Developing grit and character in pupils, as championed by former education secretary Nicky Morgan, is increasingly becoming a priority in our schools system. But as with most “soft skills”, the problem or teachers is, how do you know if you are making a difference?

Now, for the first time in the UK, a school will attempt to measure pupils’ character - grit and problem-solving - in real time to ensure that they continuously display and develop these vital skills. Staff and students at Pendle Vale College in Lancashire will be able to give pupils who display certain behaviours instant credit by scanning their contactless cards and storing the data on an app, through a system called Lengo.

Boost to parents’ evenings

It is hoped that the technology, which has already been used in Egypt and India, will help to provide teachers with even more meaningful feedback for parents’ evenings, as well as enabling them to give pupils appropriate credit when due.

The move is the latest addition to a character education drive at Pendle Vale, which involves staff trying to recognise and instil appropriate behaviour in students.

Over the past two years, pupils at the 11-16 comprehensive have had more opportunities to develop their social and emotional skills through off-site trips, first-aid and leadership courses, and outdoor education.

Now the school aims to use the new technology to recognise desirable characteristics - such as resilience and leadership - and reward pupils who demonstrate them.

Matt Renshaw, assistant head at Pendle Vale, said: “It’s about young people recognising the sort of traits that the adults working with them value. Resilience, for example: that’s an important skill in life that employers need and young people may not necessarily have.”

We want to recognise what young people are doing

Students already receive awards for their behaviour during schools trips - and it is hoped that the app will play a part in this.

Mr Renshaw added: “To what extent it will work on the ground, we don’t know yet - but we want to recognise what young people are doing and point out to them what is valued.

“There is a danger of it being superficial if you give someone credit for holding open a door, for example.”

‘Objective’ measure

The difficulties around measuring soft skills were explored at a seminar on social and emotional learning in Salzburg, Austria, last month. Policymakers, advisers, academics and campaigners from 19 countries came together to discuss the best methods for assessing non-cognitive skills.

Concerns were raised around the accuracy of some tools used, such as self-reports, and the infrequency of assessment. But Baldev Singh, who works for the company that developed the Lengo system, believes that it can counteract some of these issues because it allows assessment from teachers and peers, as well as self-assessment.

Mr Singh, head of strategic education developments at Imagine Education, believes that Lengo can help teachers to report back about students on improvement programmes, as well as assisting with parents’ evenings.

“I would be sitting in a parents’ evening and would be very objective and say that 20 people - from different areas, right from the receptionist to the science teacher to the maths teacher - say Josh is resilient,” he said. “If he is resilient, I hope that would be reflected in his subjects. If he doesn’t have that, maybe it is something we should look for in Josh. I think this dialogue discussion could enhance parents’ evening and make them more meaningful.”

It would be useful to have things to unpack with parents

Pendle Vale has already seen growing support from parents for non-examination programmes - such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme - and Mr Renshaw is optimistic that the app will further increase interest in character education.

“It would be useful to have things to unpack with parents,” he said, adding: “This is potentially quite unknown ground. For a long time we have been focused on outcomes. We’ve never really unpacked these skills.”