As the new academic year begins this week, calls to introduce value-based education in primary, secondary, and higher education sectors are being renewed in many parts of the world. This is an important reminder that education is much more than transmitting knowledge, facts, and figures. At the end of an educational journey, learners take with them the values learned as much as the skills imparted.
Significant work on values in primary schools identifies self-direction, universalism, tradition, and benevolence as important universal basic human values. Sufficient research exists to show how these are implemented through educational systems, from the primary to the secondary and higher education stages.
Most often, human values are transmitted “in a variety of social contexts and involve different instances of socialization such as the parental home, peers or schools”. Thus, schools must play a significant role in transmitting human values as part of their educational goals.
There is a specific reason why schools and other educational institutions are better at this task than other platforms. By their very nature, schools are public spaces where different people come together for a common purpose – to learn and discover together.
One of the challenges in inculcating values in education is that, by its very definition, the concept of values is too general and its outcomes difficult to assess. It is also difficult to test and measure the extent to which such values have been successfully conveyed in class time.
Another limitation is the understanding of values-based education, what it entails and must include. Value-based education (VbE) is defined as “a range of experiences that are used to develop a values based to the curriculum”. This is seen to be different from having ‘values’ in that they are not explicitly taught but guide the general philosophy of an educational institution.
The teaching of value systems is important because learners are not often aware of the qualities and soft skills when they are being implicitly taught. Articulating these values, priorities, and systems of thinking makes youngsters more conscious and aware of social responsibility, cultural awareness, and the potential for dialogue.
The same is true of education on citizenship and identity. In general, “citizenship education gives learners the knowledge and skills to understand and engage with their society in meaningful and responsible ways”. This includes creating awareness of social responsibility towards issues like climate change and social responsibility.
Learning about social responsibility, in the larger framework, gives young learners confidence about their role in their society. This agency also gives them pride in their nation and a commitment to positive contributions.
Identity construction is another important aspect of education. There is no better way of creating identity awareness than an educational system that aids individuals to navigate and articulate their personal and social selves in a larger context.
Value-based education benefits the individual, the institutions, the community as well as the nation. Despite the challenges of consciously inculcating such values, it is well worth the effort.
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