Based upon an empirical study involving training and practising teachers from seven countries, this book investigates the various attitudes and practices towards the teaching of values and their place in the curriculum. Countries covered include: Australia, Eire, Israel, Slovenia, Switzerland, UK and USA. The findings of each of the countries are compared and contrasted in the light of the diverse cultural conditions which are apparent. This book brings together various approaches currently taken in values education and also suggests a theoretical foundation for decision making. The book culminates in practical examples, drawn from the evidence of the research project, which teachers can adapt for use with their own pupils. This book provides a challenging and imaginative perspective on values in education and comes at a time when educators face a new era which demands dynamic, transformative and reflective approaches.

An investigation into how schools can influence the developing values of young people is given in this book. The authors first look, from the perspective of educationalists and policy makers, at values within contemporary education; in particular, moral, spiritual, democratic and environmental values together with arts and health education. Secondly, they focus on the values of pupils and schools, examining school aims and mission statements, the formal curriculum, school ethos and assessment of children's development.; Insights are provided with guidance on how values may be most effectively incorporated into the activities of the schools. This book is intended to be of use as a practical and informative guide to all those involved in primary and secondary education and those interested in values education generally.

Aims to provide an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly source of information about the international concern for the nature, theory and practices of the ideas of values education and lifelong learning. Aspin from Monash University and Chapman from Australian Catholic University.

Informed by the most up-to-date research from around the world, as well as examples of good practice, this handbook analyzes values education in the context of a range of school-based measures associated with student wellbeing. These include social, emotional, moral and spiritual growth – elements that seem to be present where intellectual advancement and academic achievement are being maximized. This text comes as ‘values education’ widens in scope from being concerned with morality, ethics, civics and citizenship to a broader definition synonymous with a holistic approach to education in general. This expanded purview is frequently described as pedagogy relating to ‘values’ and ‘wellbeing’. This contemporary understanding of values education, or values and wellbeing pedagogy, fits well with recent neuroscience research. This has shown that notions of cognition, or intellect, are far more intertwined with social and emotional growth than earlier educational paradigms have allowed for. In other words, the best laid plans about the technical aspects of pedagogy are bound to fail unless the growth of the whole person – social, emotional, moral, spiritual and intellectual, is the pedagogical target. Teachers and educationalists will find that this handbook provides evidence, culled from both research and practice, of the beneficial effects of such a ‘values and wellbeing’ pedagogy.

Values in education - how they are taught, the ethics of teaching itself, plus their role in the education of educators - is an area of lively and passionate debate. This book provides an essential resource of ideas, issues and current practice for all those with an interest in this area of education. Presenting a range of critical writing, this book deals with issues relating to education in values; approaches to teaching values; teacher education and values; research for education in values; and international comparative studies. Highly regarded when it was first published in hardback in 2000, the book now appears in paperback for the first time with a new introduction, which updates the main ideas and themes of the book.

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.