22 Feb How School Book Clubs Promote Character Education
Book Clubs in Schools promotes character education through peer-led Primary School and Secondary School book clubs. Our work impacts on the children involved by helping them to build character skills such as emotional intelligence, empathy, resilience, perseverance and confidence too. We do this by very thoughtfully selecting our books to ensure that these themes (and more) are present for the students to explore and discuss.
We aim to help all young people engage with the wider world through developing their character and communication skills along with a love of reading.
—Beth Ginsburg and Alison Palmer, Co-Founders
We create a fun and inclusive environment where everyone respects one another along with their individual opinions. We encourage the students to agree that it’s okay to have different opinions and that they can debate these perspectives with kindness and respect. (Perhaps these kids can now give a few adults a run for their money here!) These sessions instil the emotional capability and compassion toward others that set the foundations of a strong character.
We encourage improving communication skills as much as possible through face-to-face conversation and discussion in our clubs. In the age of the smartphone and social media, we know as well as you do that this is becoming of such heightened importance for our kids. We want to ensure that the character skills they need for real-life communication are not lost somewhat in the wilderness of the technological age!
It is not only the younger Book Clubbers who are mostly reaping the benefits, but also the older student leaders who we train on how to facilitate our book clubs and provide weekly discussion questions. The Book Club Leaders can use their experience to fulfil the volunteering criteria of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, include it in their personal statement and UCAS form or list it on their CVs. They are gaining both leadership and problem-solving skills whilst engaging in our ethos of promoting a love of reading for pleasure- something that has been widely linked to positive mental health in children.
If you would like any information about how to get involved, then we would love to hear from you. Get in touch.
Happy book clubbing!
Written by Gemma Campbell
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