ABSTRACT
This chapter examines grit and gumption as key ideas in the recent drive to create a character nation, framed as a way of helping young people deal with life's 'ups and downs'. It demonstrates the contours of moral geographies centred on grit and gumption that underlie and fuel the wider character agenda. The chapter analyses the place of grit and gumption as part of these moral geographies of education, starting with mapping their use over time and charting their re-emergence in the character agenda. Then the chapter explores the moral geographies of grit and gumption within character education in England. It also charts the organisation's growing relationship with Department for Education and more recent call for young people to 'be resilient' within the wider character agenda. Grit and gumption have often been framed by champions of character education as a fresh contemporary ‘tagline’; a new idea beyond resilience that captures current needs.
