Values Education in Schools is a new resource for teachers involved in values and ethics education. It provides a range of 'practical philosophy' resources for secondary school teachers that can be used in English, religious education, citizenship, personal development and social science subjects. The materials include narratives to engage students in philosophical inquiry, doing ethics through the activity of philosophy, not simply learning about it.

In an article discussing the means by which democratic values education is to be inculcated, Tapio Puolimatka argued that ‘it is possible to educate in democratic values in ways that foster the development of the rational and moral autonomy of children only within the moral realist context’. Examining in detail Puolimatka’s defence of moral realism, we will offer a Rortyan response to moral realism as well as a pragmatist account of democratic values education.

In an article discussing the means by which democratic values education is to be inculcated, Tapio Puolimatka argued that ‘it is possible to educate in democratic values in ways that foster the development of the rational and moral autonomy of children only within the moral realist context’. Examining in detail Puolimatka’s defence of moral realism, we will offer a Rortyan response to moral realism as well as a pragmatist account of democratic values education.

R M Hare; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 7–23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.146.

A democratic society requires a degree of consensus on values. But it is argued that the model of values education as the transmission of certain predetermined values is inadequate in a democracy, since for several reasons the transmission of predetermined values can itself be undemocratic. Education for individual autonomy in matters of values is also, by itself, inadequate. Each generation needs the resources by which it can work out its own interpretation of democratic (...) values. What is also needed, then, is an education in a common language of discourse — which can be drawn primarily from philosophy — which will facilitate public debate. (shrink)

Summary The need for education in moral values is increasingly being recognised today, but how is it to be conducted in schools? In particular we consider the appropriateness or otherwise of a teacher assuming the role of a neutral chairperson in discussion. Advocacy of such a stance is especially associated with Lawrence Stenhouse who saw neutrality as a procedural device in order to empower students? own involvement. We point out many of the insights of Stenhouse's approach, but also (...) some of its disadvantages which subtly encourage a popularist form of relativism. We suggest the substitution of procedural neutrality with a different approach, that of critical affirmation. Here the teacher advocates a stance alongside everyone else. This, however, is done in a way that affirms pupils, and their right to personal views, whilst subjecting all views, including the teacher's own, to a close scrutiny, especially regarding implications for the views of others. (shrink)

The need for education in moral values is increasingly being recognised today, but how is it to be conducted in schools? In particular we consider the appropriateness or otherwise of a teacher assuming the role of a neutral chairperson in discussion.Advocacy of such a stance is especially associated with Lawrence Stenhouse who saw neutrality as a procedural device in order to empower students’ own involvement. We point out many of the insights of Stenhouse's approach, but also some of (...) its disadvantages which subtly encourage a popularist form of relativism.We suggest the substitution of procedural neutrality with a different approach, that of critical affirmation. Here the teacher advocates a stance alongside everyone else. This, however, is done in a way that affirms pupils, and their right to personal views, whilst subjecting all views, including the teacher's own, to a close scrutiny, especially regarding implications for the views of others. (shrink)

Gary Dann criticises my argument that democratic values education requires a moral realist framework. In this paper I argue that Dann's critique contains three basic confusions: (1) He assumes that moral realism necessarily implies evidentialism. (2) He assumes that moral realism gives priority to philosophical thinking as over against common sense reasoning. (3) He forgets that realism is primarily an ontological rather than an epistemological doctrine.

With the prevalence of values and the advent of the idea of rationalist education, the values characteristic of distinct subjectivity and affectiveness face many theoretical and practical problems when taught within the framework of modern education, which seeks certainty of knowledge. The challenges that values education encounters in today’s world urgently demand that we return to the origins of human spiritual life. We must be informed by the Marxist disclosure of the intrinsic value of (...) human existence, and grasp the intrinsic isomorphism between values education and human existence within the web of original and historical dialectic relations by relying on a complementary understanding of values and the essence of education: real men possess a logic of existence that endows value independence and consciousness of edification, and on the basis of the nature of the value of human existence, values education obtains a solid foundation both in the sense of fact and of value. Human existence thus displays the value content of self-selection, self-edification, and self-improvement peculiar to it due to its mutual dependence on and fulfillment of values education. (shrink)

This article, drawing on philosophical sources, proposes a certain way of seeing the nature and scope of values education: as a matter of ‘sustaining the ethical environment’. The idea is introduced that just as we live in a physical environment we also live in an ethical environment, ‘the surrounding climate of ideas about how to live’. It is argued that there are some illuminating analogies between our responsibility for the quality of the physical environment and our responsibility for (...) the quality of the ethical environment. Values education, in turn, can be seen as an important way in which we can collectively attend to the quality of the ethical environment; in doing so, we should put positive value on diversity within that environment. This way of seeing values education suggests a way in which teachers can realistically see their own responsibilities for values education. (shrink)

This paper suggests that medical education should redirect resources to values education, specifically developing new strategies to improve the process of clarification of values. The author suggests using the values journal method which is based on a systematic record of students' personal value systems reflected in their stories and life experience; and on their responses to case presentation. Generating a personal values journal helps students define who they are, what their social and professional roles (...) are, what their expectations are and where they are going. Keeping values journals promotes students' decision-making capacity, and equips them with the necessary skills to teach their future patients how to generate their own value systems. The development of a well defined values journal is a preparatory stage for active participation in clinical conferences or group discussion, and for effective communal dialogue among the group's members. (shrink)

R M Hare; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 7–23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.146.

R M Hare; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 7–23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.146.

This article examines the social development of Hong Kong's cultural and national identity since its return from the UK to the People's Republic of China nearly six years ago, focusing on the extent to which Hong Kong students are now inculcated in traditional Chinese music and express their devotion to the PRC through singing the national anthem. Hong Kong music teachers experience conflicts concerning their roles as music teachers and as purveyors of values education. These observations raise fundamental (...) questions concerning the sociopolitical function of values education in the music classroom. (shrink)

This book is about values education in early years settings and discusses theory and concepts, as well as methodological and empirical perspectives. It explores issues such as the kinds of values that are communicated between educators and children and the kind of future citizens we foster in early childhood settings. It illustrates by way of cases involving many participants, including children, educators, and researchers, who have their roots in diverse contexts, and reside in different parts of the (...) world, including Australia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden. The book carefully considers the contextualized character of the cases presented, yet argues that the questions, theories, and methodologies emphasized do inform the international debate in manifold ways. Communication of values in a broad and diverse sense is central in any pedagogy, especially for the youngest children in the educational system. Still, values education has been neglected as a research field, in education in general and particularly in the early years. This book addresses this lack of knowledge by scrutinizing various questions about values education in ECEC settings. (shrink)

P D Walsh; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 24–33, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1.

P D Walsh; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 24–33, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1.

This book is an important contribution to the Values literature on the meanings of work. These essays explore the philosophical, ethical, religious, and social foundations that underscore so much of the current thinking and concern about work satisfaction and the place of work in the search of meaning. Various points of view are presented and these include among others historical perspectives, empirical studies and cross-cultural explorations. The result is a compelling and critical volume which challenges many basic cultural and (...) empirical assumptions and raises many questions about values and value-based decisions. (shrink)

P D Walsh; Value Education in a Pluralist Society, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 24–33, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1.

How can school education best bring about moral improvement? Socrates believed that the unexamined life was not worth living and that the philosophical examination of life required a collaborative inquiry. Today, our society relegates responsibility for values to the personal sphere rather than the social one. I will argue that, overall, we need to give more emphasis to collaboration and inquiry rather than pitting students against each other and focusing too much attention on ‘teaching that’ instead of ‘teaching (...) how’. I will argue that we need to include philosophy in the curriculum throughout the school years, and teach it through a collaborative inquiry which enables children to participate in an open society subject to reason. Such collaborative inquiry integrates personal responsibility with social values more effectively than sectarian and didactic religious education. (shrink)

Gary Dann criticises my argument that democratic values education requires a moral realist framework. In this paper I argue that Dann's critique contains three basic confusions: (1) He assumes that moral realism necessarily implies evidentialism. (2) He assumes that moral realism gives priority to philosophical thinking as over against common sense reasoning. (3) He forgets that realism is primarily an ontological rather than an epistemological doctrine.

In this study of the main conceptual and normative issues to which the education of the adult gives rise, the author demonstrates that these issues can be understood and resolved only by coming to grips with some of the central and most contentious questions in epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics, and social philosophy. A salient feature of the book is its searching examination of the different types of value judgement by which all educational discourse is permeated. The analysis of (...) the nature and justification of educational judgements forms the basis of an overall philosophy of adult education which should provide a much needed axiological framework for the guidance of practitioners in this growing area of educational concern. (shrink)

The present education system is mainly object oriented material in nature but not subjective or spiritual. We study mainly subject viz. physic, chemistry, Biology, Computer, Applications, and Engineering etc.; which are related to the objective world, but we don’t ourselves, or the subjective world. There is story associated with a famous Greek philosopher, Socrates, who ones asked his disciples, what do you want to become in future?” One of them said that he wanted to become a lawyer, another wanted (...) to become a politician, so on and so forth. But one student told that he wanted to become a ‘man’. To become a man is very important, for unless we become a real man first, we will not be able to handle objective knowledge properly. That is why, speaking about education Swami Vivekananda said, “We must have life-building, man making, character-making assimilation of ideas”. So education must be subject-oriented. The subject orientation is an indispensable aspect of personality development. These are self-reliance, self-knowledge, self-control and self-sacrifice. A man of high personality must have the combination of super head, heart and hand. (shrink)

The essays in this book consist of revised versions of Victor Cook Memorial Lectures delivered in the universities of St. Andrews, London, Cambridge, Aberdeen, Oxford, Glasgow and Leeds.

The objective of this paper is to discuss some of the foundational issues centering around the question of integrating education in human values with professional engineering education: its necessity and justification. The paper looks at the efforts in ‘tuning’ the technical education system in India to the national goals in the various phases of curriculum development. The contribution of the engineering profession in national development and India’s self-sufficiency is crucially linked with the institutionalization of expertise and (...) the role of morality and responsibility. This linkage can be created through a proper understanding of the social role of the profession—what motivates the professionals and what makes professional life meaningful. Value education facilitates the process of moral maturity and the development of a ‘holistic’ mindset. This paper deals with the need to create such a mindset, the human values associated with it and gives examples of efforts to impart such education through ‘action-oriented’ programmes introduced in some institutes of engineering in India. (shrink)

The article will focus on the implicit values dimension that is evident in research findings concerning quality teaching. Furthermore, it sets out to demonstrate that maximizing the effects of quality teaching requires explicit attention to this values dimension and that this can be achieved through a well-crafted values education program. Evidence for this latter claim will come from international studies as well as from the Australian Government's Values Education Program and, especially from the (...) class='Hi'>Values Education Good Practice Schools Project Stage 1 Report (DEST, 2006). (shrink)

The paper explores the moral ontology of democratic values education. It argues against the assumption that democratic values education, based on individual freedom, should be understood in a moral anti-realist and constructivist frame of reference. It claims, instead, that it is possible to educate in democratic values in ways that foster the development of the rational and moral autonomy of children only within the moral realist context. The Kohlbergian, Deweyan, Rawlsian, MacIntyrean and Rortyan counter-arguments are (...) considered and some of their problems discussed. (shrink)

This article begins by revisiting the current model of values education (moral education) which has recently been set up in Australian schools. This article problematizes the pedagogical model of teaching values in the direct transmission mode from the perspective of the continuity of experience as central to the philosophies of John Dewey and Charles S. Peirce. In this context experience is to be understood as a collective (going beyond the realm of private) and continuous (importantly, non-atomistic) (...) space. As such, human behavior and decision-making are embedded in a broad range of possibilities that may become actualities in the process of responding intelligently to what is perceived in the environment. This article also brings into the conversation some contemporary discourse in bioethics and neuroscience that appears to have an uncanny affinity to Peirce's and Dewey's much earlier conceptualizations. Human intelligence proper arises in the interactions between mind, body, and the environing world: we learn from experience that necessarily has a value-element embedded in this triadic matrix. (shrink)

The article will focus on the implicit values dimension that is evident in research findings concerning quality teaching. Furthermore, it sets out to demonstrate that maximizing the effects of quality teaching requires explicit attention to this values dimension and that this can be achieved through a well‐crafted values education program. Evidence for this latter claim will come from international studies as well as from the Australian Government's Values Education Program and, especially from the (...) class='Hi'>Values Education Good Practice Schools Project Stage 1 Report (DEST, 2006). (shrink)

La presente investigación se efectuó con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto de la introducción y generalización del resultado científico: La educación en valores mediante la aplicación de medios de enseñanza - aprendizaje en la disciplina de Morfofisiología en la Licenciatura en Enfermería, a través de indicadores diseñados de acuerdo a las particularidades de la investigación. Se aplicaron encuestas, se realizó una revisión documental de bibliografía relacionada con la temática y de documentos de los departamentos e instituciones en que ha (...) incidido este resultado, lo cual permitió constatar la amplia y efectiva aplicación práctica de los resultados obtenidos de forma sistemática, a través de publicaciones, posgrados, presentación en eventos científicos y su generalización en diversas instituciones educacionales. This research was conducted with the objective of assessing the impact of the introduction and generalization of the scientific result: Values education through the application of teaching aids- learning in Morphophysiology subject in the Nursing Degree through indicators designed according to the research characteristics. Surveys were carried, furthermore, a documentary bibliographic review related to the subject matter and a review of documents from departments and institutions affected by this result were made. They enabled to verify the wide and effective practice of the results got in a systematic way, through publications, postgraduate courses and presentations in scientific events as well as its generalization in different educational institutions. (shrink)