ABSTRACT
Preparation for life and the world of work is one of the primary aims of the Education Reform Act 1988 for all state schools in England and Wales. There is therefore a clear relationship between the economy and the job-preparation function of schooling. The aim more or less is that the school should teach its pupils in such a way that they grow into young workers who have the values, attitudes and personal qualities required by employers. This is not a new aim in British education for since the growth of industrialization there has been an obvious need for a workforce trained in terms of future adult work: a workforce comprising adults who could read simple instructions, understand verbal commands, give and receive information and who exhibited habits of regularity, self-discipline, obedience and trained effort which were all articulated in the Board of Education’s Elementary Code (1904, viii). Teachers were expected to: ‘implant in the children habits of industry, self-control and courageous perseverance in the face of difficulties’. New Labour is explicit about these same needs in its Green Paper Schools: Building on Success (2001) and in its White Paper Schools: Achieving Success (2001). In the section on Education with Character in the former it is stated that
employers want new employees who have the attitudes and habits of mind which exhibit motivation, flexibility, creativity and entrepreneurship. Clearly, the formation of character, in this view, should fit with the needs of the emerging economy. However, does this mean that character is to be subordinate to the needs of industry? It does appear to be the case (see chapter 6) that the policy is to produce certain types of character endowed with certain forms of stable behaviour and habits for the world of work. So what are the specific virtues of character that are required by economic life in a democratic society? More importantly, does the economic system encourage or discourage the formation of a good character? Wealth, status and power, considered in relation to the character of a person, are qualities or values that have been problematic in education, for not everyone can have them in an entrepreneurial society.
