The GCA is an alliance of organisations dedicated to promoting research, policy, and practice in character education. The current secretariat of the GCA is the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. The secretariat is funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation and the Templeton Religion Trust.
To contact the secretariat, please email Rachael Bushby on r.bushby@bham.ac.uk
Advancing Character Across Education is a growing community of higher education faculty, scholars, and practitioners dedicated to equipping current and future K-12 leaders and educators with the knowledge, skills, and resources to create learning environments that cultivate character, foster belonging, and promote practical wisdom and human flourishing. Together, we advance a vision of K-12 education that prepares students not only for academic success, but for meaningful lives that contribute to flourishing communities.
Association for Character Development in Africa
The Association for Character Development in Africa (ACDA) is a non-profit international organization currently headquartered in Kenya. The organization aims to promote the cultivation of character strengths, generate evidence on character development through collaborative research in mental health and education initiatives, and organize scholarly engagements amongst researchers, practitioners, policy makers and others interested in promoting character development.
| Through our partnership with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham, we fuse together world leading research with practical strategies from accredited Schools of Character. This combination of the theoretical and the practical, shapes the support we can provide so you can become a School/Organisation of Character, wherever you are based in the world. |
Bilim Innovation International Social Foundation
The “Bilim-Innovation” International Social Foundation (est. 1993) is an extensive educational ecosystem in Kazakhstan, integrating 36 Bilim-Innovation Lyceums, 20 private schools, SDU University, and one college. Our motto is “Quality Education, Conscious Upbringing”. The Foundation’s mission is to foster competitive and harmoniously developed individuals by combining advanced international practices with national and universal values. We cultivate responsible and honest citizens by bridging deep academic knowledge with high moral and ethical standards. Our goal is to enhance global well-being and develop human capital through this innovative educational ecosystem.
The Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri–St. Louis advances research, education, and practice to promote character development and democratic citizenship. We study how moral and civic character grow and partner with schools and organizations to build cultures rooted in trust, purpose, and shared values. Our research-based frameworks—including PRIMED for character education and CViL (Cultivating Virtues in Leaders)—are used nationally and internationally to support educators and leaders in fostering human flourishing and the common good.
The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) is a registered non- profit organization which
aims to promote ethical behavior, peace and good governance in institutions and communities. We champion development of good character and servant leadership as a foundation that helps individuals and organizations to flourish. Our leadership and character development programs integrate practical and proven evidence-based strategies to help leaders, educators and individuals to nurture virtues and develop good character through capacity building, coaching and mentorship. Also, CCL works closely with the government agencies to support formulation and implementation of education related policies.
The Virtues and Values Education Centre (CEV), based in the Faculty of Education and Psychology at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, is an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to the study of virtues, character, and values in support of human flourishing. We advance this mission through research, knowledge transfer, and the promotion of character education nationally and internationally, in collaboration with partner institutions. We place teachers at the heart of educational practice and work closely with schools and universities in Spain and abroad to cultivate virtuous leadership and cultures of moral growth.
The Civic Humanism Center is a research and knowledge exchange center at the University of Navarra dedicated to strengthening ethical and humanistic education in higher education. Its mission is to promote a model of professionalism that integrates technical excellence with ethical reflection, character formation, and social responsibility. The Center develops research and educational initiatives in three areas: professionalism and the ethics of the professions; character development in university students; and innovative approaches to humanistic education. Through initiatives such as curriculum design and extracurricular activities, the Center seeks to help students understand their professions as forms of service and contributions to the common good.
For nearly four decades, CharacterPlus has been dedicated to developing character in students by supporting schools, educators, families, and communities with research-based character education strategies that foster positive school culture and student growth. Through partnerships, annual academies, professional learning, and practical tools, CharacterPlus helps schools intentionally integrate character development into everyday learning. As part of this mission, CharacterPlus now runs Character.org, a national hub for character education, curating resources, research, stories, tools, and learning opportunities that help educators, parents, and youth-serving organizations put character into practice and strengthen the whole child.
Dandelion is a pioneering character and leadership centre in Latin America. It aims to transform education in the region by promoting a culture of virtues that fosters human flourishing, both at the personal and community levels. Its areas of action integrate research and professional development to design educational practices that strengthen character and virtuous leadership among teachers, school leaders, students, and government teams. In parallel, it fosters networks and partnerships among key actors within the education system —including schools, educators, families, communities, and education policymakers.
Established in 2022, the European Character and Virtue Association offers a forum for promoting research, training and networking in the field of character education. We bring together educational institutions in Europe and scholars from around the world, providing unrivalled opportunities for members to share best practices and shape European policies affecting higher education and research.
ECVA’s mission is multifaceted, focusing on promoting character virtues education, facilitating engagement among members, and influencing policy decisions. We strive to enhance the visibility of European universities globally in the field of character education and virtues.
| The mission of the Global Alliance for Values-based Education (GAVE) is to create and sustain a vibrant movement and vital forum for scholars, educators, practitioners, students, leaders, policy-makers, and citizens to advance VbE, both locally and globally. GAVE aims to be a leading voice for the credible development, implementation, evaluation, support, and growth of high quality values-based education programs, policies, and initiatives around the world. |
Our mission: We transform the science of well-being into actionable insights, stories, and tools for a meaningful life and a more connected, compassionate world.
Our vision: We envision a world where people recognize that their own well-being is deeply connected to other people’s well-being, including those who are different from themselves. In this vision, compassion and kindness are embedded in the fabric of families, communities, institutions, and societies worldwide, inspiring people to help one another, cooperate to solve shared problems, and define themselves not in opposition to “the other” but by what binds them to all of humanity.
The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University is dedicated to studying and promoting human flourishing while creating systematic approaches to integrate knowledge across disciplines. Our mission is to deepen understanding of what it means to truly flourish and to make flourishing the central goal of institutions and communities worldwide. We define flourishing as a “state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good,” including the environments in which they live. By advancing this holistic framework, we aim to establish it as the default lens for scholars, policymakers and leaders seeking to improve well-being.
Ivey’s Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership is an award-winning global leader in research, teaching, and outreach on character leadership that is committed to developing global citizens who have strength of character and contribute to the flourishing of teams, organizations, communities, and societies. We aspire to have a deep impact on individuals, organizations and societies through the creation and application of new knowledge on leader character. We aim to:
- Be recognized by researchers and practitioners as a globally leading Institute for research, teaching and outreach regarding the awareness, assessment and development of leader character.
- Elevate the importance of character alongside competence in the practice of leadership.
- Develop global citizens who have strength of character, strive to make a difference, and contribute to the flourishing of teams, organizations, communities, and societies.
The Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development is a laboratory within the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. The Institute has the mandate and goal to be a center of excellence for the conduct and dissemination of top-tier scholarship and for the education and professional development of graduate and undergraduate students interested in enhancing the lives of diverse children, families, and communities.Our work is framed in relational developmental systems theory. We engage in research practice partnerships with schools and youth organizations around the world. We also provide capacity building research support to Monitoring Evaluation Research and Learning teams around the world.
The RYTE Institute explores questions related to youth thriving, character development, and program evaluation and planning from a systems perspective. The RYTE Institute developed Relational Systems Evaluation (RSE), a program development, strategic planning, and evaluation approach that is theoretically grounded and empirically tested. RSE situates programs within developmental and ecological contexts and works through research-practice partnerships to integrate diverse sources of expertise, elevating the practitioner perspective, and empowering practitioners by enhancing their program planning and evaluation capacity. The RYTE Institute also works to build an evidence-base within developmental science that specifically addresses the role of multiple individual and contextual factors on adolescent development with a focus on character development.
The International Values Education Trust (IVET) Foundation was formed in 1993 and focuses on fostering Values-based Education (VbE) and encouraging individuals to lead values-driven lives. Through its initiatives, the foundation develops educational frameworks, provides training and resources for schools, and collaborates with educators to embed core values such as respect, honesty, and compassion into curricula. Its work has been instrumental in shaping school cultures that prioritize character development, social responsibility, and ethical decision-making. As a result, IVET has significantly influenced educational policy and practice, not only in the UK but also internationally, helping countless schools nurture well-rounded, morally grounded students.
The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues is a unique and leading centre for the examination of how character and virtues impact upon individuals and society. The Centre was founded in 2012 by Professor James Arthur. Based at the University of Birmingham, it has a dedicated team of academics from a range of disciplines, researching the importance of character for individual and societal flourishing. With its focus on excellence, the Centre has a robust, rigorous research and evidence-based approach that is objective and non-political. It offers world class research on the importance of developing good character and virtues and the benefits they bring to individuals and society. In undertaking its own innovative research, the Centre also seeks to partner with academics, policy makers and practitioners from around the world to develop strong strategic partnerships.
The Kern National Network for Flourishing in Health (KNN) is a US-based national movement advancing flourishing across the health ecosystem by centering character, caring, and practical wisdom in health professions education, practice, and leadership.
Guided by its Framework for Flourishing, the KNN partners with institutions to foster shared learning, meaningful dialogue, and action-oriented innovation that advances flourishing across educational, clinical, and organizational settings.
The Oxford Character Project’s mission is to cultivate a new generation of wise thinkers and good leaders—individuals equipped with character and competence to drive positive change across government, business, and civil society. At the Oxford Character Project, we focus on the human dynamics of leadership and the qualities of character that drive leadership performance in a world of complexity and uncertainty. Character enables leaders to build trust, think with clarity, engage with diverse perspectives, empower others, exercise judgment, make hard decisions, and persevere through difficult times. We drive world-class interdisciplinary research on character and leadership and build academic capacity worldwide. In addition, we invest in human potential, providing award-winning education programmes that help students to achieve their goals, address global challenges, and further the good of society.
The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University inspires, educates, and empowers leaders of character to serve humanity. Through innovative teaching, creative programming, and cutting-edge research, the Program aims to transform the lives of students, foster a culture of leadership and character at Wake Forest, and catalyze a broader public conversation that places character at the center of leadership. The Program’s Educating Character Initiative is catalyzing a national movement focused on character in higher education and equipping U.S. institutions with the resources, funding, and support to integrate character education into their distinctive institutional contexts, curricula, and cultures.
The Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education (SCCCE), jointly established by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and National Institute of Education (NIE), seeks to advance professional learning and research in CCE to support the development of children and youth in Singapore and beyond. The Centre aims to 1) conduct CCE-related educational research to inform policy and practice; 2) provide leadership for effectiveness, coherence and intentionality of CCE-related courses; 3) collaborate with schools to explore, develop, and promote new and innovative ways to enhance learning in CCE; and 4) provide thought leadership and expand expertise in CCE.
Virtues & Vocations is a social movement to reimagine the cultivation of character across the professions. This aspirational, cross-professional learning community understands thriving professions are the backbone of thriving societies and knows professional excellence requires both competence and character. Rooted in the University of Notre Dame’s founding commitment to vocational formation and guided by a storied tradition of distinctively multi-disciplinary virtue education and scholarship, Virtues & Vocations invites students, scholars, and practitioners to experience the wonder and joy of a movement that fosters character in context and boldly contributes to the revival of genuine morality in civil society.