Group Trains Teachers on Value-based Education

Ugo Aliogo, Ifediora Obianujunwa and Christopher Ike

The Foundation for Value Transformation (FVT) recently held a training programme for teachers from 20 schools as part of efforts to improve value-based education in Nigeria and equip them with the requisite knowledge to teach.

Speaking at the event in Lagos, the Executive Director of the foundation, Olusegun Caulcrick, said if the society desires to change and improve people’s results and performance in the workplace, there is need to shift focus to the origin of their values which has an impact on the attitude of people.

He maintained that the quality of leadership in the country is founded mainly on the values obtainable, while stressing the need to train the youths with the right values to ensure that they become better than their predecessors.

He called on public and private school owners to create a culture in the school system that would enable students to imbibe the right values, adding that when students internalise these values it becomes a part of them and make them better citizens.

“If the values of the older generation are bad, then the value of the society will get worse as we move along. Values determine the long-term success of an individual. I have seen people rise to the zenith of their careers, but because they had wrong values they could not perform. Value-based education should start from the nursery and primary schools levels.

“In other places such as UK, and Australia they start from that level. The parents, teachers and the community are involved in this task of impacting values on the students. The society through the school system can intervene to ensure that these children are taught the right values,” Caulcrick stressed.

He said the organisation was founded in 2012 to improve the quality of life of Nigerians, adding that an individual’s performance in academics or workplace is an offshoot of his/her behaviour and decisions which he said are influenced by mind set.

In her remarks, the facilitator from the International Value Education Trust (IVET), Patricia Beechey, said value-based education is a philosophy which has expanded for 10 years in the UK. She urged teachers to use their values to underpin every aspect of the school, as well as people in workplace environment.

Beechey added that parents, teachers and society need to play a role in modelling the values, while stating that the national curriculum has values already embedded in it, but it is not being implemented as expected.

“My role here is to support the teachers and leaders and show them a way they can make the values come to life; then work in their schools. Their challenges are horrendous. I am hoping that they will take into practice all that we have done here, while considering the fact that they have a role to play in remodelling the minds of the younger generation.

“Also, the expectation is that we will take the exercises and lessons back to their schools and work with other senior teachers which will have a major impact on their students. Then the school in question will select the values that are most important to them.

“We want these children to absorb these values into their being and make it their guiding principles. Therefore, if they want to take any decision in life they will re-examine their decisions to find out if it is in conformity with expected values. It is a slow process and a big challenge living out your values. The big drive we have done with this training is to show the leaders that if they want the children to change they have to model it.”

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