Last Updated on January 2, 2023 by Mike Robinson

Education in values ​​is defined as a process of learning by which people understand, are interested and put into practice values ​​necessary to live in society: justice, equality, tolerance, respect for others, responsibility or civic attitude

Educating in values creates the habit of thinking, of reflecting and of acting in an optimal way to live with the rest of the people around us, be it family, friends, school or community.

Education in values

Why is it important to educate in values?

A democratic society today requires knowing how to deal with many situations in which values play a fundamental role.

Every educational act carries values; therefore, if the purpose of education is to prepare the person for life, we must take into account care for oneself and attention to others.

In addition, to educate in values ​​you must offer children and young people concrete opportunities where they can understand and put into practice different positive social behaviors.

10 Keys to educating in values

1. The development of values ​​must be according to the evolutionary moment of the child

Our moral development evolves and develops throughout our youth into adulthood.

At different stages of our lives we do not make judgments or make decisions in the same way. All this depends on the development of some cognitive capacities that evolve over time.

You must take this into account when working with values ​​with children: for example, you cannot work with a child under six years of abstract reasoning because they are not yet able to understand these concepts.

2. Values ​​are learned

Values ​​are beliefs that refer to desirable behaviors that guide the person in the selection of behaviors in daily life.

They learn! And therefore, they can be taught. They are learned through imitation of models and practice.

3. Education in values ​​should be developed around autonomy

You must take into account, in the first place, the development of the autonomy of the person. This is important because to encourage a good education in values, people have to be able to think for themselves, to act through their own bosses, to be critical, to take responsibility…

Values ​​require critical faculty and competence to judge moral principles of their own.

4. Democratic life begins at home … and at school

The primary areas of socialization of the child are family and school. Both in conjunction help each individual to develop and make up fundamentally the teaching of values ​​of children and young people.

Parents, with their example and daily practice, should help the child deal with the negative influences of daily practice and solve situations in an optimal way.

The school, for its part, is the first place where the child is aware that he is part of a larger society.

It should function as a learning “laboratory” where the child learns to build a different community.

Both in the family and in the school, vital experiences for the development of values ​​will happen.

5. The school must educate for diversity

The school should seek recognition of the individuality and individuality of each student.

It must recognize the experiences of each person; strive not to h0m0genize the students. To educate tolerance, one must educate in diversity, in plurality and in singularity.

We must work on inequality and equal opportunities.

6. Practice is fundamental

Educational activity, whatever we refer to, is a bilateral process, that is, education is not the transmission of knowledge or knowledge to the student.

The person who is receiving education must create their own knowledge.

When you educate in values ​​you must form in practice, within real situations that allow the person to put into practice what has been learned.

7. Education in values ​​can not be relegated to a specific subject or situation

Education in values ​​must be worked in an integral way, in each experience that the child lives inside and outside the school.

With the ethical aspects of the behavior happens something similar to what happens with a language like English: the children study it during several hours teaching but outside of them think, relate and speak in Castilian.

Every experience that the person lives is susceptible to work on it values, we cannot relegate education in values ​​to certain spaces of school life.

We must understand that the ethical / moral are present in each experience.

8. Teach with your example: parents and teachers are values ​​trainers

Keep in mind that through explicit and implicit messages you are being a source of learning for children.

Sometimes we are not aware of the impact of our way of acting on the formation of attitudes of learners. We are models for them, so keep in mind how you act.

You educate not only with the speech, also with the way you express yourself, the tone, the attitude, the gestures … what you say and what you do not say counts.

A teacher who talks about commitment but does not have time for his students says more to his students than any specific situation created to work  values.

9. Talk, reflect with him

We as parents and teachers have the duty and responsibility to create pedagogical situations where values ​​work.

You can create specific situations like moral dilemmas, acceptance of roles, simulation games, specific texts…

You can also start from everyday experiences to talk with the student about what is happening in the world.

Use what we call “door openers” (“what do you think …?”, “What would happen if …?”): Invitations to reflection that facilitate communication and help the person to reach different conclusions.

We need educators who do not insist on their own interpretation of moral principles, but those that help young people develop their own skills.

Keep in mind that the fundamental goal of all education is to prepare the person for life … Educate in values! Let’s make this world a better place!