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Educational Research International Vol. 2 No. 2 October 2013

VALUES EDUCATION: A PEDAGOGICAL IMPERATIVE FOR

STUDENT WELLBEING
Terence Lovat1, Neil Hawkes2
1
Prof. Emeritus, University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA &
University of Oxford, 2 Education Consultant, UK.
1
Terry.Lovat@newcastle.edu.au

ABSTRACT
The article explores research evidence that points to the distinctive contribution of
values education to student wellbeing, including but not limited to academic
enhancement. It will refer broadly to evidence from a number of international sites
and then focus particularly on studies from the UK and Australia in which the
authors have played a central role.
Keywords: Values education, academic enhancement

INTRODUCTION
Values education is known internationally by a number of names, including moral education
and character education, among others. Each variant has a slightly different meaning,
pointing to one or other distinctive emphasis. Each variant is nonetheless united in the
common belief that entering into the world of personal and societal values is a legitimate and
increasingly important role for teachers and schools to play. This is not an attempt to supplant
the influences of the home but rather to supplement them and, where necessary, to
compensate for them. International research into teaching and schooling effects is overturning
earlier beliefs that values were exclusively the preserve of families and/or religious bodies
and that, as a result, schools function best in values neutral mode. This research is not only
pointing out the hollowness of such a belief but the potential for it to lead to diminished
effects in all realms of student achievement, including academic attainment. In fact, it could
be asserted that, in a sense, teaching and schooling that function in values-neutral mode might
actually serve to undermine the potential effects of other socializing agencies, including
families.
The Positive Impact of Values Education
Carr (2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010) has argued persistently that values and effective teaching
are inextricably interwoven and that, in that sense, values education goes to the heart of the
role of the teacher and effective learning for the student. He focuses especially on the issue of
relationships and the moral mentoring of the teacher as being central to teaching as an
inherently relational profession. There is more than a hint of John Dewey (1916, 1929) and R.
S. Peters (1981) in such postulations and, furthermore, recent empirical studies have provided
confirming evidence of them.
Among these studies are those of Benninga et al. (2006, 2010) that, using the California
Academic Index as a guide, were able to show a correlation between high quality values
(character) development and strengthened academic achievement. Davidson et al. (2007,
2010) provide explanation and evidence for a similar correlation in their linking performance
character and moral character as integrally related in the development of personhood.
Osterman (2010) offers further evidence of these joint effects in showing that it is the teacher

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who both provides quality content in the context of effective pedagogy and establishes good
relationships with students who enjoys the greater academic impact. In other words,
establishing positive relationships with students is itself part of effective pedagogy and, in a
circular effect, high quality teaching has its own positive impact on strengthening student-
teacher relationships. In confirming this twin effect, Osterman (2010) cites results of a study
that showed positive relationships among students were an inherent feature of teachers
achieving optimal results. Studies that provide both fortified conceptual proffering and
empirical verification of the inherent interconnections between values education and holistic
student wellbeing, including academic enhancement, are growing in number and scope
(Nucci & Narvaez, 2008; Lovat, 2011; Lovat et al., 2010a, 2011a, 2011b).
The UK Study
The above considerations comprise the conceptual foundations for the Values School
experimental work at West Kidlington School, UK, reported by the Office for Standards in
Education (OfSted, 2007) to have had positive impact on all educational measures, including
academic achievement. This was in spite of the fact that the population in question has
traditionally underperformed at school. In that sense, the OfSted assessment effectively
confirmed that the students on which it was reporting were performing above their social
position and, furthermore, that the only causal explanation for this outcome provided by the
inspectorate was to be found in the effect of the whole-school values program on the children.
Hawkes, former head teacher of West Kidlington School has illustrated the ways in which a
values-based approach to education and learning provides an ethos in which students develop
positive characteristics in their social interactions and engagement with their school work
(Hawkes, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010). Rather than viewing values as an appendage to be taught
alongside other subjects, values became the platform from which curricular, policy,
organizational and pedagogical decisions were made. Central to this approach was the
systematic introduction of a values language, in conjunction with teaching, and encouraging
students to engage in reflection for periods of time in order to better understand themselves
and the impact of their attitudes and behaviours on others. Introduction of this values-based
pedagogy was accompanied by curricular reforms which were directed at providing learning
support for each student, including students with special needs, for their personal and
academic development.
Central to the approach was the development of open, caring and supportive teacher-student
relationships. The approach meant that not only were values taught explicitly and
systematically, but that an environment was constructed that reflected and embodied the
values being proffered. Not the least of the structure was to be found in the conscious
modelling of values by staff themselves, both in their collegial relationships and their
relationships with students and their parents. Flowing from a values-based incentive was a
realization by students themselves that they had control over their own behaviour with
attendant changes in school and classroom ambience and improved engagement, and even
enjoyment, of schoolwork. Hence, the environment created by the values-based pedagogy
was conducive not only for the personal and social development of students but also their
academic diligence, as evidenced by the fact that the academic performance of the school was
above the national average and well above that of similar cohort schools.
Farrer (2000, 2010) served as a reviewer and external evaluator of the experimental work at
West Kidlington. She reported emotional stability of students as a principal benefit of the
values-based approach to education, as well as clear improvements in student behaviour and
the development of greater awareness of the wider community and of the consequences of
their attitudes and actions on that community. She noted that the structured periods of silent
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reflection in daily assemblies had a persistent quietening and calming effect and also often
worked indirectly to resolve student conflicts without adult intervention and mediation. A
common language of shared vocabulary enabled consensus to be reached more quickly and
service type activities provided students with opportunities to enact the values taught. In
Farrers evaluation, it becomes clear why enhanced academic diligence tends to flow from
such environments.
The Australian Study
Much of the evidence referred to above has also been captured in the research and practice of
the projects emanating from the Australian Values Education Program. The program was
federally funded, beginning with a pilot study in 2003, followed by the development of a
National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools [National Framework]
(DEST, 2005) that identified the developing research links between values education and
good practice pedagogy and proposed a set of guidelines based on these links. The program
then issued in a range of research and practice projects from 2005 to 2010, the most crucial of
which were the two stages of the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project [Good
Practice Schools] (DEST, 2006; DEEWR, 2008), the Project to Test and Measure the
Impact of Values Education on Student Effects and School Ambience [Testing and
Measuring] (Lovat et al., 2009) and the Values in Action Schools Project (DEEWR, 2010).
Within the two stages of Good Practice Schools, 316 schools organized into 51 clusters
across the country, involving approximately 100,000 students, 10,000 teachers and 50
University academics, engaged in a variety of approaches to values education, all guided by
the central principles enunciated in the National Framework. Findings were disseminated at
annual national forums that included keynote addresses from the two authors (Lovat at the
2005, 2006 and 2009 events and Hawkes at the 2006 and 2007 gatherings).
Findings from stage 1 (DEST, 2006) illustrated that a sound values education can be a
powerful ally in the development of good practice pedagogy, with positive effects being
demonstrated across a range of measures, including persistent reference to the improved
environment of learning and greater student attention to the regular academic work of the
classroom:
We found that by creating an environment where (the) values were constantly shaping
classroom activity, student learning was improving, teachers and students were happier,
and school was calmer. (p. 120)
The Executive Summary of the report concluded that, based on the evidence, values
education has potential to impact positively on the total educational environment of a school,
resulting in a number of features, including strengthened teacher-student relationships,
classroom climate and ethos, student attitudes and behaviour, student knowledge and
understanding and student achievement. The Stage 2 Report (DEEWR, 2008) identified
clearer and more sophisticated links between the rollout of values education and the effects
on both student behaviour and performance.
Across the three years in which the VEGPSP project rolled out, the nature of the evidence
gradually developed from being largely anecdotal to having a measurable edge, especially as
teachers began to compare enumerations of previous and present levels of factors such as
behaviour disruption, work focus and attendance on the part of students. The Testing and
Measuring project (Lovat et al., 2009) was designed to investigate, using quantitative and
qualitative methods, these apparently measurable claims. There was interest in all of the
claims being made around student effects, with a dedicated focus on a range of factors which

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have been identified as mediating variables in facilitating student motivation and academic
engagement (Deci et al., 1991; Ainley, 2006; Davis, 2006; Ryan, 2007; Brock et al., 2008).
A mixed methods approach was adopted in order to measure some of the inter-personal and
social factors associated with student motivation and achievement, with quantitative data
collected and analysed over two time-periods and qualitative data collected during the second
phase. The quantitative work focussed on pre and post surveys of teachers, students and
parents, with the qualitative work designed to refine and explain the statistical results by
incorporating more detailed information. This article explores teacher results. Survey data
showed that teachers perceived statistically significant improvements on the three aspects of
student behaviour that were assessed, namely, academic engagement, inclusive behaviour and
responsible behaviour (cf. Lovat et al., 2010b). The qualitative data supported the perception
of improved student behaviour, with multiple comments indicating that greater self-
regulation of behaviour and improved interactions between students had led to more
harmonious and productive learning environments. Evidence indicated that the ambience,
relationships, self-reflection, and discourse germane to values education impacted positively
on students academic work habits, without any other explicit contaminating factor being
present. Teachers reported (Lovat, et al., 2009) that classrooms became more respectful,
focused and harmonious (p. 71), that school was a better place to teach a better place to
learn (p. 124), that there was increased school cohesion (p. 106) and that classrooms were
more settled (p. 25).
Findings portrayed plausible reasons why this improved school ambience might well lead to
enhanced academic diligence. Greater efforts towards self-regulation and improved student
relationships meant that less teaching time was being diverted to behaviour management and
more time could therefore be devoted to the core business of education. The teachers
observed that these new found skills and behaviours, together with the more positive
ambience created by it resulted in students taking more control over routine tasks, so adding
to their self-confidence and sense of competence and this appeared to lead to more
independent learning and increased intrinsic motivation. In turn, teachers reported that
students were putting greater effort into their work and trying harder, striving for quality,
striving to achieve their best and even striving for perfection (Lovat, et al., 2009, pp. 29, 78,
98, 99, 100).
The inherent connections between these various facets of behaviour, the positive ambience
that results and improved academic focus were summarized in the report (Lovat et al., 2009)
as follows:
there was substantial quantitative and qualitative evidence suggesting that there were
observable and measurable improvements in students academic diligence, including
increased attentiveness, a greater capacity to work independently as well as more
cooperatively, greater care and effort being invested in schoolwork and students
assuming more responsibility for their own learning as well as classroom chores. (p. 6)
Finally, the Values in Action project (DEEWR, 2010) focussed on student voice in its
report on follow up projects in schools that had a sound tradition of integrated values-based
pedagogy. The report proffered:
A range of evidence supports the impact of values education on improved student
wellbeing, most especially the voices of the students themselves. (p. 6)

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CONCLUSION
We believe that the results of the studies reported on herein have added to a growing body of
evidence that demonstrates that values education is consistently accompanied by greater self-
awareness on the part of students and more harmonious social interactions in the playground
and in the classroom. In this improved learning environment, one can find academic diligence
and improvement occurring without any other obvious determining factor. Understood and
practiced in this way, values education can be seen to be a pedagogical imperative for student
wellbeing.

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