Research project
Narnian Virtues: How Parents, Teachers and their 11 to 13 year-olds Learn to Cultivate Good Character through Engagement with the Novels by C.S. Lewis
- Start date: 01.08.2016
- End date: 24.05.2019
- Funder: John Templeton Foundation
- Value: £1,055, 843.88
- Primary investigator: Professor Mark Pike PhD
- External co-investigators: Professor Thomas Lickona (SUNY)
Narnian Virtues is a character curriculum to accompany selected Narnia novels by C.S. Lewis. It enables students to gain knowledge and understanding and to practice the six ‘Narnian’ virtues of love, wisdom, self-control, justice, fortitude and integrity.
Analysis of data from a cohort of UK students in disadvantaged areas who engaged with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe one year, and with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader the following year, suggests that those who participated in Narnian Virtues performed better on character measures, from pre-test to post-test, than those who did not.
Improvement in knowledge and understanding of character and virtue was also consistent across both years for the intervention group but not for the control group.
Positive impact has also been associated with the amount of time and number of activities which parents share with their children.
A Teacher Handbook, Student Workbook and Character Passport for Narnian Virtues are available as a free download from our website narnianvirtues.leeds.ac.uk.
Narnian Virtues has featured in national education reports, at conferences in schools and at universities.
Impact
Narnian Virtues has been featured in major national reports on character education and in the media. Thousands of children in the UK and internationally (from Cambodia to Colorado) have followed Narnian Virtues. Nearly 50 papers have been presented at conferences and universities such as Harvard, Baylor, Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds etc and we anticipate these (now with final data) fulfilling the 'research influence' agenda.
Publications and outputs
- Francis, Leslie J., Pike, Mark A., Lickona, Thomas, Lankshear, David W. and Nesfield, Victoria (2018) Evaluating the pilot Narnian Virtues Character Education English Curriculum Project : a study among 11- to 13-year-old students. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 39 (2). pp.233-249. doi:10.1080/13617672.2018.1434604
- Francis, LJ, Pike, M, Lankshear, D.W. et al. (2017) Conceptualising and testing the Narnian Character Virtue Scales: a study among 12- to 13-year-old students .Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 20 (9). pp. 860-872. ISSN 1367-4676 https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1398721
- Pike, M., Lickona, T., & Nesfield, V. (2015). Narnian virtues: C. S. Lewis as character educator. Journal of Character Education, 11(2), 71-86.