The Values Education Study was designed to enable schools to develop and demonstrate current practice in values education; provide an informed basis for promoting improved values education in Australian schools; and make recommendations on a set of principles and a framework for improved values education in Australian schools. It comprised three elements: a literature search; research to determine parent, teacher and student views on the values the community expects Australian schools to foster; and action research, looking at fifty innovative case studies from 69 schools around the country. The case study schools generally used one or a combination of the following three approaches as the basis for their values education projects: reviews of values education processes; building students’ resilience; and/or a specific values teaching and learning focus.
Key findings from the study have been used to construct a draft national framework for improved values education. The framework comprises six elements:
1. A recognition of the various policies and programmes related to values education that are already in place in educational jurisdictions.
2. The basis for pursuing values education in schools, and what the framework is designed to achieve.
3. A statement of the vision that all Australian schools and jurisdictions should endeavour to achieve through values education.
4. Guiding principles for the provision of effective values education.
5. Suggested approaches, to support schools in implementing appropriate policies and programmes.
6. An outline of work from educational jurisdictions to identify appropriate teaching and learning resources; professional development; and expertise to assess and evaluate the impact of values education programmes, for adoption and use by schools.
The draft guiding principles outline the reasons for promoting values education and ways in which students, staff, families and the school community can work to deliver such education.