Values in education
SCHOOLS are entrusted with the responsibility of helping students develop their skills to meet the challenges ahead. Skills broadly refer to critical thinking, creativity, communication, and the like. Skills for the future are mostly geared towards developing higher-order thinking so students can become independent and lifelong learners, with curiosity to explore, ability to innovate, and willingness to bring about positive change. Within these parameters is a human side to education — where students’ propensity to respond to what they are taught is closely linked to their affinity with the environment.
Studies show that students benefit from learning when they feel valued by their teachers and peers. Their willingness to contribute in class stems from positive interactions. Globally, as schools work on student and teacher well-being, this phenomenon has become embedded in the school culture. Schools operate as communities, an extension of family, where academic goals are intertwined with shared commitment to goals and values, where there is acceptance of different perspectives. The cue that children get in such an environment is: ‘I matter’. Children with a deep sense of belonging at school know that they will be protected against discrimination and disorder. They know they can speak up in class without being scoffed at, and they are encouraged to demonstrate a sense of purpose and agency. What is the role of teachers in fostering such an environment?
Teachers have long been role models for students. Their words and actions have ripple effects that percolate far down the corridors — from classrooms to common rooms, from the staff rooms to the playground and beyond. Students imbibe communication skills, confidence, rules of engagement, and personal values from their teachers. They watch and learn throughout their school lives. Teachers become carriers of school culture and values. This also means microaggressions can become normalised very quickly. If, for example, a teacher brushes off a student’s comments or reacts angrily to them, the response becomes acceptable to the students, who will demonstrate similar behaviour amongst themselves.
Students benefit from learning when they feel valued.
The human side of education implies looking closely at what the students are learning. What behavioural standards have they come to accept as their own? What expectations do their teachers have of them? Students pick up signals from their environment very early on. Holistic education is not confined to a robust curriculum. It includes values inculcated in classrooms, the mindset and behaviour that define the culture of an educational institution. Schools that have built and sustained a positive culture where students feel valued have done so over time with structured strategies.
Unacceptable social behaviour or incidental infractions are not left unaddressed, nor are there harsh consequences. In fact, research shows that harsh consequences in which students are berated, ostracised, or subjected to humiliation will harden them to the point where they progressively defy authority. The big challenge for students in such environments is not to avoid breaking rules or defying expectations but to perfect the strategies to avoid being caught. The more time a student spends avoiding consequences, the more it affects their overall motivation and ability to focus on academic goals. School life becomes more about avoiding getting into trouble than about doing better in their studies.
School culture and its embedded values are important for this very reason — so students can spend time on actually working on meeting curriculum standards and involving themselves in healthy co-curricular and community activities. Students need to spend time embodying the role of responsible citizenship. Many of these values are developed in their foundational years and beyond, mainly through early intervention.
Early intervention can take the form of social-emotional learning that is embedded in the curriculum framework throughout the school years. Students are taught emotional regulation in their interactions, and self-expression and agency in social engagement. Individual strengths are celebrated, personal stories shared, and opportunities created for students’ voices to be heard in small groups and larger forums. When teachers celebrate positive behaviour in public and with parents, students begin to recognise and follow expectations. Some schools provide practical techniques for behaviour reinforcement at home. Many schools organise learning workshops with the senior students so the mantle is carried forward — ‘this is how we do things around here’ is the legacy students imbibe from their seniors and their teachers.
The writer is a teacher educator, author and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.
X: @nedamulji
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2026
