Values and Values in Education: the Implications for Values Education and Liberal Education and How This Is Exemplified in the Early Years Free-Flow Play System.

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Values and values in education: the implications for values education and liberal education and how this is exemplified in the Early Years free-flow play system. This essay is primarily about values in education and the extent to which they mirror the ideals of liberalism and values found in liberal democratic societies. These issues will be illustrated and highlighted by an exploration of the key values of a liberal democracy. I will begin by discussing how liberalism and it’s values have developed through history and how its evolvement has resulted in the various different perspectives of liberalism that we have today. I will firstly discuss Gray’s (1986) four perspectives of liberalism- individualism, egalitarianism, universalism and meliorism and how the different ideologies of liberalism that we see in today’s liberal democracy underpin educational practices. I will then move to focus particularly on Halstead’s (1997) three fundamental values of a liberal society: individual liberty, equality of respect and consistent rationality. I will argue that these are the three key values that underpin the values of a liberal democracy ,and that are therefore reflected in aspects of our education system, predominantly within aspects of the Early Years free-flow play system. The main theme of the essay will revolve around Halstead’s idea of consistent rationality and how it’s fostering within children and schools is not only central to values education and the development of values but also for academic attainment in general. To illustrate this I will draw on the theories of well-known child psychologists such as Bruner, Piaget and Vygotsky. I will also explain how values need to be taught in schools through philosophical and reflective thought that develops children’s consistent rationality enabling them to generate their own personal values, and to develop their
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