Education Secretary, Damian Hinds recently announced his vision to help children build character and resilience. Speaking at the Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership conference on 07 February, Mr Hinds spoke of the importance of character-building activities in helping young people succeed in life and even improve academic outcomes.
The Department for Education (DfE) has pledged to work with schools and external organizations, including membership bodies, to enable children from all backgrounds to access activities to develop confidence and underpin success in education and work. For many years we have known that sport and physical activity have a beneficial effect on our physical health and wellbeing. However, work done by the RYA and Professor Bill Lucas, Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning and Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester demonstrates a number of important additional benefits. The landmark project combined academic findings on the role character has to play in shaping young people’s life chances, with the life skills that can be developed through sailing. With Prof. Lucas concluding that sailing nurtures six key strengths; creativity, confidence, teamwork, communication, determination, and independence.
He said: “I’m struck by how much of a child’s life in school, can be focused on exams and how much more needs to focus on the other things that help them to do really well in life, including resilience and learning to work with others. If you do those things better, exam results get better and people who have these attributes get on better in life. They are much happier and adaptable to embrace challenges.”
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