Living Values in Education –

Principle and Practice

UNESCO-APEID International Conference

Bangkok, Thailand
6th to 8th December 2006

Christopher Drake
President, Association for Living Values Education International
 We live in a beautiful but troubled world.

Education is both a right in itself,

including education for all and universal literacy,
and an engine for all other development goals.
 Much needs to be done.

Three crucial goals the world community must achieve:

- Sustainable Development
- International Understanding
- A Culture of Peace

These goals are largely agreed and technically achievable;

the question is one of implementation.
 To achieve and maintain these goals requires education.

Education will not be effective without a foundation of values

such as:

Respect – for the self, each other, our environment, other cultures
Responsibility – in how we exercise our freedoms and abilities
Integrity – being true to our inner self and the best of our
traditions, civilization and cultures
Tolerance – accepting certain different ways and being able to
work with others
Solidarity, Justice, Love and Honesty……
Few people would disagree with such values, but
much of our materialistic, ever-changing, consumer
life today promotes the opposite.

As we need such values for our individual fulfilment,

and as a functioning, inclusive, sustainable society
depends on them…..
they need to be better reflected in education.
• Education for Sustainable Development is not
complete if it does not take account of values as
well as other content.

• Appropriate access to and use of resources by all

depends on values.

• In today’s world, can we afford not to teach about

values and offer guidance to young heads and hearts?
“….often, without realizing it, the world has a
longing, often unexpressed, for an ideal and for
values that we shall term ‘moral’. It is thus
education’s noble task to encourage each and every
one, acting in accordance with their traditions and
convictions and paying full respect to pluralism, to
lift their minds and spirits to the plane of the
universal and, in some measure, to transcend
themselves. It is no exaggeration on the
Commission’s part to say that the survival of
humanity depends thereon.”
Learning: The Treasure Within (the Delors report)
The question is how?

It’s easy to impose or to do nothing! To do too

much or too little….
Values such as mentioned above lie at the
heart of sustainable development and how
we relate to our world and fellow human
beings in the shared home of our one planet.

We need values to ensure that today belongs to

everyone and to “make the good things in life
last longer”. Otherwise, tomorrow will belong
to no one…
So how can education pass on a legacy of the kind of
values that the world is in need of?

The LVE approach sees that:

we cannot teach about values without first
creating a values-based learning environment.
Values-based education must precede values
education.
Values must be taught through example,
in attitude and action, by living them.
Values education starts with teachers reflecting on
their own values, and looking at and caring for
themselves.
The LVE approach takes a broad holistic view of the
individual and education. The heart of education is
education of the heart.

Education must touch the heart and soul as well as the

head, and so be participatory and experiential.

It is better to propose rather than impose values.

Values work requires mutual support and

refreshment, especially for teachers.
 Living Values Education
is a way of conceptualising education that promotes the
development of
values-based learning communities
and places the search for
meaning and purpose
at the heart of education.
 LVE emphasises the worth and integrity
of each person involved in the provision of education,
in the home, the school and community.

In fostering quality education, LVE supports the overall

development of the individual and a culture of values
in each society and throughout the world.
LVE is implemented by the
Association for Living Values Education International
an independent non-profit network of educators in 80
countries around the world with a volunteer spirit.
Supported by UNESCO.
Sponsored by a wide variety of organizations, institutions
and individuals.
LVE is part of the global movement for a culture of
peace in the framework of the International Decade for a
Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of
the World.
• Albania • Senegal
• Argentina • Serbia
• Australia • Seychelles
• Austria
Over 8,000 sites in about 80 countries • Singapore
• Barbados • Fiji • Kuwait • South Africa
• Bermuda • Germany • Lebanon • South Korea
• Bolivia • Greece • Malaysia • Spain
• Botswana • Guatemala • Mauritius • Sri Lanka
• Brazil • Guyana • Mexico • Surinam
• Burundi • Hungary • Netherlands • Sweden
• Cambodia • Iceland • New Zealand • Switzerland
• Canada • India • Nigeria • Thailand
• Chile • Indonesia • Pakistan • Trinidad
• China • Iran • Panama • Turkey
• Colombia • Ireland • Paraguay • UAE
• Costa Rica • Israel • Peru • UK
• Denmark • Italy • Philippines • USA
• Ecuador • Jamaica • Poland • Uruguay
• Egypt • Japan • Portugal • Venezuela
• El Salvador • Jordan • Romania • Vietnam
• Estonia • Kenya • Saudi Arabia • Zimbabwe
We offer participatory, experiential professional
development courses, workshops and seminars for
teachers. They focus on values-based skills,
approaches and activities and the creation of a
values-based learning environment.

We have adopted ten principles of values education

and publish resource books of activities for use by
teachers in the classroom as curriculum materials for
values education on specific values……
 The Living Values Education Series
Published in April 2001
Winner of Teachers’ Choice Award 2002

¾ Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7

¾ Living Values Activities for Children Ages 8-14
¾ Living Values Activities for Young Adults
¾ Living Values Parent Groups: A Facilitator Guide
¾ LVEP Educator Training Guide

Extracts from Activities books, and other resources,

available at:
http://www.livingvalues.net
 Exploring and Developing Human
Values for a Better World
Peace Cooperation
Responsibility Respect
Honesty
Freedom
Simplicity
Tolerance Love
Happiness Unity Humility
Results over nine years are favourable and indicate:
- Development of the individual as a whole;
- Formation of values-based attitudes, relationships and
behaviour;
- Greater social skills and awareness;
- Improvement in school atmosphere;
- Increased teacher contentment and commitment.

Research project of UNESCO Chair/UNITWIN

underway.
Thank you! And until soon!

chris@livingvalues.net

www.livingvalues.net