Values into Action
Values into Action
Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme is a free year education and early childhood care program for pre-school children. Children eligible for this program are generally those aged between 3 years and 4 years, although the upper age limit may be extended depending on the state. It has also been the government’s pledge that children of special needs and other educational needs belonging in this age category will be considered. As early as this period, many educational departments across the world are engaged in imparting value literacy among learners. This is attributed to the fact that many countries are now undergoing increased urbanizations, social economic disparities, alarming progresses of calamitous diseases such as AIDS and great numbers of school dropouts. It has become noticeable that disadvantaged families usually face worst effects of the aforementioned conditions. It is therefore important that both teaching and learning institutions become engaged in formidable programs for training, research, programming and information to design and strengthen appropriate solutions for inclusive values in early childhood education (Petrie, Boddy, Cameron, Heptinstall, McQuail, Simon and Wigfall 2009.
Values are defined as lasting ideals or beliefs that a person espouses and shares with other members of the community, and they are to guide him on what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable. Acting as broad guidelines in almost all situations, the values will have major influences on the person’s life, as regards attitudes and behaviors. Given that these values are shared with other members of the community, they are supposed to connect everyone with others and act as driving forces of individual organizations. Values have also been noted as being capable of shaping the community and therefore its activities. The communities can notably include the school, the nation, religion and ethnic group. Training in broad community values is needed as early as the time of early childhood to inculcate inclusive development in young citizens. When all members of the school community, including the young children, live the values learnt, the whole organization will become “value driven” (Petrie et al. 2009).
Sources of values
People usually get values from people or objects they interact with. As early as one is born, he will learn values from his culture, family, school, society, media (including social media), friends, books, music and religious groupings. However, at the age 1-7 years, major sources of values are usually parents and school, and sometimes religious groups. Luckily for educators and other carers, these children are like sponges, and are absorbing everything that comes on their way, accepting most part of it as true, especially when it originates from parents. However, at this point, wrong upbringing is likely to result in deep problems, because the children are just blind acceptors. Critical models to distinguish what is wrong and right is therefore much needed (Petrie et al. 2009).
Value Inclusive Framework and Putting Values into Action
Inclusive values enables values of children from different backgrounds such as race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender to be welcomed and treated equally. The inclusion system thus seeks to bring a sense of belonging for everybody: in this regard, everybody in the class has to feel valued, respected, supported and committed to do his or her best. This strategy is thus in itself, transformative, as when a person feels valued and supported he will be much motivated to perform to the highest capacity. By boosting human awareness, consciousness and interaction, there is no doubt that the school expects much innovation. In a school setting, the most critical part of value inclusion is putting the inclusive values into action. Teachers have to ensure that they promote participation and overcome exclusion. These values have to become prompt guides to every action for everyone in the class. However, learners have to be educated about them to understand the relationship between their actions and values. All actions that seem to affect any person negatively in the group have to be underpinned by the values. Learners are also encouraged to understand reasons of actions of others in the class. In the school, these should be included in the curriculum, playgrounds, teaching and learning activities, staffroom interactions, and relationships among children and their parents (Booth and Ainscow 2011; DfE 2014).
Diversity
Value inclusion rests on caring about diversity. All students have to be placed in a one general education class regardless of their race, learning ability, economic status, linguistic ability, learning style, gender, cultural background, family structure, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation. An inclusionary class has to acknowledge, welcome, affirm and celebrate values of all learners by having them educated together regularly in high-quality classrooms. All students have equal opportunities of learning and playing together, and participating in similar social, educational and recreational facilities. All these inclusionary practices are aimed at providing equity, collaboration, acceptance, diversity and response to individual needs (Berg 2004).
Democratic Process in Young Children
The other aspect of value-inclusive framework is democracy. To enhance freedom, participation and equality in the young learners, teachers have to enhance democracy. This will ensure self-expression, caring for each other and understanding meanings of equality and inclusiveness. The children will also be able to solve their conflicts without needing adults. For instance, they can be allowed to vote on matters that allow them to bring toys from home. To ensure trust in the process, there should credible ways of ensuring transparency. If the toys make a lot of noise, they can be told to vote again, so that they realize the meaning of not coming with the toys by themselves (Moss 2011; Moss 2009; Moss 2007).
Values According to the UK Value Inclusion Index
In the UK curriculum, as it is in the program of the Church of England, learners are usually educated on the meaning of actions of values: rights, equality, participation, respect, community, non-violence, sustainability, compassion, trust, courage, honesty, love, joy, beauty and hope/optimism. Moreover, the education has published a sixteenth value under the heading of wisdom, which is supposed to arise when other values on the Index successfully interact. Going beyond the initial headings of the Index, one will realize shared understandings of participation, equality and community (Booth and Ainscow 2011).
Shared values at school are supposed to lead to everybody being treated fairly and feeling to be part of the school community. The young learners should enjoy finding each other, regardless of what they differ and have in common. They should also learn from each other and share what they know. These values should be clearly connected at home and at school. Everybody will be encouraged to speak when something is wrong, and seek solution through speaking and listening to each other. The children will also be able to enjoy seeing different animals and plants in the world. In this regard, they will be motivated to avoid wastes and care about the environment. Importantly, they will be taught about reducing the number of people with diseases, poverty and hunger in their country and other countries (Booth and Ainscow 2011; DfE 2014).
In Surrey County, the Index is successfully being implemented. The County has been training people from forty eighty schools as of January 2016. The training involves young people and adults (parents, governors and parents) and children. It is intended that the Index will enable the children in the County to raise their achievements. The Norfolk County is also using the value content of the Index to redesign its place of education. This has included thinking about and coming up with new educational resources that can support such kind of learning in Norfolk schools. At international scene, the UNESCO is supporting several countries to adopt the Index for Inclusion produced for the English schools. The Index for Inclusion program work with many organizations that overlap in content and approach: The Cooperative College, Global Thinking, Dialogic Education, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, Forest School Association and Sapere (Booth and Ainscow 2011).
The Australian Value Framework: Being, Becoming and Belonging
The Australian value framework encompasses being, becoming and belonging. Being involves putting the child in an environment that he can seek, and make meaning in the current childhood time. The children should know themselves, engage in life joys and complexities, form positive relationship with others and incur ensuing challenges. Becoming involves the child trying to form his own identity. In this regard, he will be gaining knowledge, capacities, skills and understanding and relationships in childhood to define himself in the future. All these emphasize and help him to participate well and fully in the society. Belonging involves inculcating values that enable the learner to understand those that he belongs to, as his integral part of existence. Children would first be attached to the family, school, neighborhood, cultural group and the whole community or the nation. The child has to acknowledge his interdependence to others to form relationships as the basis of his identity. As from early childhood, belonging will be central to determining the child’s future achievements (Commonwealth of Australia 2009).
Enhancing Becoming and Identity
Critical Analysis of the Value Inclusive Program
Value infused philosophy becomes different from philosophies of special education and mainstreaming. In this regard, controversies have emerged regarding including children with disabilities, speech impairments, mental retardation, learning disabilities and emotional behavioral disturbances in the same class using the same resources, time included. There are those who believe that certain students should only be allowed to enter certain classes if they regularly attend classes and maintain certain academic achievements. This is also the case with the philosophy of mainstreaming that argues that children with physical or intellectual disabilities should only be included in mainstream classes if they can obtain certain academic achievements with minimal assistances. Evidently, value inclusion seems a newer tem that advocates that all learners regardless of their disabilities should attend all regular classes, all days as per the traditional curriculum (Berg 2004).
The at-risk philosophy has it that teachers should give more attention to at-risk children since they are likely to fail due to the kind of environment and experience from which they come. The underpinning objective of the value infusion philosophy is to strengthen humanity, rather than individuality at large. Some authors have argued that this could be detrimental to one’s self –esteem and self-concept. Some students, especially those that require social needs may become overwhelmed, depressed and academically inadequate when they see their non-disabled counterparts doing things that they cannot do (Berg 2004). According to Mortimer Adler, a curriculum should have many options to allow the learner to pursue his own interest. Dewey also emphasizes that the society should acknowledge uniqueness of individuals. However, the value-infusion philosophy goes well with Marxists who believe that the Curriculum should serve to control social engineering by promoting democracy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2008).
Framework for Value-Infused Philosophy
The framework for infusing values in the teaching and learning environment will include the following 7 steps:
Undertaking dialogue/ advocacy/ awareness about the need of value-inclusive learning to stakeholders such as the school, family, local government and national government and education departments.
Developing and offering training to key people for the program. These key people can include educators, parents, local leaders and education department staff about and use of child-centered value-based education approaches.
Enhancing prevention and protection of children through creations of safe working environments.
Creating supports and more advocacy groups through mass communications on value-based early childhood programs.
Mobilizing and involving private sector or businesses to supply early childhood programs to employees. The private sector has to be instrumental too in fighting against social exclusions.
Identifying and building upon partnerships, alliances and affinity groups for children to encourage every individual, as parents, teachers, nurses, educators, and politicians to join in the efforts of developing the best child.
Assessing effectiveness and monitoring the progress of the program.
Making improvements on the program for children to be safer with right values (UNESCO 2000).
Importance of Value-Infused Philosophy in School
When these values are induced in the learning environment, every child will have a warm intimate relationship with caregivers, which will increase his motivation from the start. The child will also be afforded with physical safety, protection and regulation. In this regard, he will avoid both physical and psychological harms, exposures to violence and chemical toxins. The program will enable caregivers to prevent likely behavioral problems, enabling the child to grow to his or her full potential. The child will develop the right structure for limit-setting and expectation. He will learn how to limit aggression and solve his problems peacefully. By providing a stable environment, the child will feel wholly integrated in the society. He will be exposed to diversity, and continue with values that regard the family, religion, culture and peer group. Nonetheless, every child will have his needs met so that his future and identity is protected and developed (UNESCO 2000).
List of Reference
Berg, S L 2004, The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Inclusion Of Students With Disabilities Into Regular Education Classroom, Menomonie: University of Wisconsin Stout.
Booth, T and Ainscow, M 2011, Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and Participation in Schools, Bristol: CSIE
Commonwealth of Australia, 2009, Belonging, Being & Becoming, Sydney: Australian Government Department of Education,
DfE, 2014, Statutory Framework For The Early Years Foundation Stage: Setting The Standards For Learning, Development And Care For Children From Birth To Five Developments And Care For Children From Birth To Five, London: DfE.
Moss, P 2011, Democracy as first practice in early childhood education and care, Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development.
Moss, P 2009, There Are Alternatives! Markets and Democratic Experimentalism in Early Childhood Education and Care, The Hague, The Netherlands: Bernard van Leer Foundation
Moss, P 2007, Bringing politics into the nursery: early childhood education as a democratic practice, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15: 1, 5 — 20. DOI: 10.1080/13502930601046620, viewed 10 March 2016, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930601046620>
Petrie, P, Boddy, J, Cameron, C, Heptinstall, E, McQuail. S, Simon, A and Wigfall, V 2009, Pedagogy – A Holistic, Personal Approach to Work with Children and Young People, Across Services: European Models For Practice, Training, Education and Qualification. London: Thomas Coram Research Unit, IOE
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008, Philosophy of education, viewed 10 March 2016, <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/education-philosophy/>
UNESCO, 2000, Framework for Action on Values Education in Early Childhood, Paris: UNESCO.
