TEPACE
Teachers' and Parents' Perspectives on Character Education in Europe — initiated and led by Roland Bernhard with 47 researchers from twelve countries.
Prof. Dr.
Roland Bernhard
Full Professor of Education — School Development, Leadership & Leadership Culture · KPH Vienna/Lower Austria
Visiting Researcher, University of Oxford (2018–2020) · Visiting Professor, University of Vienna (2020–2021) · Privatdozent (venia docendi), University of Salzburg
I study how schools become places where young people don't just achieve, but flourish — with character, resilience and a love of learning. And together with teachers and school leaders, I try to bring what we learn into practice.
At a glance
Research with reach
100+
scholarly articles — 38 of them peer-reviewed
18
books & journal special issues authored or edited
130+
talks & keynotes in 15 countries
€2m+
in competitive third-party funding (co-)acquired
80+
media features on his research — ORF, Kurier, Die Presse, Der Standard …
5,000+
participants in his MOOCs & online courses
Plus: 100+ university courses at more than ten universities in three languages, work with 55 different co-authors, 35+ supervised master's and doctoral theses, 20+ academic conferences organised — and advisory work for schools, educational organisations and governments, among them the Government of Wales.
About
Bridging educational research and everyday school practice
Roland Bernhard trained as a teacher of history and Spanish — a five-year Magister degree, the Austrian equivalent of a master's — and studied theology alongside. His doctorate (University of Graz, 2012) and his habilitation (University of Salzburg, 2019) are both works of educational research; the habilitation is the German-speaking world's post-doctoral qualification for a full professorship. As a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (2018–2020) he led the Austrian Science Fund project School Quality and Teacher Education, investigating how London's once-failing schools became some of the best in England — and it was there, in Oxford, that he first encountered character education and character-based leadership, the themes that have shaped his work since. His earlier research on history teaching, textbooks and teachers’ beliefs is documented on a separate page. After a professorship in history education at the University of Vienna, he was appointed professor of School Development, Leadership & Leadership Culture at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria in 2021 — one of Austria's two largest universities of teacher education. There he also leads the transdisciplinary Department of Potential Development, Gifted Education and Character Education.
His work centres on a conviction: education succeeds when it forms the whole person. Working from a neo-Aristotelian perspective, he founded the Austrian Character Initiative in 2022 and co-founded the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA) — bringing the international research conversation on character and virtues, from the Jubilee Centre in Birmingham to the Oxford Character Project, into German-speaking education — among other things with the German translation of the Jubilee Centre’s Framework for Character Education in Schools (2025). In 2026 his essay “Persönlichkeitsbildung als Zukunftsthema” (character education as the theme of the future) was sent to every teacher in Austria through the teachers' union's Education Community. In September 2026 the State of Lower Austria honoured this work with its Research Award.
Much of his work happens outside the university: events and training courses with thousands of school leaders and teachers, close work with school leadership teams, co-founding schools and kindergartens and writing pedagogical concepts that are implemented — and, alongside academia, many hundreds of talks in family and community settings, especially for fathers, on parenting, marriage and questions of meaning. He is married and has six children.
In brief
- Born
- 1980, Heiligenkreuz am Waasen (AUT)
- Personal
- Married, six children
- Habilitation
- University of Salzburg, 2019
- Awards
- Research Award of the State of Lower Austria 2026Doctoral thesis nominated for the Award of Excellence by the University of Graz
- Career
- Graz · Salzburg · Oxford · Vienna · KPH Vienna/Lower Austria
- Academic profiles
- Google Scholar · ORCID
- Working languages
- German, English, Spanish
- Certifications
- FranklinCovey trainer · AI consultant (AI Training Institute, 2026)
Research
What makes schools good places to learn and to grow?
Our projects follow that question — from London's improving schools to a twelve-country European study and AI for character education — with partners in Oxford, Birmingham, Madrid and Trnava and in schools across Austria, funded among others by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the European Union.
100+ publications, documented on Google Scholar and ORCID.
School Quality and Teacher Education (SQTE)
What highly effective schools in challenging circumstances in England do differently — 43 interviews, a survey of 622 school leaders and teachers, and eight recommendations for Austria.
The Austrian Character Initiative
Research-based initiative making character education accessible to Austria's schools — 35+ publications, evaluations, teacher education and hundreds of classroom materials.
Charakterinitiative Deep Dives
A series of free research summaries for schools, school leaders, researchers and policy-makers — in German, with complete references and a Creative Commons licence. The first issue: what makes people happy, according to the Harvard research on human flourishing.
Kompass School of Character Favoriten, Vienna
Leads, with Denise Hofer, the mixed-methods accompanying research at a new proof-point school for excellent teaching and character education in Vienna-Favoriten, founded on the initiative of Teach For Austria.
Leadership for Resilience and Character Strengths
What psychotherapists and school psychologists advise schools — a study with more than 80 professionals and three modules for school leaders, in cooperation with the European Office of the Vienna Education Directorate and the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP).
KISU
How artificial intelligence is changing school and teaching development in Austria — an interview study with school leaders and system stakeholders.
School development consulting
What schools expect from external advisers and which effects school leaders perceive — three studies with colleagues at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria and the University for Continuing Education Krems, and instruments for the first phase of a consulting process.
Earlier research: history education and textbooks
Before character education: the Oxford habilitation project EBAHT on history teachers’ beliefs, the FWF project CAOHT on textbook use, and three open-access volumes on historical myths with the Georg Eckert Institute.
What our studies suggest
01Where schools focus on the quality of teaching, students make greater progress.School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2024 — with the University of Oxford · SQTE project · survey of 622 school leaders and teachers in England; correlational
02Austrian teachers want schools to develop character — and say clearly what they need for it.Journal of Moral Education, 2024 — Austrian TEPACE study
03In eight countries, most parents and teachers rate character education as very important.TEPACE · first comparative report, 10,909 respondents; the comparative article is under review at an international peer-reviewed journal
04Many studies link religiosity with resilience and mental health — with practical implications for schools.Bernhard 2024, with a foreword by Peter Stippl
Selected publications
Character education & flourishing
2025The Jubilee Centre Framework for Character Education in Schools — German editionBernhard & Schulte-Altedorneburg (transl.) · KPH Vienna/Lower Austria — the German translation of the third edition of the Jubilee Centre’s framework for character education in schools, freely available. Full text →
2024Austrian secondary school teachers’ views on character educationKropfreiter, Bernhard & McDermott · Journal of Moral Education — the quantitative results of Evelyn Kropfreiter’s doctoral thesis (University of Salzburg, 2025), supervised by Ulrike Greiner and Roland Bernhard; the thesis gave rise to TEPACE. Full text →
—The European twelve-country TEPACE studyTEPACE consortium · the comparative article on the main results has been submitted to an international peer-reviewed journal and is under review.
2024Challenges and Opportunities for Character Education in AustriaBernhard · in: Character Education in Europe (McGraw-Hill) — makes the case for a “Character Initiative” for Austria: research, a framework adapted to the Austrian context, training for school leaders and teachers, and teaching materials. Full text →
2024Religiosity, resilience and mental health: why Christian schools have one resource moreBernhard, with a foreword by Peter Stippl · SQTE Research-to-Practice Working Paper — why Christian schools have one resource more: international evidence on religiosity, resilience and mental health, taken up by Austrian media. Full text → · Media coverage →
2025Psychosocial health, character strengths and life skillsBernhard & Hanyka (eds.) · special issue of SchulVerwaltung — numerous contributions on character education, including the presentation of the Austrian Character Initiative. Full issue → · Bernhard 2025: The Character Initiative →
2024Gratitude for learners’ mental healthBernhard · SchulVerwaltung — how school development can bring the character strength of gratitude into everyday school life. Full text →
2021Learning history for lifeBernhard · Geschichte für das Leben lernen (Wochenschau) — 50 qualitative interviews with history teachers in Vienna: learning history for the present is the most important educational aim in their beliefs; critical thinking, a further central aim, is discussed in connection with character education. Full text → · Earlier research →
School improvement & leadership
2024A focus on quality of teaching in schools increases students’ progress of attainmentBernhard, McDermott, Hasenhüttl, Burn & Sammons · School Effectiveness and School Improvement — with the University of Oxford. Full text →
2025Uncompromisingly practice-orientedBernhard, Cadman, Hohengasser & Marton · R&E-SOURCE, open access — how deliberate practice (targeted, systematic practice with feedback) can be used in initial and continuing teacher education; experiences from highly effective English schools, Teach For Austria and KPH Vienna/Lower Austria. Full text →
2024Onboarding of new teachers – ideas for the quality manualBernhard, Marton & Pfingstner · Vienna — a practical onboarding template for school leaders, developed with Doris Pfingstner, principal of the state-prize-winning Modulare Mittelstufe Aspern, building on the SQTE project. Full text →
2026Bounce Back: strong for school, strong for lifeBernhard & Cataldo-Schwarzl · modules for school development that fosters resilience and character strengths, developed within the EU project BOUNCE BACK. Full text → · Project page →
2023Planning and evaluating the contracting phase of school development consultingBernhard & Fede · Schulpraxis entwickeln (SpE), open access — practical instruments for the contracting phase of school development consulting. Full text →
Research methods
2019How to use mixed-methods and triangulation designsKelle, Kühberger & Bernhard · History Education Research Journal — methodological introduction to mixed-methods research. Full text →
Peer-reviewed articles in journals such as School Effectiveness and School Improvement, the Journal of Moral Education and the History Education Research Journal; edited volumes with McGraw-Hill, V&R unipress and Waxmann; papers at the Jubilee Centre's Oxford conferences, AERA, EARLI, BERA and ECER; commissioned review for the Government of Wales.
From research to practice
The Austrian Character Initiative
Founded by Roland Bernhard in 2022 and carried by a growing team at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria together with partners across the country, the Austrian Character Initiative makes evidence-based character education accessible to schools — connecting research, teacher education, school leadership, policy and public debate. What began as an idea now reaches schools across the country:
1,400+school leaders reached
4,000+course participants
35+publications
12character strengths with free classroom materials
On the basis of this work, the Education Directorate of Lower Austria has made “Leadership and Character Education” the annual theme for all schools of the province in 2026/27 — with academic support from Roland Bernhard, workshops for the school leaders of every school type and a workbook for school leaders (primary edition published, secondary editions to follow). With Jörg Schulte-Altedorneburg he translated the Jubilee Centre's Framework for Character Education in Schools into German (2025, freely available); with Heidi Burkhard he worked on implementing the Leader in Me programme (FranklinCovey's 7 Habits) in Austrian schools.
The annual theme in Lower Austria: workbook and leadership tools for school leaders →
How the initiative came about and what it does — Bernhard (2025), full text →
Schools should be places where not only young people, but also teachers and school leaders, deliberately develop character and virtues — courage, gratitude, honesty, respect, self-discipline and practical wisdom. — from the vision of the Austrian Character Initiative
Beyond schools: policy and public debate
A commissioned review of initial teacher education for the Government of Wales; contributions at the European Forum Alpbach; a keynote for the Future Dialogue on Education with the education spokespeople of the parliamentary parties; presentations to the boards of the Austrian Innovation Foundation for Education; and regular participation in the Austrian Education Forum, where seventy experts spend twenty-four hours on the future of the school system.
Events and training courses with thousands of school leaders and teachers across Austria.
The next chapter
What we are working on next
The institutional home for this work: a Centre for Character Education at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria, now being established out of the Austrian Character Initiative — a hub linking research, teacher education, schools and policy for the German-speaking world.
I
Character education for mental health
Half of all mental disorders begin by the age of 14, three quarters by the age of 24 (Kessler et al., 2005). Character strengths such as gratitude and self-regulation are consistently linked to well-being and resilience — this frontier turns that evidence into programmes, a MOOC and a university certificate course for schools, in which every participant carries out and evaluates a practice project at their own school.
II
Character education against disadvantage
For children facing adversity, school is often the only sanctuary of stability. Together with practitioners: proof-point schools of character in Austria's most disadvantaged areas — starting with the Kompass School of Character Favoriten, Vienna, initiated by Teach For Austria and accompanied by KPH. A five-year mixed-methods study follows the pupils’ learning, wellbeing and sense of belonging.
III
Agentic AI for flourishing schools
Developing agentic AI for character education itself — and exploring how it can help schools: supporting quality development and relieving school leaders of administrative burden. Technology in the service of human flourishing.
This is being built with partners — universities, foundations and school authorities. I would be glad to talk.
Start a conversationVoices
What participants say
Students, teachers and school leaders on Roland Bernhard’s courses at the University of Vienna, the University of Salzburg, KPH Vienna/Lower Austria and the University of Teacher Education Burgenland, and on his professional development programmes for schools — from course evaluations and letters, 2019–2025.
“Your seminar was probably the most valuable of my entire studies […] I was truly able to take away an incredible amount from every one of your presentations.”
“There is no higher award for your talk than this letter of thanks — a sign that you touch people with what you say.”
“Prof. Bernhard is a gifted storyteller and a competent researcher. I received many new ideas […] and I was truly personally touched.”
“This course was not only academically well-founded and didactically appealing but also deeply relevant to real life. […] Not just ‘nice to know’, but ‘essential to live’.”
“Your seminar was the last course of my bachelor's degree in history, and I can say it was the best course of my entire studies.”
“So kind — truly one of the nicest people I've ever met. He is incredibly enthusiastic about what he teaches, and it's directly contagious!”
“I have never had such a motivating instructor as you, and I therefore really learned a lot from you.”
“It was by far the best online seminar in this COVID semester.”
From course and training evaluations, 2019–2025 · Read all 230+ voices →
Public scholarship
Research in the public conversation
80+ media features on his research — from the main evening news to multi-page portraits. Making the science of character and school improvement accessible to the public is part of the work.
ORFÖ1KurierDie PresseDer StandardKronen ZeitungKleine ZeitungNewsDie FurcheSalzburger NachrichtenTiroler Tageszeitung
06/2025“A question of character”Kurier – on the Character Initiative
06/2025Feature on character education in schoolsORF 2 – „Wien heute"
06/2025“Game changer in education policy: experts call for more character education in schools”OÖ Nachrichten
08/2024“Time for character”Sonntagsblatt – full-page feature
Full press review (94 entries, with links to the originals) →
Three press conferences, one message
Since 2023, three press conferences have carried this research into Austria’s media. Two made the case for character education and mental health, both jointly with the Austrian Federation for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP): 2023 on the mental health of children and young people (reported from ORF.at to Kronen Zeitung), and in June 2025 — in the run-up to the ECVA Conference in Vienna — “Persönlichkeitsbildung wirkt!” (“Character education works!”), with Rector Ulrike Greiner, ÖBVP President Barbara Haid and Gary Lewis, former President of the Association for Character Education. A third, at the Concordia Press Club in 2023, presented the SQTE study on school improvement and leadership — how England’s most disadvantaged schools became outstanding. The 2025 echo alone, documented by the university’s media monitoring, spans more than 40 reports, from APA, Kurier and Tiroler Tageszeitung to ORF 2’s “Wien heute”. The cooperation with the ÖBVP has since grown into ongoing joint projects for schools.
3press conferences since 2023 — two with the Federation for Psychotherapy
40+reports on the 2025 press conference alone (university media monitoring)
The ECVA Conference 2025, Vienna
Europe's character education community, gathered in Vienna
In June 2025, the conference of the European Character and Virtue Association came to Vienna: 130 researchers, educators and policymakers from 23 countries explored the question “What makes a life of flourishing — and how can education support it?”. Roland Bernhard organised the conference together with Martin Brestovanský (University of Trnava); the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues — founded by ECVA President James Arthur — co-hosted it. More about the association →
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, opened the conference with a video greeting. Speakers included Andreas Schleicher (OECD), Michael Stevenson, Liz Gulliford, and the English school leaders Gary Lewis — former President of the Association for Character Education — and Chris Clyne, whose keynote on character education as a tool for school improvement met with particular interest. Ongoing exchanges — for example with Agustín Porres, who works with education ministries worldwide on character education — carry the conversation on.
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Networks & partners
University of Oxford
Jubilee Centre, Birmingham
Oxford Character Project
ECVA (Co-founder & Board)
EULEAD (Vice-President)
University of Salzburg
University of Vienna
UCL Press (HERJ Editorial Board)
Teach For Austria
Education Directorates of Vienna & Lower Austria
Georg Eckert Institute
Research is a shared enterprise. The co-authors, project partners and consortium members behind the projects on this website — from Oxford, Birmingham, Madrid and Trnava to Salzburg, Braunschweig and Vienna — are listed with their institutions on a separate page; the association through which much of this work is organised has one of its own.
Publications
Books
Six of 18 authored or edited books and special issues — from research monographs to practical workbooks.
Leadership und Charakterbildung
Character Education in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities
Character-Based Leadership
Sternstunden der Charakterstärken
Geschichte für das Leben lernen
Von PISA nach Wien
Complete list: 100+ articles, 38 peer-reviewed —
Full CV and publication list (KPH profile) →
Teaching & professional development
Teaching and professional development
100+ university courses in three languages, 35+ supervised theses, 5,000+ MOOC participants — and continuing education programmes for teachers and school leaders.
Teaching & research at more than ten universities
KPH Vienna/Lower Austria
University of Vienna
University of Salzburg
University of Graz
University of Innsbruck
University of Oxford
University of Teacher Education Salzburg
University of Teacher Education Vorarlberg
University of Teacher Education Burgenland
Philosophical-Theological University Benedict XVI Heiligenkreuz
New
University certificate course: School-based character education for mental health
Led by Roland Bernhard at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria, with Prof. Dr. Peter Stippl, Dr. Evelyn Kropfreiter and Verena Lauffs — in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP), the Autoris Leadership Institute and EULEAD. Participants develop a supervised, evaluated practice project at their own school. Taught in German.
6 ECTS100 % online1 semesterStarts February 2027€ 700
Course page: dates & team → Register (until 1 Jan 2027)
Free MOOC
MOOC: Character education for mental health
The open online course on character education for mental wellbeing — free for everyone on iMooX, developed with a team at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria. More than 5,000 people have taken part in his MOOCs and online courses.
iMooXFree of chargeOpen to all
Start the course →
Click to enlarge.
EULEAD Summerschool
The annual summer school for Austria's school leaders, initiated and led by Roland Bernhard — in 2026 with 100+ leaders from education, business and civil society. Lectures from 2024 were broadcast by BildungsTV.
2026“Leading with character — making others great”with Prof. Matthias Ehrhardt (Boston) · Lilienfeld Abbey
2025Character strengths, AI and leadershipStift Lilienfeld
2024Leadership for mental health, resilience and character strengthsStift Lilienfeld
2023Character — Spirit — LeadershipStift Göttweig
2022School quality, leadership and trustStift Göttweig
2021School leadership and school qualityStift Göttweig
Browse the programmes of the past editions:
Summerschool 2026 — programme (8 pages)
Summerschool 2025 — programme (6 pages)
Summerschool 2024 — programme (6 pages)
Summerschool 2023 — programme (10 pages)
Summerschool 2022 — programme (9 pages)
News
New series: the Charakterinitiative Deep Dives — first issue on what makes people happy
Research summaries for schools, school leaders, researchers and policy-makers, in German and free of charge. The first issue presents the Harvard research on human flourishing in 16 pages. The series and the PDF →
New from 28 January 2027: “Making Others Great” — character‑based leadership for educators
Ten live online sessions with Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Ehrhardt and Verena Lauffs, in German, with a certificate and a KPH micro-credential (3 ECTS); special price for educators € 1,800 until 30 November 2026. Details and access code →
Character education and character-based leadership in practice: talk to more than 100 school leaders in Horn
At the invitation of Andrea Haas, Head of Education Region 1 in Lower Austria, Roland Bernhard spoke in Horn to more than 100 school leaders — from education for human flourishing to courage and humility in leadership. Read more →
Support
Would you like to support our work?
Several larger projects are ready to start — but they need resources: funding, partner institutions and people who open doors. If you would like to help young people develop character and schools become places where they can flourish — as a foundation, a company or a private supporter — we would be glad to talk.
Leadership · Austria
Character-based leadership in Austria’s schools
A large-scale implementation of character-based leadership in Austrian school practice, together with the Autoris Leadership Institute — building on the EULEAD Summerschool and on Lower Austria’s annual theme “Leadership and Character Education”.
Character-based leadership →Research · Europe
TEPACE — the next wave
The European study of teachers’ and parents’ views on character education enters its second phase: a longitudinal follow-up in TEPACE schools, a comparative analysis of the qualitative material and an openly published instrument — with further countries joining.
The TEPACE project →Institution · KPH
Centre for Character Education
An institutional home for character education at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria, growing out of the Austrian Character Initiative: a hub linking research, teacher education, schools and policy for the German-speaking world — now being established.
The Austrian Character Initiative →Innovation · AI
Agentic AI for Character Education
Developing agentic AI for character education — and using it to improve Austria’s schools: supporting quality development and relieving school leaders of administrative work. Technology in the service of human flourishing.
What we are working on next →School · Vienna
Kompass School of Character Favoriten, Vienna
Five years of accompanying research (2026–2031) at a new proof-point school in Vienna-Favoriten, founded on the initiative of Teach For Austria, that combines excellent teaching with explicit character education — to learn what helps children who grow up in difficult circumstances.
The school →How you can help
With funding, as a partner institution or with your network. Write to Roland Bernhard — he will gladly send a short outline of the project you are interested in.
Previous projects were funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the European Union (Interreg VI-A Austria–Hungary) and a private foundation.
Contact
Let's talk
Funders & partnersProjects, proposals and cooperation on character education, leadership and AI for schools. Projects that need support →
Schools & school authoritiesTraining, school development support, materials and in-house seminars.
Media & keynotesInterviews, statements and keynote requests.
Researchers & criticsCritical questions about our findings are welcome — as are ideas for joint studies.