Teaching in our schools today is rather different from in previous decades. Teachers, pupils, communities and society have changed and developed, and technology has made a huge impact.

We talk of accountability and appraisal, SAT's scores and measurable outcomes, league tables and competition between schools. Somewhere, the pupil as a whole person is in danger of getting lost beneath the demands of all these outside constraints.

At the same time, the wider concerns are still there - both for legislators and for teachers. The 1988 Education Reform Act in England and Wales required schools to "promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils". This was further formalised by the Education (Schools) Act 1992, which saw the birth of OFSTED (the Office for Standards in Education), and of regular schools' inspections. Amongst other things, Registered Inspectors have to report on "the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils". These are not new considerations, they have always been there, but teachers are now giving more thought to this more fundamental dimension of education - the personal development of their pupils.

The development of the whole person

This renewed emphasis has spawned a mass of literature, seminars, consultations and conferences. A whole new language began to appear with much talk of the "four adjectives" or of "SMSC" (spiritual, moral, social and cultural). If that suggests that the person consists of four separate and unrelated 'bits', more recent talk of 'personal development' has re-affirmed the wholeness of the person.

The development of the whole person is clearly a whole school issue. It cannot be restricted to RE and assemblies and so become the responsibility only of those involved in these aspects of school life, of central importance though they may be. Also important to personal development, taking place as it does through personal relationships, especially those between teacher and pupil, is the ethos of the school. This pervades all aspects of the life of the school - in the classroom, in the playground, in the assembly-hall or in the bus queue.

The QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) Forum on Values in Education and the Community (1997) has emphasised the importance of considering values in all subjects of the curriculum. The QCA's school pilot guidance materials will contribute to the revision of the National Curriculum for the year 2000. It is envisaged that consideration of values should then be given much greater prominence in classroom teaching.

Promoting personal development throughout the curriculum

The OFSTED discussion paper Spritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (February 1994) claims that the promotion of spiritual and moral development in all schools should be a whole-curriculum matter. It goes on to say that "to move to such a place where subjects see themselves in this way might seem to require a sea-change in attitudes and approaches, but certainly the potential is there".

The school, and here this means all teachers in every subject across the curriculum, is encouraged to create opportunities which:

• provide pupils with knowledge and insight into values and beliefs
• enable them to reflect on and develop their own beliefs and values, aspects of life and experiences so that they develop spiritual awareness and self knowledge
• encourage pupils to consider life's fundamental questions, and relate religious teaching to those questions
• encourage pupils to explore meaning and purpose, values and beliefs
• teach the principles which help pupils to make moral decisions and to distinguish right from wrong
• foster values such as honesty, fairness, respect for truth, justice and property
• encourage pupils to express moral values across issues affecting their school community
• encourage pupils to respect other people and relate to them positively
• encourage pupils to take responsibility, exercise initiative, participate in the community and develop an understanding of citizenship
• create opportunities to work cooperatively, and to participate cooperatively in the school community
• teach pupils to appreciate their own cultural traditions, and the diversity and richness of others, to gain understanding of societies, families, school and communities
• provide opportunities to enrich pupils' cultural learning experiences

For some teachers, the responsibility that they are now given for the personal development of their pupils could be an added burden. For others it is a welcome return to educating pupils in a more holistic manner, refocused away from the exam success mentality. For all teachers in every part of the curriculum, it is an opportunity to enhance their teaching styles and resources.

The Charis Project

The Charis Project was set up to produce classroom resources for teachers who are beginning to effect the sea- change in attitudes and approaches to the curriculum called for by OFSTED. The first three subject-areas tackled were English, Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages (French and German) with Science being added subsequently. The resources have been designed with the needs of pupils aged 14 - 16 years in mind.

The teachers in the writing teams have sought to produce materials which will help their colleagues to create the opportunities set out above. In particular, they are concerned to:

• enable teachers to respond to the challenge of educating the whole person
• help teachers to focus on the spiritual and moral dimensions inherent in their subject
• encourage pupils towards a clearer understanding of Christian perspectives on the fundamental questions that arise in all areas of knowledge
• contribute to the breadth, balance and harmony of pupils' knowledge and understanding

It is recognised that there is much that is held in common among people of various faith perspectives and of no particular religious outlook. Values are often very widely shared and there can be quite general agreement on what is true, beautiful or good. The Charis resources seek to promote these common values. At the same time, the reasons why they are held and the basic beliefs about reality in which they are grounded differ from one perspective to another. These fundamental differences lead to different total outlooks and to detailed differences on which qualities, attitudes and actions are truly moral and/or spiritual. The Charis Project is based on the belief that these differences and the distinctives of the Christian perspective are significant and that understanding this is an important element in a pupil's education and personal development and a positive preparation for life in our contemporary plural society.

We are often asked why Charis was chosen as the name of the project. We tried without success to invent a catchy acronym. The modern foreign languages teachers said we could not have an English word in the title of a French or German book so we went to Greek and Hebrew. Somebody said "charis" and we all realised how well its idea of grace and giving fitted in with one of our concerns - to provide an antidote to the consumerist "me-first" assumptions of some curriculum resources. So it became the Charis Project!

The Charis resources are offered as a starting point with ideas to help teachers to promote the personal development of their pupils while still teaching their examination syllabus. It is also our intention that, in using these materials, teachers will be encouraged to develop their own resources and their own methodologies for the promotion of spiritual and moral development through their subject-area. In preparing them, we have experienced something of a sea-change in our own attitudes and approaches. We hope that they may stimulate our colleagues to produce more and better resources.

John Shortt and Alison Farnell
Project Directors