V4C: values for children

V4C:Values For Children Values education has a major impact on education quality Dr Brian Metters - 27 March 2016 

Summary Moral education is an essential component of quality education, but often sadly lacking from the curriculum in developing countries. In our earlier paper we have highlighted cognitive, social, and moral outcomes as part of a Framework For Quality Education, and now we offer some guidance and a process for providing regular and meaningful lessons on the moral aspects of education.

The V4C-Values For Children process is unique to Nepal Schools Aid and to Nepal. We developed it in 2011 after observing and being trained in the globally recognised P4CPhilosophy For Children process by the SAPERE (UK) organisation. We have since applied it to 200 Kathmandu schools and approximately 2000 teachers.

When the lessons relate to a school citizenship chart comprising a set of agreed values for the school, the behaviour changes in children are easily observable.

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Introduction The flight home would take 12 hours and I had bought my first book on Nepal that wasn't about mountaineering or a tourist guide for 25 years! “Unleashing Nepal” by Sujeev Shakya was about to occupy the entire flight however and also our thinking about how we ran Nepal Schools Aid for the next 5 years!

I freely admit that I was attracted by the cover with the sub-title of “Past, Present and Future Of The Economy” together with a backdrop image of a group of children looking at a small globe. Could the author be suggesting that Nepal's future economy, or even the state of the nation overall was in the hands of it's children? The title of Chapter 11 seemed to indicate that he was suggesting this, and at the bottom of the second page I found a sentence that has been imprinted on my brain ever since that plane took off and it said: “I will first make the case for the three pillars or necessary conditions for the youth to engage constructively with the global economy – one, education, two, a value system or moral code, and three information, communication and technology (ICT)” Sujeev then introduced and described his three pillars, beginning with the education system in Nepal and the need for it's complete transformation. In particular he argued for a shift away from a paper and degree oriented system to something more quality based (a term that continues to haunt us in our search for a clear and accepted definition!). This is a “constructivist” approach in which “remembering” is at the bottom of a learning pyramid and which needs to be followed by understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. Our own experience of working in Kathmandu primary schools had certainly shown that there was a wall of Himalayan proportions between remembering and understanding, whatever the subject being studied! Our experience also supported Sujeev's assertion for a different modality of ownership of education and schools with a shift required to local communities, parents, and local businesses taking responsibility for ownership with the management of the school being professional. Certainly the more successful public schools we were working with at that time had adopted this model, possibly by accident, but in a determined and purposeful way.

It was Sujeev's second pillar however that has since influenced us greatly and has led to the writing of this article. His section “The importance of a workable value system” has been read and re-read by us and quoted almost verbatim by us on a regular basis. Some quotes: •

“The entire value system of the country, once built upon a strong sense of societal and mutual trust, has crumbled”

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“It is time again to go back to being identified with peace, which means developing a future generation that shuns violence and develops a culture of tolerance”

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Although somewhat specific as examples, the general point is about the values, beliefs and behaviour of a nation and it's people ranging from the politician who takes backhanders for major projects, to the taxi driver who tries to charge a tourist multiple times over an accepted fare, to the suppression of women, the exclusion of certain cast groups, and to the teachers who leave their mobile phones on in class or who lounge around chatting while their pupils sing the national anthem or say a morning prayer to Saraswati!

By the time we landed at London, Heathrow, I had pages of notes, with ONE over-arching mission: Find a system or process for teaching, modelling and enabling values in a primary school amongst staff and children alike.

It took me one month to find it, six months to learn it and modify it for a Nepalese teacher/school audience, and we have been training 100's of Nepalese teachers in it since April 2011.

What Are Values?

My own personal experience of working with “values” is somewhat limited, especially where schools and education systems are concerned; However, limited only in the sense that as an organisational psychologist I have different experience of working on corporate culture, organisational value systems, and with company directors on values based leadership. The principles are the same if one accepts the basic tenets that: •

Values are the standards and principles that govern how we act or behave.

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They shape our moral compass about what is right and what is wrong and guide us in our societal obligations to be good citizens.

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They are hidden, they cannot be seen, but show themselves as our behaviour.

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Of course these principles make them difficult to talk about, teach, or deal with and it is only through some reflection and even introspection that they can be addressed. Getting corporate directors to reflect and be introspective was difficult in the extreme, and no doubt the same can be said to be true for school children. Or can it? Maybe this is the time when values SHOULD be discussed, examined, pulled apart? Maybe children are ideally placed to discuss care, respect, trust, cooperation, courage, freedom, quality, achievement, tolerance …..... ? You bet they are, and they DO, with an enthusiasm, focus and determination that could put some corporate directors to shame!

The trick however is to turn these values from being mere words or labels into REAL behaviour or a code for the classroom, the home, and life in general. Dictionary definitions of “trust” or “respect” are useless, what really counts is what it MEANS as behaviour standards to the people expressing it.

Here is a table of some potentially universal values we used in all of our courses and school development programmes: (More about the programme later)

MORAL VALUES

PERSONAL VALUES

SOCIAL VALUES

Integrity

Freedom

Community

Fairness

Achievement

Family

Care

Learning

Friendship

Respect

Discipline

Affection

Service

Independence

Cooperation

Tolerance

Recognition Influence

Two particular “universal” values which seem to cross boundaries of schools and countries are Respect and Cooperation. Whether this is a reflection of a deep value of being human, or a reflection of education systems we are unsure, but it led to us asking our main Partner school in the UK to take part in some V4C sessions to define and work with these values. Here are some definitions and thoughts about these values from the children at Haverigg Primary School, Cumbria, UK.

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(Respect: verb. & noun. To have due regard for the feelings, wishes or rights of others. To avoid harming or interfering with.)

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You show respect in the way you are kind and caring to someone.

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Respect all people and the choices they make, even if they have different beliefs and cultures they are just the same as you.

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You show respect to your teacher by saying hello when you see them outside school.

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You show respect by listening and not ignoring others when they are speaking.

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You show respect by treating everyone the way YOU would like to be treated.

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If someone speaks to you then listen and do not turn your back as if they are not there.

(Cooperation: noun. The action of working together to the same end.)

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Co-operation is all about listening to others.

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To help others see from your point of view.

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Co-operation is getting everyone involved and helping others see each others points of view and work as a team.

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Cooperation is when you work together and help each other to learn or do something else.

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Co-operation is discussing things with each other and working things out together.

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Co-operation is being kind and getting along with a different person or people.

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Co-operation is all about working with people and listening to them. Working together will make you get somewhere rather than if you work on your own you might not get anywhere.

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If you don't co-operate with people well then you will not be working as a good team.

It is hard to believe that these answers or comments came from children at a UK primary school, mostly 8 years old! But it should also be recognised that these did NOT come from a teacher input, or a textbook, or any specific part of the curriculum. They came from a group of children being asked to THINK about a particular concept or word, then guiding them through a discussion of what that concept meant to THEM. This therefore started to form the basic outline of inputting sessions on values into Nepali primary schools using our V4C technique, together with a wider concept of School Citizenship.

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Values In Schools Around The World One of the most widely used approaches to values in schools is the Values Based Education organisation founded by Neil Hawkes from Oxford, UK.

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Some key points from their excellent website: VbE in Schools: “Schools can become a place where students experience positive values in context. They can learn how to apply and talk about values appropriately. They become self-motivated, and their behaviour becomes calm and purposeful. Division in schools reduces, collaboration between students increases and values underpin a sense of unity and positive direction. Values work in a dynamic way through developing aspects such as leadership focus, positive role modelling and community values.”

What Values Are Not: “Values education is not additional curriculum. It is not something teachers have to bolt on to an already full agenda. It is an approach that makes teaching the very full agenda easier.

It is not a quick fix solution. Many people perceive values to be liberal and soft. In reality, they are exactly the opposite. They provide a clear awareness of acceptable behaviour, against which staff and students choices of behaviour are evaluated. Values help reduce the options for inappropriate behaviour.

It is not something expected only of students. Effective teaching of values is measured not by students' ability to define values, by its impact on their behaviour. For teaching of values to be effective, positive values need to be modelled by staff. A values-driven environment applies equally to staff and students alike.”

The VbE approach is extremely professional with detailed guidance and resources available on their website. They have worked in many countries and schools around the world and have conducted a number of research studies you can also access on their website.

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A less detailed but nevertheless valuable resource on values can be found at the UNESCO website:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ This website is actually a multimedia Teacher Training resource with a number of different modules available covering a range of topics. One of the topics is Values Education with a range of objectives as follows: •

To develop an understanding of values education strategies;

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To consider the relation between values and personal behaviour affecting the achievement of sustainable futures;

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To reflect on your futures awareness, commitment and actions; and

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To develop skills for using values clarification and values analysis in teaching.

Using this site, teachers or educators can learn more about the scope of values education in schools, its application by the teacher as well as its wider impact on a range of issues.

From these two websites you should be gaining an impression about the importance of values teaching in schools with an insight about how it can be incorporated into lessons regularly. To introduce the V4C approach we have developed, here is a “template” of what we believe to be essential for the simple introduction of values into any school: 1. Each school must create and focus on its agreed set of core values as part of its own School Citizenship Charter.

2. The school principal, teachers, and management committee must commit to this citizenship charter themselves and display the appropriate values driven behaviour first before they expect children to follow.

3. The acceptance that values will not be part of a formalised curriculum and that the teachers must make space/time for each class to have a weekly values lesson.

4. The availability and application of a simple process to facilitate values lessons with supporting resources making it enjoyable for children to learn from.

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V4C-The Values For Children Approach Citizenship Charter The first step in implementing the V4C process is for each school to create its list of chosen values for its Citizenship Charter as mentioned in #1 from our template of requirements above: 1. Each school must create and focus on its agreed set of core values as part of its own School Citizenship Charter.

The ability of the school to do this can be increased by giving them a whole day’s training on Values, before they received two days training on V4C. The training day introduced them to the concept of values influencing behaviour (the onion diagram), exercises in understanding their own values, then sharing with each other to determine a common set of values they believed to be important to their school. They then return to school and continue their discussions with the chairperson of the School Management Committee before creating some posters to be placed around the school. Imagine the curiosity of the children next morning to find these posters in their classrooms!

Here is one example created by school principal and teachers:

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The Process The 4th item in our template of essential requirements for implementing values in schools is: •

The availability and application of a simple process to facilitate values lessons with supporting resources making it enjoyable for children to learn from.

Here now is an outline example of a V4C session. It has 10 steps and is based on the original work of Matthew Lipman, a US philosophy professor, and Jason Buckley (www.thephilosophyman.com) who runs courses for SAPERE (www.sapere.org.uk).

In general the V4C process is “non-directive facilitation” but there IS some direction in that the discussion is focussed on values rather than on something wider and more philosophical.

Step 1 Getting Set: Everyone sits in a circle and the facilitator reminds everyone of the simple rules. Then she asks them to stand up, and then to sit down one at a time until all are seated again. If more than one person suddenly sits they must start over again. This helps to focus minds and to maybe think about “cooperation”. Other simple warm-up exercises can be used.

Step 2 The Stimulus: The facilitator now puts a picture on the floor in the middle of the group. It shows a large group of ants “bridging” with their bodies joined together between two stones. Other ants are climbing over them to cross from one stone to another.

Step 3 Thinking Time: The children are now given some time to privately think about the picture, what it shows, what it means, and some words or things it makes them think of.

They then form small groups and share their thinking with each other.

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Step 4 Question Making: Each small group now considers all their thinking and decides on and writes a good, big question with a marker pen on a sheet of paper.

Step 5 Question Airing: Each group now reads out their question for everyone to hear and consider before laying the piece of paper on the floor for everyone to see and think about.

Step 6 Question Choosing: The children now “vote with their feet” to choose which question they would most like to discuss. They do this by standing next to the question they most like. As an example most children stand by the question “why are they cooperating?”

Step 7 First Thoughts: In this step the group of children who wrote out this question are asked to explain what they were thinking about when they wrote it. The facilitator then invites brief comments, agreements and disagreements from ALL the children.

Step 8 Thoughts Building: This is the most important step in the session where children take turns to build, expand, deepen, on the question and particularly the concept of cooperation. The facilitator must now listen carefully and help to keep the flow. This may lead to “how should we cooperate in class”, “what IS cooperation?”, etc.

Step 9 Last Thoughts: This is the final opportunity to input to the discussion, it signals to the group that time is nearly up, that everyone should have a chance to speak, and if there is a burning issue then NOW is the time to raise it!

Step 10 Review: This step should never be missed since in essence it is a learning review, something to be carried forward from session to session. Its main focus is on the process, not the content of the discussion and therefore involves the children looking at some of the steps and how they enacted them. The importance of this is that it enables the group or class to develop and grow, to improve and get better at the discussion, to improve question technique, to collaborate more and to get more from future sessions.

(You can receive a more detailed write-up on this process by visiting our website at Quality Education Global and using the form on the Contact page of the site.)

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Picture Stimuli (Supporting Resources) This 10 step process and use of a picture as a stimulus certainly meets criterion #4. The picture of ants climbing between two stones and the 10 discussion stages easily fits into a 45 minute lesson with primary children. The picture needs to be chosen to provoke a discussion that will include one or more of the values from the school’s citizenship charter.

Here now are several examples of picture stimuli we have used over the years in Kathmandu schools:

Looking at these four examples of picture stimuli, what values do you think would be discussed from them using the 10-step V4C process? All you need is a little creativity and an internet search for images using the values word, but if you contact us as mentioned via our website we will share all of our online resources with you.

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Summary & Recommendations Summary •

This paper has highlighted and discussed a clear need for a moral aspect to ALL education systems. It is not enough to send children to school and cram them full of cognitive learning without giving them a moral compass to guide their lives as citizens.

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Our earlier paper described a framework for Quality Education, and moral outcomes and values based inputs are both included. Ministries of Education in developing countries need reminding of this!

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The V4C process described is simple, practical and effective. With a little practice a weekly lesson on a chosen value can easily be accommodated into 45 mins and children soon engage willingly and easily in the process. In fact for many of them it is the first time they have even been asked questions in class or allowed to engage in discussion!

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We have described using pictures as a stimulus for discussions on values, but short stories with a specific more are also useful. If you want some example contact me via our website.

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The V4C approach overall is an adaptation of the renowned P4C (Philosophy For Children) process and we gratefully acknowledge the pioneering work of Mathew Lipman to develop it, and the SAPERE organisation who trained us in it. But at the time of creation and writing this paper, our V4C process is unique to Nepal Schools Aid and to Nepal. (Click on the links for further information)

Recommendations •

As developing countries seek to create strategies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals they should incorporate moral outcomes and moral education into their system.

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School Citizenship Charters should be used as the benchmark for teacher’s and children’s values and behaviour in a school, which can form the basis for school branding & attractiveness to parents, an element of teacher performance management, a self regulating method for classroom management, and a part of closer engagement between teachers, children AND parents.

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Training in values and the V4C process should be a mandatory input to ALL teacher training and education whether in ongoing CPD programmes or in colleges as part of B.Ed courses.

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Read these two short articles for evidence of the effect of the V4C process: Nepali Children Learn From a Swarm of Ants Respect: From The Classroom to a Bus Journey

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References All references used in this paper have been provided with links to find the relevant items on the internet as they are used in the document. If you have any problems locating them on the web please contact the author as below.

The Author Brian Metters, BA (Psychol.), MSc., PhD, is the Chairman of Nepal Schools Aid, a UK registered charity working to develop the quality of education in Kathmandu primary schools. Now retired from business, Brian is an organisational psychologist and specialised in change management mostly within the financial services industry of the UK. He has been involved in charitable fundraising for Cancer Research, The Big Issue (for the homeless) and disadvantaged children in Nepal. {www.nepalschoolsaid.org}.

His latest venture is in releasing all the materials used in education development in Nepal online at www.qualityeducationglobal.org where you can use the contact form if required.

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