About Values Education

Within the community at large there is discussion about how our children acquire their values and how they make sense of values promoted by the media and their peers. Parents, caregivers and families are the primary source of values education for their children but they expect support from schools in this endeavour. Values education is an essential part of effective schooling.

The Australian Government, through the Values Education Program, is funding a number of initiatives to support values education in Australian schools.

These include:

• the Values in Action Schools Project
• curriculum and professional learning resources
• funding for state and territory education authorities to conduct a Values Education Professional Learning Program for teachers
• the Values Education website www.valueseducation.edu.au
• national activities, including partnership projects with parents, principals, teachers and teacher educators and a national conference.

Underpinning the Values Education program is The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools which was developed from the Values Education Study (2003) and national consultation of a draft framework. The national framework was agreed to and endorsed by all the State and Territory Ministers of Education and distributed to all Australian schools in February 2005.

The vision of the Framework is that all Australian schools provide values education in a planned and systematic way by:

• articulating, in consultation with their school community, the school’s mission/ethos;
• developing student responsibility in local, national and global contexts and building student resilience and social skills;
• ensuring values are incorporated into school policies and teaching programs across the key learning areas; and
•  reviewing the outcomes of their values education practices.

Previous initiatives funded by the Australian Government include:

• the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project – Stages 1 and 2
• the Values for Australian Schooling Kit
• and Values Education Forums

2002-2003 Values Archive

Values 2004 Archive