UNIVERSITY OF CASTILLA LA MANCHA

Albacetes Faculty of Education

Subject: Contemporary trends in education

Professor: Antonio Cebrin

Academic year 2016-2017

Values in education

Students:

Rebeca Garca Olivares

Jos Lpez Lpez

Javier del Olmo Muoz

Andrea Trraga Snchez

Sergio Tirado Olivares

Master degree in Primary Education

2 course group B
 Contents

[Book] Values in education and education in values 3

Introduction 3

What are Values? 4

Values in a Pluralist Society 5

Values Education: Principles and Practice 7

The Inspection of Values Education. 10

[Video] Value-Education | Priscilla Were | TEDxTraverseCity 11

References 16
[Book] Values in education and education in values

ANDREA

Introduction

Values are central to both the theory of education and the practical activities of
schools in two ways:
1. Schools and individual teachers within schools are a major influence, but also the
family, the media and the peer group, on the developing values.
2. Schools reflect and embody the values of society.

However, the values of society are not as uniform as this suggests. Many groups
within society claim to a stake in the educational process, like parents, teachers and children
themselves, and within each of these groups there is a wide diversity of values.

The part schools play in the teaching of values and the part values play in the
organization of schools are closely connected:
- The values of schools are apparent in their organization, curriculum and in the
relationships between teachers and children.
- Values are reflected in what teachers choose to encourage in the classroom
and in the way children respond.

Many values are left within the domain of the hidden curriculum. When there is no
systematic discussion of values, children may be more likely to develop values haphazardly,
and the values which pupils develop in school are not different from those the school intends.
Partly, this may be a reflection of the critical perspective the school seeks to develop through
the curriculum, and, partly, it may result from a lack of congruence and coherence in value
implementation.

These factors suggest a need for schools to reflect on their values with greater
precision (McLaughlin, 1995). This need is made the more pressing by four considerations:
Growing cultural diversity.
 A growing gulf between the values of government and teachers has led to a
breakdown of trust and to stronger demands for accountability (Halstead, 1994).
The perceived 'moral decline' not only among young people but also in public life.
The determination of government to uphold certain values.

There are some key questions of the links between values and education that appear
along the book:
Is there a distinction to be made between private and public values?
Do particular values (whether political, aesthetic, moral or religious) have validity
only within particular cultures or traditions?
Are there any absolute values, or merely changing and relative ones?
Should schools reflect traditional values or seek to transform these?
Before any of these questions can be considered, however, the first step is to examine
what are values.

What are Values?

A lot of definitions are suggested in this book, but, in sum, the term values is used to
refer to principles, fundamental convictions, ideals, standards or life stances which act as
general guides to behaviour or as points of reference in decision-making or the evaluation of
beliefs or action and which are closely connected to personal integrity and personal identity.
- The value of something has always been to talk of its worth, and that when we value
something we are making a high estimate of its worth.
- The term values seem to be used to refer to the criteria by which we make such value
judgments, to the principles on which the value judgments are based.

Values are our standards and principles for judging worth. They are the criteria by
which we judge 'things' to be good and desirable or bad and despicable.

This raises the question of whether the values by which we judge worth are subjective
or objective, relative or absolute. An initial distinction must be made between merely
personal value judgments or preferences (for example, I prefer heavy metal to
country-and-western.) and 'true' judgments of value, which purport to have a more rational
character (for example, 'that was a kind act).

Questions:
T/F: The values which pupils develop individually in school are not different from those the
school intends. TRUE
Multiple Choice: The values by which we judge worth are:
a) Subjective or objective.
b) Relative or absolute.
c) Both of them.
Answer: C.

Personal opinion: This book has offers a lot of information about what values are. I find it
very interesting because it makes me think about different questions that this book arises, for
instance: are there any absolute values, or merely changing and relative ones?

SERGIO

Values in a Pluralist Society

In a pluralist society, since not everyone shares the same values (or even shares the
same understanding of what values are) it is impossible to find a basis for the establishment
of common institutions in all societies.
However,It is clear that there could not be a society without a minimum set of
common values and standards of behaviour. These are likely to include:
- A basic social morality (in particular. a respect for justice and a recognition that other
groups have as much right as we have)
- The acceptance of a common system of law and government by all groups within the
broader society and changes only through democratic means.
- And finally, a commitment to values presupposed by the pluralist ideal (in particular,
the toleration of groups with different ideals (the rejection of violence)
 In this line, Haydon expands this third category by arguing that citizenship within a
plural society requires that everyone should be taught not only about morality but also 'about
the plurality, not merely of values, but of the kinds of significance attached to values'.

However, the minimum framework of common values remains a very thin one,
certainly not sufficient to support a common system of education as extensive as we have
today. If the common school is to be retained, it is widely assumed that some way must be
found of making this minimum framework of values more substantial. But how? There is no
a sort answers.
In the past it has tended to be the values of the dominant group that have filled the
vacuum, and it has frequently been claimed that schools have to promote middle-class values.
Later, the traditional values of religion, the family and the national heritage have
found favour; the slogan 'back to basics' also represented an emphasis on standards, whether
moral, social or academic. Liberals suggest that an expansion or the minimum framework of
common values may be negotiated democratically.

Moreover, it is clear that in a pluralist society must be democratic negotiation

presupposes certain shared values and shared goals (such as valuing a democratic form of
life), which may not, in fact, be shared by all and may even be perceived as a threat to the
traditional way of life of some groups.
The introduction of market forces into educational provision. The market, he suggests,
provides the context for the negotiation of values between providers and customers. He uses
this metaphor to explain that the school cannot uphold values which diverge significantly
from those of the community it serves. If this approach is accepted, it implies that in a plural
society there will be a diversity of schools reflecting not only different curricular emphases
but also different cultural or ideological values.
However, we have to take into account the principle of the common school, which
among other things seeks to show equal respect to a diversity of cultural values and promote
mutual tolerance and understanding.
The task, which schools and other educational institutions are now facing, of
discussing and clarifying their values and making them public is thus enormously complex.
Schools must pay attention to the diversity of values in the communities they serve as well as
in society at large, and to the legitimate expectations of interested parties. They must examine
their aims and their curriculum provision and practices to see what values lie embedded there
and must reflect on it.

But unless schools make the effort to articulate their values and develop some clarity
of vision, they will not be in a strong position to pursue their task of developing pupils
understanding of values and helping pupils to develop their own commitments. It is to this
latter task that we must now turn.

Values Education: Principles and Practice

The Values Education Council in the UK in 1995 may prove an important turning
point; its purpose being 'the promotion and development of values in the context of education
as a lifelong process, to help individuals develop as responsible and caring persons and live
as participating members of a pluralist society'.
The emphasis here on personal and social values, moral values and democratic
citizenship is not intended to exclude other values and nowadays, also moral with spiritual
values (National Curriculum Council, 1993),
Other values frequently mentioned in the context of the school include values relating
to cultural diversity, cultural identity; academic values; peace, human rights and
environmental values; gender equality and antiracism; work and economic values; health; and
solidarity and cooperation.
Values education in British, as in much of Europe, is affected by closer involvement
with religion: a third of British schools are religious schools, is still a compulsory part of the
basic curriculum and there is a strong official view that religious education and collective
worship are central to children's moral and spiritual development.

Some people do not share this official view, for them, there will be a gradual
decline among religiously based values, leading to the slow disappearance of specialized
religious and moral instruction and the emergence of citizenship courses as the main focus for
children's moral development in school. Whether this assumption is justified, however, is
very much open to question.

Questions:
- T/F: In a pluralist society, although not everyone shares the same values, there must
be a minimum set of common values and standards of behaviour. True
- Multiple choice: The minimum set of values and standards in a pluralist society
are:
a) A basic social morality,the acceptance of a common system of law and the
rejection of violence
b) Only the rejection of violence is necessary.
c) Only the acceptance of common system of law.
Answer: a.

Personal opinion:
There is no doubt that in a pluralist society not everyone share the same values but
there must be a minimum set of them. This minimum framework of common values is not
easy to do however it is essential.
Values such as tolerance, recognize that others have as many rights as we have, the
rejection of the violence, doing the changes through democratic negotiation... are very
important.
In this line the school has an important role because it has to reflect the values of the
community it serves because if they are completely different it can not perform its main
function within society.
Schools have to do an effort to identify their values and develop them if not, they will
not be in a strong position to pursue their main task of teach children in values.

REBECA

Whatever form values education takes, there is a major debate about whether schools should
instil values in pupils or teach them to explore and develop their own values. Values
education involves two tasks:

- The identification of appropriate values, which is the responsibility of schools,

educationalists or society.
- The transmission of these approved values to children. It could be carried out through
curriculum subjects, sports, extra-curricular activities, teacher-pupil relationships,
management of the school, etc.

The main problems for the education in values are:

1. The difficulty of identifying appropriate values and ensuring a consistent approach

within the school.
2. The little attention paid to the values that children learn outside the school, from
home, the media and their peers.

There are different ways for teaching values to children. One of them is called Values
Clarification, which consists of teaching children to explore and develop their own feelings
and values. This approach developed particularly by Raths, et al. (1966) and Simon. Howe
and Kirshenbaum (1972), is based on two assumptions: that children will care more about
values which they have thought through and made their own than about values simply passed
down by adults; and that it is wrong, particularly in a pluralist society, to seek to impose
values. Values clarification has rarely been advocated openly in the UK, though the influence
of its philosophy can be seen in the Humanities Curriculum Project.

Other approaches to teaching children to explore and develop their own values are moral
reasoning and just community, both related with Kohlberg.

- Moral reasoning: children are presented with moral dilemmas and are encouraged to
discuss them in a way which it is intended will help them to see the inadequacies of
their current moral thinking and move to a higher level (Blatt and Kohlberg,1975).
- Just community: is designed to help students to develop responsible moral behaviour
by coming to share group norms and a sense of community.

Current thinking about values tends to favor Eclecticism: Moral guidance + Values
clarification.

For Carr and Landon the main forms of values education are: modelling and imitations,
training and habituation, enquiry and clarification.

More methods used by teachers are: drama, project work, cooperative learning, educational
games But although there are several methods for teaching them, the values education that
derives from the teacher as exemplar must not be underestimated.

The Inspection of Values Education.

The Education at schools, requires an inspector to review the quality of its education, the
spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. The Handbook for the Inspection
of Schools, sets out the evaluation criteria of the aspects of life and work of schools,
including behaviour, discipline and pupilswelfare and guidance.

However, inspectors have to face several challenges:

- There aren't defining terms that schools understand what is being inspected from
them.
- It is difficult to establish links between the educational provision of a school and
changes in attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviour on the part of the students because
students will inevitably be influenced by society.
- It seems ethically questionable to make formal judgments about the personal
development of students. In this way, a greater emphasis is made on the
school'sprovision and less on the outcomes observed in individual pupils.

The main problem suggested in this article is the lack of clarity in the implementation of
values at school.

Questions

T/F

In the teaching of values to children, Values Clarification considers that children care more
about values which are imposed by adults. False
MULTIPLE CHOICE

Some of the problems for Educating in values at school are:

a. The Curriculum doesnt include valuesteaching.

b. There are no problems because every teacher knows the values that have to be taught.
c. Social influences in children and lack of a consistent implementation at school.

Personal opinion.

Education in values is essential in the educational process. Schools, are the place where
children spend more time in their lives, and many times they imitate the behaviours seen on
their teachers. For that reason, teachers has to be an exemplar of good education.
In my opinion, all schools must agree in the teaching of the same values, and agree about the
appropriate values for living in society, because the aim of education is educating for the life.

So, although children can be influenced by their families, or society in general, I think that
schools are the engine for changing society. For that, we need to train teachers for a correct
implementation of values in the group of pupils and little by little we would get a society
based on respect, tolerance and peace, because small changes generate great achievements.

[Video] Value-Education | Priscilla Were | TEDxTraverseCity

JOSE

The in the video Priscila Were tell us that is country Kenya, is sick, that suffers for three
elements which are tribalism, corruption, and impunity.

The Kenyans have acknowledged they are sick, but they have also discovered the cure.

With the independence of 1963, they felt full of joy, because they conceived of free fair and
prosperous Kenya.

Then she talks about three men, three of the independence heroes.

The first man is Jomo Kenyatta, in 1946 he returned to East Africa and became a teacher

In 1947, he was elected President of the African Union of Kenya, through which he began to
press for the independence of British colonial domain.

The British government tested him, and told him that if he helped them with the
independence struggle, he would be prime minister, but he rose above personal interest and
refuse.

In 1952, he was one of the Kapenguria Six detained and accused of involvement in the Mau
Mau Rebellion against the British. He remained in prison until 1961. He then headed the
KANU delegation in the negotiations that ensured Kenya's independence.

In the 1963 general election, Kenyatta led KANU to victory. As prime minister, who
supported the government in the transformation of Kenya into a republic, thus becoming the
president

Kenyatta is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.Kenyatta was a

well-educated intellectual, who authored several books, and is remembered as a
pan-Africanist (It promotes African twinning, the defence of the rights of African people and
the unity of Africa under a single sovereign state, for all Africans)

The second is Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga, he was also tested by the colonial
government, they told him that if he denounced Kenyatta, he would be the prime minister, but
he did not, He rose above tribal interests and declined.

The third man is the representant of the Anglican Church in Kenya, in 1959, in the height of
the struggle for independence, the governor visited the western part of Kenya, and was told to
pray, the government represents the queen, and the queen is the head of the Anglican Church,
so he prayed and then this man said :God, help the Britons to realise that you give us Kenia
as you give them Britain, and they should leave us alone, and the governor said: amen
They did not arrest him, because he was praying.

Presently they are battling people, because of the dead of the three, for example, every five
years, they go for elections and at every election, particularly from 1997, tribes fight other
tribes.
2007 was the last they almost disintegrate, they butcher at each other, if the UN had not
come, she would not be there, the week before she came, neighbouring tribes that inhabited
Maybury villages, in one night a tribe killed 60 people, most were sick, pregnant women,
those who had their children nearby.

In April, they buried 147 undergraduates of a university, murdered in one night.

Kenyans have discovered the key word. The basis of this cure is "the educational system of
values.

She set up a pilot school, and in that school what she did was simply ask the members of the
school: What do you think Kenya is suffering from?. They made a list, and wondered how
to eradicate it, and went out with the other list, that was the first step.

But now how the will inculcate these values?

Questions:
T/F
Priscila were said that Britons built a school to educate in values in Kenya.
Answer: False.

Multiple choice
According Priscilla Were , in the school she talk about after asking What do you think
Kenya is suffering from?, what they did?.
a. They made a list, and wondered how to eradicate it.
b. They blame other tribes.
c. They blame the corruption.
d. They blame Britons.
Answer: A.

Conclusions
This country is still having a hard time, they live a continuous war, under this condition is
hard to find time to care about the future, but they do, they try to change their reality, and
they think the key for that is in education in values, their children are their future, so if they
manage to give them the opportunity or proper skills to be the motor of change it is worth it.

JAVIER

After the shock from the motto, children go through 3 steps:

1. The first thing that they do at the school is to make children realize that they can
transcend from the prefect system and school rules to growing, to nurturing and to
living the values. And they do that by setting up deliberate debates. In those debates
they are encouraged to speak, and this is done twice a week, changing the topic of the
debate.
2. The second stage is to vanish the myths and stereotypes about people and facts, by
encouraging children to read, so they acquire information. In that way, children begin
to appreciate the importance of knowledge, and they begin to move away from
ignorance, because ignorance is the engine of tribal feelings. As they get into the
book, they discover that some authors can say something good regardless of their
tribe.

As they learn the power of knowledge, several things happen:

a. They begin to perform well in academics.

b. They become confident, because they have something to say, something to
talk in class. They discover that there is so much democratic space.
c. They grow their analytical skills.
d. They begin to grow their critical skills.
3. There is the idea that the teacher and the learner in school are attached to the same
values. That makes the children feel that they are important, loved and respected.

For example, Priscilla tells that if she is late for the morning assembly, she apologizes
for it, and that makes children feel important and teaches them integrity.

Finally, she says that the last area they work on the school is the area of innovation,
creativity and proactivity, as the most important values.
Priscilla Were ends her claim by saying that if they could pass these values on to other
schools in Kenya, the country could be saved.

Questions:
T/F
According to the video Value-Education | Priscilla Were | TEDxTraverseCity, if teachers
and students share the same values, children will feel that they are important, loved and
respected.
Answer: True.

Multiple choice
According to the video Value-Education | Priscilla Were | TEDxTraverseCity, as children
learn the power of knowledge through reading:
a. They begin to perform well in academics.
b. They become confident.
c. They grow their analytical and critical skills.
d. All are true.
Answer: D.

Conclusions
Currently, education in values is crucial, because this is the only way to educate people in
integrity and not only in academic knowledge. Children need principles that help them to be
reflective in a critical way and to interpret the information they receive from the outside, but
always being guided by the principles and appropriate values. Only in this way will be able to
make their own decisions with their own criteria, so they can live in partnership with a strong
and mature personality.
References

Halstead, J. M., & Taylor, M. J. (1996). Values in education and education in values.
Psychology Press.
YouTube. (2017). Value-Education | Priscilla Were | TEDxTraverseCity. [online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aKo0lRs2n0.