The Manchester Model: How A City Moulds A Soul

Imprinting

The Nobel Prize-winning naturalist Konrad Lorenz famously studied the behaviour of greylag geese. He observed that, upon hatching, goslings would instinctively ‘imprint’ on the first moving object they saw, treating it as their mother and following it devotedly. He concluded that this powerful, primal bond is forged in a critical, early window, shaping the gosling’s identity for life.

What If Our Environment Does The Same To Us?

What if, in the formative years of our lives, the very character of the place we call home, that is its history, its weather, its people, its spirit – imprints itself upon us? If this is true, then to understand the people of Manchester, you must first understand the character of Manchester itself. This is a city which doesn’t just provide houses for people; it shapes them. It engraves its defining qualities, or its kharaktēr, onto the soul.

For too long, education has treated character as an abstract concept to be taught from a textbook, divorced from the lived reality of its students. The burgeoning Manchester Character movement, a collaboration between educators, civic leaders and industry, seeks to change that. It is founded on a simple and profound truth: the grit, humour, defiance and innovation which define this city are more than just cultural inflections; they are a living curriculum with Manchester itself being the classroom and its character being the lesson.

The Imprint Of A City: Grit, Swagger And Collective Spirit

So, what is this Mancunian character? It is a complex identity forged in the fires of the Industrial Revolution, cooled and drenched by the persistent rain, and then tempered by decades of post-industrial struggle and defiant rebirth.

It starts with grit. This is not the abstract ‘grit’ of a self-help manual, but a practical, bone-deep resilience learned from generations who worked in the mills, built the canals and endured real economic hardship. It’s the spirit which saw the city bounce back from the 1996 bomb devastation with a radical and ambitious reinvention of its city centre. It’s the collective strength symbolised by the worker bee.

This grit is married to a unique swagger and creative impulse. When you are geographically and culturally distant from the nation’s globalised capital, you learn to create your own world. You build your own institutions, make your own music and tell your own stories. This is the spirit of Factory Records, The Hacienda and icons like Tony Wilson, who gave the city a global cultural footprint with a DIY ethos and an unapologetic belief in local talent. It’s the sound of The Smiths, Oasis, and Joy Division, music which channels the city’s melancholy and defiant energy. It’s the surreal, papier-mâché-headed genius of Frank Sidebottom, the apt expression of Mancunian eccentricity and creative freedom. It’s the gritty humour of the “by ‘eck, you smell lovely” Boddington ads set in gondolas on the cities’ canal ways.

This character is embodied in its icons. Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes, whose campaign of “deeds not words” was born in this city, a testament to its rebellious, justice-seeking spirit. Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who produced his revolutionary work at the university here, embodying a world-changing innovation which existed alongside his tragic personal story of persecution and resilience. More recently, Marcus Rashford, a young man who fused world-class sporting talent with a powerful social conscience, used his platform to speak for those without a voice, a distinctly Mancunian trait.

The Theatre Of Character: Sport And The City

Nowhere is the city’s character-building power more visible than in sport. Manchester is a global sporting capital, and its two footballing giants, City and United, are more than just footy clubs; they are global ambassadors for the city’s identity.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary tenure at Manchester United was built on an explicit philosophy of character. He famously valued resilience, loyalty, and above all else an unrelenting work ethic. He sought out players who hated to lose, who would fight for every ball in ‘Fergie Time’, embodying the city’s own refusal to accept defeat. This was a “hidden curriculum” in action, teaching millions of fans that success is born from perseverance and collective will.

Today, this legacy is infused in institutions like UA92 (University Academy 92), co-founded by the legendary ‘Class of 92’. UA92 is built on the non-negotiable principle that character development is as important as academic achievement. UA92’s entire educational model is structured around developing traits like grit, resilience and leadership, using the high-pressure, high-stakes world of elite sport as a tangible learning environment. They understand that learning from failure on or off the pitch, collaborating under pressure in a team and showing humility in victory and defeat are lessons which develop skills transferable into the studio, the lab or even the boardroom.

The rise of the Lionesses, many of whom have roots in Manchester’s vibrant women’s football scene, further cements this link. Their journey to national and European glory is a story of overcoming decades of underfunding and neglect, a perfect sporting example for the city’s own narrative of defiant success against the odds.

Closing The Character And Opportunity Gap: From Civic Pride To Economic Power

For Manchester to thrive, this deep-seated, place-based character cannot be left to chance. This is the mission of the Manchester Character initiative. As my colleague Andy Donnelly and I have argued, there is a growing disconnect between formal qualifications and the real-world attributes needed to succeed. A range of institutions, including the World Economic Forum and the Edge Foundation, report that employers are crying out for skills like integrity, collaboration, adaptability and creativity, the very ‘eulogy virtues’ which Manchester constantly cultivates.

This is not a ‘skills gap’; it is a ‘character and opportunity gap’. And it is a gap which Manchester is uniquely positioned to close. The city’s booming tech, creative and scientific industries need innovators, problem-solvers and collaborators; people with the resilience to navigate a rapidly changing world and the creative spark to drive it forward. They need people with Manchester character.

By making place-based learning the linchpin of its educational strategy, Manchester can provide a powerful solution to this national challenge. This means connecting the school curriculum to the city’s heritage, bringing its innovators, artists and community leaders into the classroom, and using its civic spaces as sites of learning. It means showing a young person from Wythenshawe or Oldham that the same spirit which drove the Pankhursts, Charlton and Bell, or created The Hacienda, lives within them, and that it is their greatest asset.

Like Lorenz’s goslings, we are shaped by the world we are born into. The character of Manchester, forged by rain and revolution, industry and ingenuity, is a powerful, life-shaping force. By consciously and proudly placing it at the very heart of its vision for education, Manchester is not just honouring its past. It is building a blueprint for its future, creating a new generation ready to meet the world with grit and the unshakeable pride of a city which knows how to lead.

By Neil Wolstenholme, Kloodle Chairman