within our society requires particularly the connectedness of home, school and the community. Although, parents are the primary moral educators to their children, teachers play a key role as surrogate parents towards instilling moral, performance and civic values to the learners.

William Arthur once said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

Values such as respect, responsibility, honesty, hard work, compassion, humility, perseverance, patriotism and fairness carries moral obligation in life and should be instilled to the mind of the learners. Since it takes a period time for a value to become a virtue, educators should help the learners to translate the abstract moral, performance and civic values into concrete moral behavior in their personal relationship. For instance, the learners should be helped to understand and practice on what it means by saying respect for oneself, respect for other people, and respect for all forms of life including the environment.

Researchers in the field of moral and character education have explored and documented numerous models and strategies for educators and practitioners as well as learners for use to inculcate the values in their life. These include use of storytelling, magic words, service learning, moral dilemma discussions, group discussions, peer interactive strategies, modelling, welcoming greetings and saying goodbye at the end of the lesson amongst many others. The Centre for Character and Leadership will continue to work closely with schools and government to implement Character Education Program as the initiative offers practical research driven strategies designed to steer working relationship between parents, teachers and communities in the interest of nurturing good character and citizenship to the young generation and the society.