“To know how to have good communication – I think that is most important”. Values education in preschools.

• Published in: Netla
• Main Author: Sigurðardóttir, Ingibjörg Ósk
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2020
• Subjects: values education; social competences; preschool teachers; action research; gildamenntun; félagsfærni; leikskólakennarar; starfendarannsókn; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3276; https://doi.org/10.24270/netla.2020.10

This study is based on data from an action research project that was conducted in collaboration with seven preschool teachers in one preschool in the capital area of Iceland and lasted for 24 months. The aim was to investigate the participating preschool teachers’ views on values education in preschools and study how they mediate values to the preschool children. These three research questions have guided the study: 1) Which values do the preschool teachers find most important to mediate to the preschool children and why? 2) How do the preschool teachers see their own role in values education? 3) How do the preschool teachers mediate values to the children?The study is based on a sociocultural perspective where learning is seen as integrated with the social context in which it happens (Säljö, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978). Habermas’s theory of communicative action was also used to study values education in more depth. Habermas believed that learning happened mostly through communication and therefore he emphasized that education should focus more on communicative exchanges (Edgar, 2006; Habermas, 1995).The study adopts a definition of values from Halstead and Taylor (2000) who say that values are principles and fundamental convictions which act as general guides to behavior. Furthermore, they say that values are standards by which particular actions are judged to be good or desirable. In the study, values are seen as applicable to both individual minds and actions, rather than only belonging to one of these two spheres (Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004; Tappan, 2006). The concept of values education is a key focus in the study. It refers to educational practices through which children are assumed to learn values. The aim of values education is to promote children’s understanding and knowledge of values so they can act according to these particular values as members of the society to which they belong (Halstead & Taylor, 2000; Thornberg, 2008).This article is based on data gathered through four different methods. Firstly, ...