Values Pedagogy and Student Achievement

Abstract

The authors were all engaged as investigators in the federally funded Australian Values Education Program, a series of research and practical projects involving 100,000 school students, 10,000 teachers and 50 university researchers. Together with other international data, the Australian projects provide much of the empirical evidence that is drawn on in this book.

Values education and holistic learning: Updated research perspectives

“…In that respect, there is now an increasing store of argumentation and evidence from values education research that the establishment of values-rich ambiences of learning, together with explicit discourse about values in ways that draw on students' deeper learning and reflectivity, has power to transform the patterns of student attitudes and behaviour, including around academic work, towards those more conducive to learning (cf. Arthur, 2003Arthur, , 2010Benninga, Berkowitz, Kuehn, & Smith, 2006;Carr, 2006Carr, , 2007Lovat, 2010;Lovat & Toomey, 2009;Lovat, Toomey, Dally, & Clement, 2009;Lovat, Toomey, & Clement, 2010a;Lovat, Clement, Dally, & Toomey, 2010b, 2010c, 2011Noddings, 2002;Nucci & Narvaez, 2008;Rowe, 2004). Values education is increasingly being seen as an effective way in which a more holistic approach to learning can be achieved, resulting, among other things, in enhanced academic diligence.…”

The impact of values education on school ambience and academic diligence

“…Consistent with the philosophical and neurobiological perspectives cited above, there is now increasing evidence from research in the field of values education that the establishment of ambiences of learning that engage the whole person, cognition, affect and sociality, together with explicit discourse about values in ways that draw on students' deeper learning and reflectivity, has power to instil those patterns of engagement, self-confidence and behaviour that enhance students' commitment to their school work, this latter behaviour being described herein as 'academic diligence' (cf. Benninga, Berkowitz, Kuehn, & Smith, 2006;Campbell, Kyriakides, Muijs, & Robinson, 2004;Lovat & Toomey, 2009;Lovat, Dally, Clement, & Toomey, 2011;Nucci & Narvaez, 2008). Through this evidence, values education is increasingly coming to connote an approach to holistic learning aimed at the full range of developmental measures and therefore as an effective and inextricable way in which learning should proceed in any school setting.…”

Resolución de problemas en matemática y su integración con la enseñanza de valores eticos: el caso de Chile

“…Algunos estudios que brindan una propuesta conceptual reforzada y una verificación empírica de las interconexiones inherentes entre la pedagogía valórica y el bienestar holístico del estudiante, incluyendo una mejora académica, muestran un aumento en el número y en alcance (NUCCI; NARVAEZ, 2008;ARTHUR;WILSON, 2010;LOVAT;LOVAT et al, 2011). Entre estas investigaciones, una evidencia fundamental es la obtenida en las investigaciones y en la aplicación de los proyectos procedentes del Programa de Educación Moral de Australia, en el que se concluyó que, basado en la evidencia, la pedagogía valórica tiene el potencial de afectar positivamente el ambiente de aprendizaje total de una escuela, lo que origina ciertas características, incluyendo un fortalecimiento en la relación profesor-alumno, clima, actitudes y valores de la sala de clases, actitudes y comportamientos de los estudiantes, conocimiento y entendimiento de los estudiantes, así como sus logros.…”