Research into learning power and values in education at the University of Bristol since 1996 has shown that learners achieve more and work better together when a focus on academic performance is matched by attention to personal and social development.
In particular, schools involved in this research found that staff and students were able to unite around a set of shared values, developing trust and co-operation. This created the ideal climate for developing learner-centred practices, promoting students' self-awareness and responsibility as learners and improving their performance.
The purpose of a Values Development project is to enable a school or organisation to harness the energy and commitment of its community and maximise its potential for excellence and improvement.
The project does this by:
- involving all stakeholder groups in a research-validated values consultation exercise
- identifying what really matters to them in their school
- composing a set of values and a vision statement that accurately reflect these views
- embedding the new vision and values in the policy and practice of the school.
The initial outcomes of a Values Consultation are:
- a summary analysis is provided of feedback from all stakeholder groups
- the Project Team and School Leadership agree a format of presentation to staff
- all staff are involved in 1-day training to agree and interpret the core values
- strategies are agreed to confirm the consensus, disseminate the outcomes to all stakeholders and formally adopt the new vision and values statements.
A school's (or organisation's) identified vision and values will then typically be:
- prominently displayed
- frequently referred to
- used to inform spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
- integrated with citizenship education
- known and remembered by a large majority of students and staff
- used to shape and review all policies
- implemented in every classroom and workplace
- referred to in all self-evaluation exercises.
In line with Every Child Matters, a school's students should then:
- be safer (e.g. as measured by bullying statistics)
- enjoy school more (shown by attendance and attitude surveys)
- achieve more (using ELLI profiles; value added measures and test/exam results)
- contribute more positively to the community (in such ways as peer mentoring, Council activity, cleanliness and quality of the environment, community service programmes)
- become more economically productive (shown by ELLI profiles; destinations of leavers).
