Six schools from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina received a Templeton Award for Character Education for their initiatives to promote values ​​education among high school students. The schools include Liceo Thezia, Chapultepec, Sistema de Colegios México Nuevo (Mexico), Colsubsidio Ciudadela, Nueva Granada (Colombia) and Mons. Audino Rodríguez y Olmos (Argentina).

The awards seek to recognize character education projects in schools that are underway, motivating teachers to be involved in them and raising awareness of their value through the dissemination of best practices.

The award is promoted the Researching and promoting character education in Latin American secondary schools project, which is a joint initiative of the School of Education and Psychology and the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra. It receives funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

The awards ceremony took place during an international conference on Character Education: Challenges and Opportunities, which was held at Austral University (Pilar, Argentina) on June 13 and 14, 2018.

Lizeo Thezia and Chapultepec: Operating System for Integrated Education

Liceo Thezia and Chapultepec received a shared award for their program called Operating System for Integrated Education (SOFI for its initials in Spanish). It aims to model character through the acquisition of positive habits, following a methodology that encourages freedom of action. The habits it focuses on are prudence, which is reinforced through reason, acceptance, which increases by raising motivations, and implementation through completion of small goals.

The methodology is implemented in secondary school using a book for students and a manual for the teacher. Each week, goals are established in the classroom and written on a poster that hangs at the front of the classroom. Students and teachers work on these phrases weekly with the support of activities in the book. In this way, good habits are forged.

SOFI is included in the school’s program each year, is present in other school strategies, and involves all members of the community, from the principal to the cleaning staff. The progress of the program is monitored once a month to ensure its correct implementation.

Sistema de Colegios México Nuevo: CMN Values Training Program

Sistema de Colegios México Nuevo received an award for its CMN Values ​​Training Program, which aims to ensure that all members of the educational community learn and implement institutional values ​​(respect, justice and love).

The centers, in which more than 900 students study, promote the discipline of daily work based on institutional values, healthy coexistence among the members of the school community and the use of their talents for the benefit of society and the whole of their country.

To this end, they redesign the values ​​table, come up with a list of behaviors associated with each virtue to evaluate each group’s progress, design 116 sessions to promote the implementation of values ​​among students, hold weekly online training sessions to share findings and answer questions about the focus of the program; they also maintain a website to document the progress of these sessions, and they sponsor specific projects with social projection such as visits to rehabilitation centers and people in need, integrating these activities into classroom hours.

Colegio Colsubsidio Ciudadela: “Conjugar convivencia” (blended existence)

Colsubsidio Ciudadela School (Colombia) received an award for its “Conjugar convivencia” (blended coexistence) initiative, focused on integral human development. It promotes the formation of character through institutional values, including respect, diligence, integrity, social commitment, dedication to service, sustainability and innovation.

The pedagogical aspect of the program focuses on three points, including polite communication, coexistence for the common good, and rebuilding the institution through the exercise of civic responsibility, decision-making and development of a moral criterion within the framework of virtues.

The methodology begins in spaces of pedagogical and dialogical debate. All activities involve the educational community and include things like class assemblies that include the whole school, first through eleventh grade, and are guided by student representatives; experiential learning through coexistence, hug therapy and weekly announcements for the administrative team and faculty on how the institution is doing, among others.

In addition, the Ethics and Values ​​and Social Studies areas seek to empower students in their critical and creative capacity for assertive conflict resolution. According to the organizers, they have contributed to generating strategies that contribute to a healthy school environment and the formation of character, attending to both rights and obligations.

New Granada School: Fundación Hogar Nueva Granada (Nueva Granada Home Foundation)

The New Granada School (Colombia) received an award for its Fundación Hogar Nueva Granada (Nueva Granada Home Foundation) project, with which it seeks to provide educational opportunities to and improve the welfare of families living in the vulnerable neighborhoods surrounding the school.

Through this initiative, the New Granada School encourages its students, parents and teachers to develop solidarity, empathy, character and leadership by participating in activities with the Foundation community. Parents support the foundation financially and also carry out volunteer work. In addition, students develop projects through the Department of Social Services and Responsibility.

Since the Foundation was created, 116 students from disadvantaged backgrounds have graduated from high school and 80% of them have completed higher education studies.

 

Secondary Monseñor Audino Rodríguez y Olmos: Comprehensive Affective Education

The Monsignor Audino Rodríguez y Olmos Secondary School’s project (Argentina), called Comprehensive Affective Education, integrates character formation, affective-emotional education and sexual education. It aims to help students give their best in different areas of their lives, including with their families, their work, and their role as citizens.

Through different activities, the project helps students grow in virtues, abilities and affective capacities, contributing to their personal maturity and the establishment of positive relationships.

At the same time, they encourage students to build a life project and reflect critically on the situations they face in their day-to-day life that involve moral dilemmas, as well as the impact of their behavior on their community and society in general. Families also support this education task.