Friday, 5 November, 2004
Ogilvy renews call on character education
Character education is a glaring omission from the Government initiative announced today to combat severely challenging
behaviour in children, United Future education spokesmen Bernie Ogilvy said today.
"Today's initiative reinforces the Government's philosophy of an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. What United
Future advocates is the fence at the top of the cliff through character education in schools.
"It's great to see the involvement of parents, teachers and children's peers in this initiative and even better to see
Labour's acknowledgement that research shows that this involvement is the most effective response to bring about better
behaviour.
United Future whole-heartedly endorses character education in schools because it begins with the premise that only with
the involvement of families, teachers and support groups can we create responsible, trustworthy and caring individual
and subsequent healthy communities, Mr Ogilvy said.
ENDS