ABSTRACT
In an age when more and more policy-relevant research is becoming available, the Jubilee Centre set out to place the best evidence available at the heart of policy development in character and virtues education, both in schooling and in the professions. Policy in the area of character education is the result of the cumulative impact of different initiatives around the country and that this impact would take time to appear on the ground. Character education was increasingly seen to be responding to a perceived issue in education which involved the lack of a holistic approach to personal development in schools. Trying to change the terms of political debate on values and character education supposes that there are people and organisations that are open to new ways of thinking and are in a position to make a difference. The Jubilee Centre had an explicit intention to report research results so as to inform policy decisions and improve practice on the ground.
