Framing thoughts to redesign education for school improvement | Johannesburg

A 7.5-hour workshop for school leaders in South Africa to redesign education to promote personal growth, character development, and well-being.

Event Information

Event Type: PRIMED Institute

Duration: From 8am to 2pm (includes welcome snacks, tea, and lunch)

Place: Jeppe Boys, Innovation Center Johannesburg, South Africa

Price: R200,00

Host:

Alvira Foundation & Become

«Schools are perfectly designed for the results we are getting. If we don’t like the results, we need to redesign schools.»

– Paul Houston

Former Executive Director of the American Association for School Administrators.

To support this, the second part of the workshop will introduce two programs that are designed to help develop the leadership needed for such a transformation: the PRIMED Institute and vLACE, both of which will soon be organized in Soth Africa. These programs aim to serve as catalysts for school redesign by building and nurturing local communities of practice among educational leaders, promoting the personal development of identity, integrity, and well-being in diverse cultural contexts.

Audience

Certification

What is the PRIMED model

The PRIMED model is an acronym for six design principles for school improvement that integrate 42 character education effective practices for schools identified in studies, reviews, and meta-analyses from the last quarter of a century.

Effective means that these practices are supported by scientific evidence, including statistical tests of the significance of their impact in character development. Rather than specific practices or strategies, these principles are six reminders of what should be considered to design each practice and strategy to effectively transform educational institutions into communities that cultivate moral and civic virtues in strategic and intentional ways. This is a brief description of each one of them.

Prioritization

Visible and concrete prioritization of character development in all areas. Leaders should direct their efforts and resources in this direction holistically.

Relationships

Promoting caring relationships throughout the community for the sake of people and their learning, following the adage: "Kids don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care".

Intrinsic Motivation

Developing intrinsic motivation to do well, as opposed to external motivations such as rewards and punishments. It's not just about doing good, but also doing it for the right reasons.

Modeling

Everyone in the school, especially adults, should strive to be models of virtue, from which everyone can learn. Following Gandhi, it is about "being the change we want to see in the world".

Empowerment

Empower everyone in the community, hearing their voices and granting the autonomy that each one deserves to contribute to the common good by assuming leadership roles and responsibilities.

Developmental Pedagogy

And finally, a developmental pedagogy that integrates long-term character-related goals such as social-emotional competencies or moral reasoning into the curriculum.

For more information:

Redesigning schools for effective character education through leadership:
The case of PRIMED Institute and vLACE

Dabdoub, J. P., Salgado, D., Bernal, A., Berkowitz, M. W., & Salaverría, A. R. (2023). Redesigning schools for effective character education through leadership: The case of PRIMED Institute and vLACE. Journal of Moral Education, 53(3), 558–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2023.2254510

Character Education Formation Program as an Epiphany and Transformational Experience for Educational Principals

Salgado, D., Bernal, A., Dabdoub, J. P., Berkowitz, M. W., & Bier, M. C. (2025). Character Education Formation Program as an Epiphany and Transformational Experience for Educational Principals in México. Research in Human Development, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2025.2524298

Creating cultures for character development: A Theory of change supported by vLACE, a scalable blended program

Dabdoub, J. P., Salaverría, A. R., Álvarez-Kafati, M. C., & Berkowitz, M. W. (Under review). Creating cultures for character development: A Theory of change supported by vLACE, a scalable blended program. Journal of Moral Education