Values in education and training: Where do they come from? Where are they going to?
Ross Callaghan
Training Consultant
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
What are values?
Our values influence everything we do. But what are values?
What is your definition of values?
Some dictionary definitions of values:
- Our values define us to ourselves and help others to define us. It is very easy to get this definition wrong, though!
- Our values give meaning and purpose to our lives. They underpin all of our priorities, decisions and behaviours. They energise us and give us stories to tell.
- Behind any one of our behaviours there are likely to be 4 or 5 of our personal values.
You have chosen to come to this session. Which of your values are behind this choice?
Some starter questions:
- How do we develop our values?
- Is there a universal set of values?
- What are some reactions to imposed values? (Or can values be imposed anyway?)
What are your fundamental personal values?
Educational values
Values are an integral part of all education and training.
- The learning process often makes us question our values. Learning may help to reinforce our values and can often lead to value changes (paradigm shifts!).
- Teachers and trainers bring their own personal and educational values into each interaction with students.
- Learning environments are flavoured by the values of the organisation.
- Students bring their own personal values into each learning experience.
- We are working in an educational environment where the values seem to be rapidly changing eg. changes in assessment with the introduction of competency based assessment frameworks.
 | As teachers and trainers it's well worth identifying our educational values, especially those related to teaching and learning. eg. your educational values might include empowerment of learners, desire to expand knowledge, enhancement of civilisation..... |
 | Knowing our values will give us a better basis for planning and designing our courses; developing our learning materials and for carrying out assessment and evaluation. (It's also valuable to identify the values of our students, especially if we see that learning includes potential changes in values). |
Is there a set of educational values which teachers/trainers have in common?
Educational values
These are the values which drive us as teachers and trainers. They may not be as strong as our deep personal values but they powerfully motivate us and are behind most of our interactions with students. They also give us much of our excitement in life! Perhaps it is because we have these values that we are teachers and trainers?
Organisational values
Most teachers and trainers work for an organisation. In recent days it has become fashionable for organisations to identify their values and to prepare a mission statement which expresses these values. All staff are supposed to own the organisation's values and to express them in their work. The organisation is efficient to the degree that everyone shares the same values.
| If your personal values can be expressed in your work and are a reflection of the organisation's values you are likely to be happy, creative and productive. |
| If your personal values can't be expressed in your work or are radically different from the organisation's values you are likely to be unhappy and unproductive. (Many in this position actually begin to undermine the organisation eg. through negative talk or destructive practices.) |
What are the values of the organisation you work for?
How much do these values influence
- your teaching/training?
- your behaviour as an employee?
These days the value statements of educational organisations are likely to include commercial values as well as educational values. Many teachers/trainers find this difficult, especially when they feel the 'pure' educational values are being undermined or lost.
In reaction we seem to develop a hierarchy of values. Most important are our own personal values. These are like spectacles through which we view all other values. After our personal values (or out of them?) we then adopt or reject other sets of values. The further these other values are from our personal values the weaker is our commitment to them. eg.
My personal hierarchy of values (related to my work)
Some more starter questions
- Do we take on roles or jobs which reflect our value systems?
- How much do our jobs modify our value systems?
- Do specific jobs require people with specific value systems?
- Organisations often have secret, unspoken value systems. (Hidden agendas!)
Where do they come from? How do staff react to them? What are their effects?
- Do you own the values of your organisation?
- How can an organisation help its staff to own the organisational values?
Global values
We live in a world where global issues and their associated values are becoming more prominent. There have been major changes in global values and these changes are continuing at great speed.
eg. Compare the dominant values of various phases in recent history:
| Agricultural ---> |
Industrial ---> | Post-industrial ---> | Global village |
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Global values like equity and concern for the environment now have a strong influence on education and training. They are even influencing commercial values. eg. companies may lose customers if they are not seen to be 'green'.
These value shifts make teaching and training a lot more complicated than they used to be. It seems as though we are working through a whole new set of issues every year!
Some more starter questions (about the big issues)
- Should education/training reflect the changing values of society or should we be at the forefront of change?
- Where are society's emerging values coming from?
- How does one challenge emerging values effectively?
- Some feel there is a 'cult of militant values' which are being forced upon us as universal values. Is this so? If so, what is an appropriate education/training response?
- What is the purpose of education and training anyway?
- With greater accountability to organisations, teachers/trainers are sometimes being forced to take on values which they can't honestly own. (The TINA value: 'there is no alternative'.) What becomes of academic freedom? What is academic freedom anyway?
- To whom are we ultimately accountable?
Big questions! Big issues!
Conclusion
As teachers and trainers we come to our job with strongly held personal values and with high expectations for what we can contribute to society.
It's well worth identifying:
- our own deep personal values
- our educational values
- the values of our organisation
- society's emerging global values
and
- the values our students bring to each learning experience.
This will help us to provide the kind of teaching and training our value system urges us to provide. We will also be better employees (probably!) and will be more effective in helping our students cope with the changing world of tomorrow.
My response:
| Please cite as: Callaghan, R. (1996). Values in education and training: Where do they come from? Where are they going to? Different Approaches: Theory and Practice in Higher Education. Proceedings HERDSA Conference 1996. Perth, Western Australia, 8-12 July.
http://www.herdsa.org.au/confs/1996/callaghan.html |
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Created 27 June 2001. Last revision: 23 May 2002.
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