Freakley, M., Burgh, G., & MacSporran, L. T. (2008).

Values education in schools: A resource book for

Lesson 5: What Value Education Aims at

Education for values aims at promoting broader capabilities, attitudes and skills that matter, not just in
schools but also life beyond schools, making the world a better place for themselves and for their family,
friends, colleagues and others. Education for values highlights the understanding that values are to be
inculcated in students not just for their own interest but also for the common good, reflecting the balance
between individual’s interest and larger interest. The focus, therefore, can not only be improving academic
knowledge, practical and technical skills mostly tied to market needs and employability but also holistic
education focusing on the emotional and relational skills conducive to health and wholeness of the society
and the nation. The aim of holistic development of students can thus be located in education for values.

Education in values also prepares students for the world of work. The attitudes and values of hard work,
discipline, cooperation, communication skills, etc. enable them to develop healthy interpersonal
relationships at home and in school which in turn facilitate their better adjustment on the job. The
employers to look for these qualities in their prospective employees. It is a common observation that
advancement in a career depends not only on the intellectual abilities but also the ability to sustain hard
work, assume responsibility and work in teams and cooperate with others. While educational qualification
helps to secure a job, efficiency to deliver in a job is often dependent on qualities of perseverance,
cooperation, genuineness, and hard work, communication and relationship skills.

At the individual level, fostering values in school students, therefore, needs to be seen as an investment in
building the foundation for lifelong learning and promoting human excellence. The capacity to listen,
patience, endurance, cooperation, and team work, positive attitude towards study, work and life are the
hallmarks of a good student or a person. So values, in fact, promote both academic as well as human
excellence. In this sense education for values humanizes education.

At the societal level, education for values aims at promoting social cohesion and national integration for
transforming societies, nations and creating a better world. It can contribute to create the aspiration for
transformation of the culture of war, violence and greed into a culture of peace where people learn and
understand more about each other’s uniqueness, human rights and fundamental freedom; where people
learn to care and share to live together in a just, peaceful and compassionate society both in their immediate
contexts and in the world at large.

Causes of Value Crisis in Present Society

1. Challenges of traditional values: In the past, the society in which we were living was well protected and
self-contained. But today the technological advances have brought many changes at the personal, racial,
social and national levels. Man has to adjust himself to all the variations, and this has given rise to a crisis
in the value system.

2. Development of the attitude of cynicism: The attitude of people towards the existing value system is
turning out to be negative. Rejection of the pre- existing values and not believing in formulating new ones
has brought deterioration of the moral values.
3. Loss of leadership and ethical values in teachers: Teachers have three important functions to perform,
i.e., to teach, set examples for others and have influential effect. But in this materialistic society teachers
have lost their sense of devotion and dedication towards their profession. Teachers must themselves set
examples for their students; only preaching will not help the students to follow the right beliefs and values.

4. Undue emphasis on literacy: Just getting a certificate or degree from college or university is not sufficient
to qualify a person as literate. Even an illiterate can possess good qualities under the influence of right
education, guidance and values.

5. Impact of materialistic philosophy on modern society: In the mad race of money and power people are
neglecting values. For people only materialistic things are more important rather than living an ethical life.

6. Increasing emphasis on Individualism: In the current scenario the social bonding has lost its strength
and people are developing a hedonistic outlook. Love and affection even among the family members is
getting lost. Thus people are not able to develop the sense of loyalty and sacrifice.

References

Freakley, M., Burgh, G., & MacSporran, L. T. (2008). Values education in schools: A resource book for
student inquiry. Aust Council for Ed Research.
Halstead, J. M., & Taylor, M. J. (Eds.). (1996). Values in education and education in values. Psychology
Press.
Muega, M. A. G. (2010). Values/moral education: Current conceptions and practices in Philippines schools.
Alipato: A Journal of Basic Education, 4.
Peters, R. S. (1979). Democratic values and educational aims. Teachers College Record, 80(3), 463-482.

Lesson 6: How Values Are Acquired

Development of values takes place during the process of socialization. Socialization always occurs in a
context. Since socio-cultural milieu is different for different societies, differences in cultures are reflected
in the values.

There are layers of contexts according to the ecological perspective. The smallest of the context in which the
child lives and moves is the immediate family, school teachers and peers and the neighborhood, play area,
etc. Another layer of context is the direct involvement of individuals affecting the child such as parents’
interaction with neighbors, etc. Still the wider context relates to the broader community in which the child
lives. Examples are family network, mass media, work places, family friends. Though the child may not have
direct contact, the different layers of systems affect the child’s development and socialization. Each layer of
context interacts with another making a highly complex context in which the child grows up. Nothing ever
remains static. As the child grows, the contexts also change which influence the child’s attitudes, behavior,
values, etc.

Values are learnt as we learn habits in the process of growing up. Learning of values takes place quite early
in life by word of mouth or simple commands from parents and other adults at home. In the early years of
life, prohibitions and parent identifications are the source of values. For example, an 18-month- old child
seizes the lid of a sugar bowl on the table followed by loud and frightening admonition of ‘No’. The child
runs far to a corner of the room, closes his eyes and holds the lid in front of his/her face to protect
himself/herself. The mother retrieves the lid, scolds the child, the child throws tantrums. When the tantrum
subsides, the child then looks at the offended mother looking for re-acceptance. At this stage, there are
certain emotional states experienced by the child like impulse, fright, frustration, and anger, each having a
specific stimulus and terminating condition. The child does not comprehend the why of this behavior or
act. S/he only experiences certain kind of emotions and feelings. The following case of a little older three-
year-old child and what it says about the role of parental identification assumes importance. On being
scolded by the father to remain in bed till 7 o’clock, the child obeys to be in bed till seven o’clock. She does
as ordered but cannot help doing other things while in bed which distracts the father. So again, she gets a
scolding from the father. At this stage the external voice of authority is exerting pressure to obey. After a
few repetitions of this kind of experience, the child learns that it is not right because father is saying ‘to be
quiet’ and ‘to be in bed’ so she learns to be obedient on simple commands from the father.

In this process, children quickly learn which behaviors are approved and which ones are not, which are
likely to bring rewards and which might lead to punishment. They attach notions of good and bad, right and
wrong to different acts and behaviors. Reward and punishment, approval and disapproval act as positive or
negative reinforcers. The nature of association - positive or negative - and its frequency is thus important
to form a value. When the end result leads to appreciation, positive association forms but when the end
result gives rise to pain, suffering, destruction etc., negative associations are formed with a particular act,
idea or behavior. The person tends to repeat the act or behavior which serves the desired end. When these
are repeated under favorable conditions of reinforcement, they form into habits and get deeply ingrained
as strong behavioral tendencies. Initially, there may not be any conceptualization but later such learning
may be transferred from one particular situation to another. When students are themselves made to judge
the worth of prioritized activity, situation or an idea by independent appraisal and reflection, the
internalization of values takes place.

Values are truly internalized, if there is a shift from fear of punishment, whether external or self-
administered to an experience of value related obligation. There is a shift from ‘must consciousness’ to
‘ought consciousness’. In ‘must consciousness’, there is a sense of compulsion. But in ‘ought consciousness’,
there is a sense of obligation. In the course of shift from ‘must consciousness’ to ‘ought consciousness’ there
is a change from (a) external sanctions to internal, (b) from experiences of prohibition, fear and way to
experiences of preference and self-respect, and (c) from specific habits of obedience to self-guidance and
the broad schemata of values providing direction to one’s conduct and behavior.

The process of educating students for values is a process of inducing critical and reflective thinking, rational
choice and responsible behavior. When we are educating students for values we are enabling them to think,
to reason, to question and reflect, to care, feel concerned and to act accordingly. As has been aptly pointed
out “Values are developed not by forcing people to memorize words by letting them to talk, ventilate the
issues and search for their own values”.

It is, therefore, important that during the process of socialization at home and school, deliberate attempts
are made to promote awareness, understanding, sensitivity, appreciation, reflection, thinking about what
is good or bad, right or wrong and why it is right or wrong. It is only then responsible choice making or
decision making, willingness and commitment to follow desirable values are likely to take place naturally.
When rational approach is not there, shortcuts seem viable. The human mind then tends to make
compromise with immoral behaviors and acts.

It is true that there are cultural variations in approaches towards human development in general and values
development in particular. But generally there are less examples of guided learning in fostering of values.
Analyzing some features of the socialization process in Indian children, some psychologists pointed out
that, by and large, parents encourage dependency and seldom provide opportunities to the children to solve
problems and make decisions. There is excessive use of don’ts in guiding behavior. Hence models of direct
instructions and impositions are more prevalent. It is true that values, habits and attitudes are acquired
through imitation, emulation, intention, instruction and guided learning during the course of child
development. But their emphasis may vary with different stages and in different cultures.

The question of how values are formed is related to stages of development, the cultural contexts, the beliefs
and theories about child’s learning and levels of adult’s involvement.
The point to be remembered is that value education is not value imposition. The ownership and
development of values lie with the learner. Educators may impose their values and may succeed in making
the learner articulate the values but the learner may not live values when out of the learning environment.
Therefore, it is important to heighten learner’s self-awareness to examine, to discern, to prioritize and
imbibe values in one’s life. It is only well reasoned acceptance of values which ultimately helps in moving
from self-awareness to self-direction and acting on one’s values consciously and responsibly.

References

Grusec, J. E., Goodnow, J. J., & Kuczynski, L. (2000). New directions in analyses of parenting contributions
to children's acquisition of values. Child development, 71(1), 205-211.

Hill, W. F. (1960). Learning theory and the acquisition of values. Psychological Review, 67(5), 317.

Silcock, P., & Duncan, D. (2001). Values acquisition and values education: Some proposals. British
Journal of Educational Studies, 49(3), 242-259.

Lesson 7: Building of Value System

Values are like seeds that sprout, become saplings, grow into tree and spread their branches all around.
Building up of values systems starts with the individual, moves on to the family and community, reorienting
systems, structures and institutions, spreading throughout the land and ultimately embracing the planet as
a whole. Building values is an integral factor in the internalization of values because one can only give what
one has within. Building values is somewhat similar to building a house, block by block.

The individual is the first building block of the values architecture; for integration to the take place the
child’s need for security, dignity, identity and well-being has to be met. For society to be at peace, its
individual members need to be protected against violence, injustice, humiliation and discrimination. A
child is not merely a physical entity but a holistic being. His or her physical, emotional, social and spiritual
needs has to be addressed to ensure harmonious development of all aspects of his or her personality.

The second factor in inculcating values is the family which plays a crucial role in fostering values in a child.
A child growing in a conflict ridden home is unlikely to be peace oriented. Healthy relationships in a stable
family create sound values. Home is the nursery for inculcating values.

The community to which a person belongs is the third block. The relationship between the individual and
the community is intimate. It plays an important role in the identity formation of an individual, and
determines the level of security the child enjoys. Values education goes a long way to minimize the
insecurity of communities and to promote a sense of belonging.

The society is the fourth building block of values. The society is an extended family which is characterized
by diversities of individuals, and the interests of families and communities. Every society also has certain
shared characteristics that its members endorse, adopt and employ, which influence the collective decisions
taken by it. There is a reciprocal relationship between an individual and the society of which he or she is a
part. Social mores/customs/traditions are internalized during the process of growing up within a society.
Individuals, families and communities that comprise a society have the duty to avoid pursuits, advocacies,
methods and goals that undermine values.
The nation is the paramount building block of values. A country that allows its citizen to be overtaken by
hate and negativity lets its energies be wasted. Values are basic to progress and well-being. Nations at peace
comprise the building blocks of global values.

References

Freakley, M., Burgh, G., & MacSporran, L. T. (2008). Values education in schools: A resource book for
student inquiry. Australian Council for Educational Research.

Halstead, J. M., & Taylor, M. J. (Eds.). (1996). Values in education and education in values. Psychology
Press.

Lesson 8: Value Concerns at School Stage

One of the major debates around value education is which values should be inculcated among students.
While there is a kind of consensus as to what values are, there seems to be some confusion about which
values and whose values need to be nurtured. There are varied ways of listing and classifying values using
different terminologies. Any kind of arbitrary listing or classification without proper framework is likely to
lead to confusion.

Values are complex mix of understanding, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and skills. There are a cluster of
attitudes and beliefs associated with a particular value. For example, loyalty includes truth, peace is linked
to commitment and justice. Moreover values are overlapping and interdependent. Not only this, values
assume different connotations in a particular context. For example, justice as a value involves being just in
one’s dealings with people. It also means commitment to social justice in general. Similarly, equality will
have different connotations at teacher/school, school and society level. As values are interlinked and can
also have different interpretations in different contexts, it is important to deal with the question of ‘what
values’ in particular frame of reference. Attempt has been made to outline certain ‘Core Value Concerns’
with a cluster of attitudes and skills and the rationale for the same.

Each school must prioritize values which require immediate attention according to their cultural conditions
and settings from the outlined core value concerns. Each school also needs to develop a clear vision and
charter of values to be included in their own mission statements which may otherwise remain hidden and
implicit as a matter of principle and not practice.

It is commonly expressed that the key values at school stage need to be anchored in the framework of
student’s holistic development as a human being and as a responsible member/citizen of society as well as
the ground realities in which the schools are placed.

Values Promoted by the University Based on Various Documents

Vision: The University of La Salette, Inc., a Catholic institution founded by the Missionaries of Our Lady of
La Salette, forms RECONCILERS “so that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Mission: The University of La Salette, Inc. is a premier institution of choice, providing accessible, quality,
and transformative education for integral human development particularly the poor.

Philosophy of Education: La Salette education is a transformative process towards the fullness of being,
inspired by the message of reconciliation, as lived and experienced by the community through the
integration of Filipino cultural and University core values rooted in Jesus Christ.

Core Values
 1. FAITH. The total submission to God’s call to Holiness to His will
2. RECONCILIATION. Constantly renewing our relationship with God, others and all creation
through a life of prayer, penance and zeal
3. INTEGRITY-The courage and determination to live and to die for Salettinian ideals
4. EXCELLENCE – Upholding the highest standard of quality education and professionalism in the
areas of instruction, research and extension
5. SOLIDARITY – Commitment to building a community anchored on mutual trust, confidence,
teamwork, unity and respect for the dignity of the human person and creation

Institutional Learning Outcomes

Having finished their academic degree at the University of La Salette, the learners should be able to:

1. Transformative leader. Take an active leadership role in their respective community and organization by
championing the Salettinian ideals based on the institution’s philosophy of education, vision, mission, and
core values.

2. Reconciler. Keep the vision, mission, and core values of their Alma Mater as they continue to
communicate their Salettinian identity and culture through active involvements in the evangelizing
ministry of reconciliation in their local Christian communities, work-places and in social organizations.

3. Critical thinker. Engage themselves in critical reflection and communicative discourses on uncritically
assimilated assumptions, beliefs, value-system and diverse perspectives that need to be collaboratively
addressed for an emancipatory and integral process of human growth and community building.

4. Research-oriented. Keep abreast with current developments and trends in all relevant
technical/professional knowledge areas for successful adaptation to a changing and complex world through
continuing engagement in research projects sponsored by any agencies or institutions the goal of which is
to contribute to the humanization of the world in general, and to the reconciling effects on their
relationships with God, with fellow human beings, with society, and with nature.

5. ICT Proficient. Demonstrate contemporary skills applications as they offer innovative solutions in work
situations through the employment of new technology and new ways of communication.

6. Industry Competent. Demonstrate their readiness in the arena of and qualification for employment
through the established link between the theoretical aspect of the curriculum and its practical dimension
as a result of their on-the-job training, exposures, internship, immersion programs, and linkages with
relevant industries or workplaces.

7. Holistic Person. Demonstrate through their attitude, behavior, and engagement a synthesis of faith and
lived experience, of faith and science, of cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of learning, of cultural
and global concerns, and marriage between the message of Salettinian identity, communicated through
curricular and co-curricular programs, and the Salettinian culture anchored on the institution’s core values
of faith, reconciliation, integrity, excellence and solidarity.

Institutional Objectives

In keeping with its philosophy, vision and mission, La Salette professes the following institutional
objectives:

1. To foster a reconciled and reconciling community through spiritual upliftment programs and
liturgical activities
2. To sustain the quality assured education of the university through institutional and program
accreditations, professional certification, and compliance with international standards for
curricular programs and university management.
3. To provide accessible education through various modalities of learning
 4. To lead the academic community with strategic and transformative competencies in realizing the
Vision, Mission and La Salette Philosophy of Education
5. To develop and implement transformative teaching and learning experience through critical
approach and values-based integration
6. To undertake research on various disciplines and generate new knowledge needed for the
advancement of the university as well as for national development
7. To realize ICT oriented learning by establishing the monitoring system to collect and review
information needed to manage an organization or on-going activities of the university
8. To provide industry experience through on-the-job trainings, exposures, internship, immersion
programs and linkages
9. To provide a holistic curriculum that integrates instruction, extension, research, ICT, industry
experience for both students and faculty
10. To adopt an interdisciplinary approach by enhancing the institution’s interest in the understanding
of cultural reproduction and social integration and in spiritual and moral formation.

References

Freakley, M., Burgh, G., & MacSporran, L. T. (2008). Values education in schools: A resource book for
student inquiry. Australian Council for Educational Research.

Key Points of Module 1

 Values are formed on the basis of interests, choices, needs, desires and preferences.
 Values are enduring beliefs upon which human beings act by preferences.
 Values involve the processes of thinking, knowing or understanding feelings and action.
 Education is necessarily a process of inculcating values to equip the learner to lead a life that is
satisfying to the individual in accordance with the cherished values and ideals of the society.
 The current resurgence of interest in education as a powerful means to inculcate values among
students is due to the fast degeneration of values in our country.
 Values are ‘empowering tools’ in meeting the challenges of the contemporary social world.
 Education for values highlights the understanding that values are to be inculcated in students not
just for their own interest but also for the common good, reflecting the balance between individual’s
interest and larger interest.
 Values are learnt as we learn habits in the process of growing up.
 Building up of values systems starts with the individual, moves on to the family and community,
reorienting systems, structures and institutions, spreading throughout the land and ultimately
embracing the planet as a whole.
 Each school must prioritize values which require immediate attention according to their cultural
conditions and settings from the outlined core value concerns.