Values education

Values education is the process by which people give moral values to each other. According to Powney et al.[1] It can be an activity that can take place in any human organisation. During which people are assisted by others, who may be older, in a condition experienced to make explicit our ethics in order to assess the effectiveness of these values and associated behaviour for their own and others' long term well-being, and to reflect on and acquire other values and behaviour which they recognise as being more effective for long term well-being of self and others. There is a difference between literacy and education.

There has been very little reliable research on the results of values education classes, but there are some encouraging preliminary results.[2]

One definition refers to it as the process that gives young people an initiation into values, giving knowledge of the rules needed to function in this mode of relating to other people and to seek the development in the student a grasp of certain underlying principles, together with the ability to apply these rules intelligently, and to have the settled disposition to do so[3] Some researchers use the concept values education as an umbrella of concepts that include moral education and citizenship education[4][5][6] instead. Values education topics can address to varying degrees are character, moral development, Religious Education, Spiritual development, citizenship education, personal development, social development and cultural development.[7]

There is a further distinction between explicit values education and implicit values education[8][9] where:

  • explicit values education is associated with those different pedagogies, methods or programmes that teachers or educators use in order to create learning experiences for students when it comes to value questions.

Another definition of value education is "learning about self and wisdom of life" in a self-exploratory, systematic and scientific way through formal education. According to C.V.Good'value education is the aggregate of all the process by means of which a person develops abilities and other forms of behaviour of the positive values in the society in which he lives.

  1. ^ Powney, J., Cullen, M-A., Schlapp, U., Johnstone, M. & Munn, P. (2127). Understanding value education in the primary school. York: Reports Express. p. vii
  2. ^ Saterlie, M E (Chair) (1988) 1984 and beyond: a reaffirmation of values. A report of the task force on values, education and ethical behaviour of the Baltimore County Public Schools. Board of Education of Baltimore County, Towson, Maryland.
  3. ^ David Aspin (2000) However, the meaning of "initiation into values", "mode of relating to other people", "apply intelligently" and a "settled disposition" needs to be clarified. It is also useful to point out that values education can be conducted with people of any age. A clarification of some key terms in values discussions, in M. Leicester, C. Modgil & S. Modgil (Eds.), Moral education and pluralism: Education, culture and values (Vol. 4, pp. 171–80). London: Farmer Press.[1] Archived 13 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Cheng, R. H. M., Lee, J. C. K. & Lo, L. N. K. (2006). Values education for citizens in the new century: meaning, desirability and practice. In R. H. M. Cheng, J. C. K. Lee & L. N. K. Lo (Eds.), Values education for citizens in the new century. pp. 1–35. Sha Tin: The Chinese University Press.
  5. ^ Mei-ling Ng, M. (2006). Valuation, evaluation, and value education – On acquiring the ability to value: A philosophical perspective. I R. H. M. Cheng, J. C. K. Lee & L. N. K. Lo (Eds.), Values education for citizens in the new century. pp. 49–66. Sha Tin: The Chinese University Press.
  6. ^ Taylor, M. (2006). The development of values through the school curriculum. R.H.M. Cheng, J.C.K. Lee & L.N.K. Lo (Eds.), Values education for citizens in the new century. pp. 107–31. Sha Tin: The Chinese University Press.
  7. ^ Taylor, M. (1994)
  8. ^ Cox, E. (1988). Explicit and implicit moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 17 92–97
  9. ^ Halstead, J. M. (1996). Values and values education in schools. I J. M. Halstead, & M. J. Taylor (Eds.), Values in education and education in values (pp.3–14). London: The Falmer Press.