The ‘image of God’ and the schooling of virtue: Christian-ethos schools of character for the whole community

This article reports how the Judeo-Christian belief that all persons are 'made in God's image' (imago Dei) leads to an egalitarian and generous evaluation of children and young people educated in a group of Christian-ethos schools with no 'faith-test' for admission in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of the north of England. The inclusiveness of Christian humanist perspectives, ancient and modern, conceiving of imago Dei as the divine gift of moral virtue, underpins the model of character education evaluated here. Drawing on a tradition of generous Christian humanism is seen to equip these Christian-ethos schools to provide students of all faiths and none with an inclusive education of character. Baptising neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics underpinning character education and repristinating shared virtues also avoids privileging either confessional Christian nurture or pervasively secular character education and are relevant more widely.