thesis on value education

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The Role of Personal Values in Learning Approaches and Student Achievements

Kelum a. a. gamage.

1 James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

D. M. S. C. P. K. Dehideniya

2 Department of Education, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka; moc.liamg@ayinedihedkpcs (D.M.S.C.P.K.D.); moc.liamg@anammagitayukas (S.Y.E.)

Sakunthala Y. Ekanayake

Associated data.

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy.

Personal values play a significant role when adopting learning approaches by individuals during their studies. Particularly in higher education, these values significantly influence the character that individuals play within their learning community and ultimately influence their academic achievements. The purpose of this paper is to investigate personal values in their choice of learning approaches and, subsequently, how it impacts one’s academic achievements. It also investigates the importance of developing an individual’s personal values as a part of their wider studies, while aligning these with graduate attributes and balancing them with knowledge and skills, to produce successful graduates in a society.

1. Introduction

Values are the fundamental beliefs, behaviours and attitudes that have been approved and accepted as what is good by society for a long time. In the most general sense, they are considered as the virtues that a person holds in his or her life. However, philosophers, researchers, practitioners and many others have defined and addressed values from different perspectives concerning the respective discipline or contexts. Generally, values are viewed as inner realities of an individual that are reflected through habits, behaviours, beliefs, expectations and relationships. Values lay the foundation for an individual’s pattern of thinking and way of acting. They play a vital role in how one makes decisions, choices and builds perceptions and attitudes. Additionally, various studies on personal values have shown that they often guide decision making in all aspects of life such as career, religion, social circles and self-identity [ 1 ]. Another aspect of personal values is that they can be viewed as desirable motivational goals and interests of an individual or the guiding principles in life. In addition, they have been seen as the non-existent mental entities and as the outcomes of mental development. Consequently, values can be seen as the perceptions of psychological expressions or frame of mind. Moreover, they are consequential issues that manifest the personality of an individual. Hence, the realisation of personal values by the self is crucial and determines the growth and the existence of the self in any situation. Conversely, understanding another person’s respected values is also important.

As a consequence of the constant transformation of society in terms of culture, economics and politics, value and value systems have been unusually changed and distorted. In favour of the same idea, Daniela et al. [ 2 ] justify this by arguing, “with modernity it is normal that personal value systems support changes to harmonize itself to current requirements”. Initially, some of the personal values may be determined by birth and later greatly influenced and molded by education, experiences, society, culture and many other factors. According to Matthews et al. [ 3 ], an alteration in lifestyle, cultural environment and economic circumstances, individually or a combination of these factors, can cause values to change. Personal value systems can be viewed as a relatively permanent framework that exists within an individual which decides what is good or bad for himself or herself and his or her companions. In addition, it shapes and influences the general nature of an individual’s behaviour. Researchers have found that personal values developed early in life may be resistant to change and may be derived from those of particular groups or systems, such as culture, religion and political party. However, personal values are not universal. Genetically inherited features and external factors including education may determine one’s personal values. Essentially, the antecedents of values are culturally embedded in society and its institutions [ 3 ] and are socially determined [ 2 ]. Although a personal value is an internal phenomenon, the motivating force to adopt the value is seen as emanating from a diverse range of external sources [ 4 ]. As values directly influence one’s entire lifestyle, a discussion of values and value systems, their place within changing socioeconomic contexts and how they affect individuals and society has universal relevance.

The value systems of a society always determine human activity in social life, education and professional life. Values are seen as a key component of organisational culture and are repeatedly defined as the principles accountable for the successful management of the organization [ 5 ]. Arambewela and Hall [ 6 ] support the same issue, stating [ 7 ]: personal values have long been considered an important variable in understanding consumer behaviour and decision making. As a result, the interest in knowing the drivers behind consumer attitudes and behaviour has encouraged marketing researchers to investigate human values [ 8 ] (Anana and Nique, 2014). Hence, many researchers have emphasised the need and advantage of studying the impact of personal values on the sustainable existence of an organisation.

Investigating the influence of values on assessments made by people on their career choices is another trending research area. In general, professions such as teaching, medicine and nursing are strongly attached and influenced by values. The results of a research study by Anana and Nique [ 8 ] has concluded that students choosing some careers are more typical, based on their values than others, and that some values are more typical of some careers than others. Thus, personal values have been taken as the main focus in the research in a variety of fields and academic disciplines ([ 3 ] cites Feather, 1975). In this regard, the need for identifying different scopes of human values is a timely requirement. Since professional values are also shaped and influenced by personal values, indeed a discussion on personal values can be regarded as an issue that unchanged over time.

There has been a growing concern over the erosion of values among youth during the past few years, and it is continually progressing. At the same time, the need for facilitating value development has become the greatest challenge ahead in the field of education. The effects of the value given to material comforts, money, fame and success are prominently reflected through the present younger generation. Hence, there is a considerable emphasis in this new century on the development of values: tolerance, social justice, open-mindedness, empathy and deep respect for others. Since realizing values and adopting and displaying them as one’s personality is closely associated with education, values education is given a greater emphasis today to ensure the continuity of societies. The functions of education in molding student’s moral, spiritual and sociocultural life are some of the areas that have received renewed attention in the recent past. In addition, they have long been considered important variables in understanding student behaviours, attitudes and achievements. Consequently, the outcomes of Branson [ 4 ] provide an insight into the benefits of value-based studies in educational management and administration. The realization of value can offer assistance in organizing the learning process by explaining and understanding students’ reactions to various situations and tailoring and evaluating the learning experience. Though students’ learning takes place within the self, it is not an isolated process. Research has confirmed that learning is affected by a variety of internal and external factors. Researchers have observed variations in students’ learning approaches, and furthermore, they have found qualitative differences in learning outcomes that were related to the approaches taken (Matthews et al. [ 3 ] refer Marton and Saljo [ 9 ]). Accordingly, if the personal values deal with the behaviour of a person, learning may also have influenced by personal values. Based on that assumption, a number of researchers study the composition and structure of students’ learning approaches and personal values [ 10 ] and their interconnections have been observed in various contexts. Research in this area confirms that values are related to different approaches to learning and they may change according to the circumstances. Considering the students’ behaviour in different academic situations, researchers have categorized the learning approaches into different groups. Furthermore, researchers have attempted to build up the connections between learning approaches and specific personal values. For example, as referred by Matthews et al. [ 3 ] and Tarabashkina [ 10 ], personal values such as achievement and power were related to the achieving approach, security and tradition values to the surface approach, and self-direction and universalism to the deep learning approach. In addition, this relationship was confirmed by a number of studies with some variations.

The values occupy a pre-eminent position on the agenda of researchers in education and many other domains as they impact behaviour, attitudes, expectations and all the other personal characteristics and constructs. Hence, this paper seeks to contribute by reviewing the available literature on the role of personal values concerning learning approaches and student achievements. The review centres on the following given objectives.

• To investigate the role of students’’ personal values in their choice of learning approaches;
• To investigate the impact of personal values on one’s academic achievement;
• To investigate the importance of developing individual’s personal values as a part of their academic life;
• To investigate how one’s personal values shape the learning community around that person and vice versa.

2. Background Literature

The background literature aims to synthesise the most relevant research outcomes for the main topic of study under the four main areas: personal values, personal value theories, value education and learning approaches. The concept of personal values is quite closely connected with value theories and value education. In reality, they are inseparable and cannot be treated separately since they are branches of the same root. About the very same idea, to define, describe and to understand personal values, several frameworks have been used by the researchers. Thus, the historical evolution of personal values can be identified through the presented frameworks. Moreover, as the literature suggests, through empirical evidence, there exists a relationship between personal values and students’ learning. Hence, uncovering the background literature through the above four areas are important for the total comprehension of the reader.

2.1. Personal Values

As a whole, personal values significantly influence all aspects of one’s life. It is also obvious that values contribute to the building of one’s personal and social identity. Understanding the concept of personal values is indeed a complex process. Over the past years, it has been viewed diversely analysing from the individual level and up to organisational, institutional, social and cultural levels [ 2 , 11 , 12 ], resulting in several definitions addressing different scopes.

Personal values or individual values are the values to which an individual is committed and which influences his behaviour [ 13 ]. As Ledden et al. [ 14 ] view, value perceptions are the result of a cognitive trade-off between benefits and sacrifices. According to Rokeach [ 7 ], a value is a long term belief that a certain path or purpose of existence is preferable from the social and personal point of view over another one in the opposite [ 2 ]. Furthermore, values can be referred to as interests, desires, goals, needs and standards of preference [ 3 ]. (Ros [ 15 ] supports the same concept and states, “a value is a desirable state, object, goal or behaviour transcending specific situations and applied as normative standard to judge and to choose among alternative modes of behaviour” [ 2 , 15 ].

Moving a little from the basic components mentioned in the previous definitions, Anana and Nique [ 8 ] say that a value is a reference people use to judge themselves and others or to influence the values, attitudes and actions of other people, such as children. People who use the features obtained through the sense organs in defining other beings can benefit from the impressions they have emotionally in attributing importance to that being and appraising it [ 16 ]. These emotion-based impressions are generally called “values”. Another definition suggests that values are systematic and, to some extent, precise ideas that ensure the interaction of an individual with the environment [ 17 ]). Regarding the concept of personal values, Mashlah [ 5 ] and Daniela et al. (2013) [ 2 ] refer to Schwartz and Bilsky’s [ 18 ] and Schwartz’s [ 19 ] definition of values as a combination of five main features: values are (a) concepts or beliefs (b) about desirable end states or behaviours (c) that transcend specific situations, (d) guide the selection or evaluation of behaviour and events and (e) are ordered by relative importance. Analytical observation on the definitions of values shows that they are more or less diverse in meanings. Basically, terms such as interests, beliefs, desires and behaviour have been used in common in definitions. However, when focused, it is evident that values have been defined as concerning the cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects of an individual.

In contrast to the above, Ledden [ 14 ] calls attention to another two important points referring to the relevant literature. Firstly, based on the literary evidence, researchers state that value’s loose definition and the diverse nomenclature used by authors have collectively led to some authors using the term value interchangeably with concepts such as satisfaction, quality and values, particularly with the personal values that guide human behaviour such as beliefs of right and wrong. Secondly, as Ledden states [ 14 ], despite the consensus on terms and definition of values, the literature evidences some confusion in differentiating between the concept of the value and the notion of values. The argument is supported with an important distinction between value (singular) and values (plural) marked by Holbrook [ 20 ], defining the former as a preference judgment and the latter as the criteria by which people make such preference judgments; thus, value is related to, but distinct from, the concept of values. In a general sense, this diversity possibly emerges through the variations in values referred to in different research domains.

Adhering to the research outcomes, Branson et al. [ 4 ] discusses the adoption of values by a person. As explained by values theory, a person’s values are dependent upon his or her consciousness and those values are unique to the person. Research shows that people do not learn values, but rather, they unconsciously adopt values. For example, values are adopted subliminally rather than being consciously selected and deliberately adopted by the individual [ 4 ]. Each person sees a unique and specific view of their world due to the influence of his or her conscious perceptions.

Turning to the historical traces of debates and discussions on personal values, values are abstract concepts that have been studied since ancient times [ 21 ] and can be traced back to the lessons from Aristotle, Plato and Socrates [ 15 ]. Evidently, research into value education has been carried out for almost centuries [ 3 ] and continues today. As a result, several definitions and models have been suggested and empirically studied over the past years. Despite the key components and focuses, several models are found frequently cited in the research literature. As Hanel, Litzellachner and Maio [ 11 ] suggested, the following are at the forefront of all the other individual value models.

• Spranger’s (1921)—Model of types of people;
• Rokeach’s (1973)—Instrumental and terminal values;
• Schwartz’s—The Schwartz (1992) theory of basic human values;
• Gouvela’s (2013)—Functional theory of values.

Value theories focused on values at the individual level as well values can also be described on a cultural level. As Hanel, Litzellachner and Maio [ 11 ] refer, three prominent approaches of this type were proposed by Inglehart, Hofstede and Schwartz [ 19 ].

Particularly for this article, Schwartz’s model of human values is adopted as the fundamental theory to discuss the issues highlighted in the objectives since it has been referred to as the theoretical ground of a number of recent research studies on personal values in a variety of contexts. Specifically in the studies which examined how the basic values relate to various attitudes, opinions, behaviours, personalities and background characteristics. In addition, it has been used in hundreds of studies that assessed value transmission and development in an individual from childhood to adolescence and value change over time. Moreover, the theory itself concerns the basic values that people in all cultures recognize [ 19 ]. Thus, it can be accepted as universally applicable without any bias. Additionally, considering the very diversity of meanings of the construct of values, the sociopsychological aspects of values are focused on throughout this article.

2.2. Personal Value Theories—Schwartz Theory of Human Values

Values can range from the simplest forms, such as punctuality and kindness, to pretentious forms such as self-direction, universalism and conformity. Over the past years, various value models have been proposed and empirically supported [ 11 ]. All of them have often defined human values as abstract ideals that guide people’s behaviour and are crucial for explaining social and personal organizations and tracing their changes due to various factors. Among the different value models that have been suggested, the Schwartz [ 18 ] theory of basic human values is found frequently cited in the literature.

As Schwartz described, there are six main features of values according to the theory [ 18 , 19 ]: values are beliefs linked inextricably to affect, values refer to desirable goals that motivate action, values transcend specific actions and situations, values serve as standards, values are ordered by importance relative to one another and the relative importance of multiple values are guides to action. These six features apply to all values. Furthermore, theory distinguishes ten basic values (value types) which encompass the range of motivationally distinct values recognized across cultures. These values are likely to be universal because they are grounded in universal requirements of human existence. However, they differ in their motivational content. The definitions of the ten values in terms of the broad goals they express in Table 1 .

Values and the motivational goals—the Schwartz theory of personal values.

He presented the structural model of basic values which takes the form of a circle. Complementary values, i.e., values that are similar to motivational content, are located side by side on this circle while competing values are located at opposing sides [ 18 , 19 ]. The closer any two values in either direction around the circle, the more similar their underlying motivations; the more distant, the more antagonistic their motivations [ 19 ]. It seems that the whole set of ten values relates to each other closely or distantly and by that mean they may interrelate with any other variable such as behaviour, attitude, age, etc. ( Figure 1 ).

Theoretical model of relations among ten motivational types of values.

2.3. Value Education

The concept of values has been defined differently in the literature depending on the contexts and the situations. However, along with the rapid changes in the world, the concepts of values and value education have gained renewed attention due to the increased social immorality [ 21 ]. Value education can address different forms and definitions. In religious senses, it is most possibly defined as moral and spiritual development. To sociological concepts, it can be termed as the part of socialisation and personality development or the transmission of cultural elements. In the dimension of education, it is addressed through citizenship education. However, in the most general sense, value education stresses the process by which people develop moral values and transfer them through factors such as social relationships, religion and education.

The values, attitudes and personal qualities of young people and the role of the school in spiritual, moral, social and cultural development have received renewed attention in recent years [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. As education is a personality-building process [ 24 ], school education is challenged by preparing students to face the complexities of future life. Rapidly changing socioeconomic structures and their consequences in terms of patterns of work, family life and social relationships requires an educational response. In that context, experts have recognised the 21st century school curriculum as the most influential mode of transferring values to the younger generation other than the family and other immediate social units. Sahin [ 16 ] suggests that implicit or planned values education in schools plays an active role in transferring values from society to society. By its definition, value education refers to those pedagogies that educators use to create enriching learning experiences for students and addresses issues related to character formation [ 25 ] and moral development. Moral values are the values that make individuals distinguish between what is good or bad and right or wrong and simply it gives the ideas about the good personal and social life. Halstead and Tylor [ 21 ] refer to a discussion document on Spiritual and Moral Development and highlight that the moral values that school should promote are telling the truth, keeping promises, respecting the rights and property of others, acting considerately towards others, helping those less fortunate and weaker than ourselves, taking personal responsibility for one’s actions and self-discipline. Moreover, schools reject bullying, cheating, deceit, cruelty, irresponsibility and dishonesty.

Sahin [ 16 ] has identified the four main characteristics of values education as:

• To raise individuals’ awareness of universal (ethical), cultural values, and their importance;
• To relate democratic attitudes and tolerance to multiculturalism;
• To evaluate all values with the criteria of improving people’s living conditions and facilities;
• To turn life into knowledge and/or knowledge into life considering concrete problems related to ethical values.

Sahin [ 16 ] views the main purpose of values education as to make values permanent behaviours in students. Providing students with the knowledge and insight into values and beliefs that enables them to reflect on their experience in a way that develop their spiritual awareness and self-knowledge, teaches them the principles which distinguish right from wrong and teaches students to appreciate their cultural traditions and the diversity and richness of other cultures are among the basic functional aspects of value education provided through the school education [ 21 ]. Accordingly, the particular theme of value education is directly related to inculcating moral values in students, and it can be identified as another phase of personal value development since the same aspects are named and described in personal value models and frameworks in more or less similar terms. For example, the features that institutions wish to promote through moral or value education are discussed in the ten basic values in Schwartz theory of basic values under the themes of conformity, benevolence, tradition, security and universalism. As Schwartz [ 19 ] views, benevolence and conformity values both promote cooperative and supportive social relations and both values may motivate the same helpful act, separately or together. Traditional values imply one’s affection towards religious beliefs and respect for tradition and customs while security values inspire one’s need for safety and harmony. Hence, through value education, it develops values such as conformity, security, universalism and benevolence.

In developing values in individuals, it is widely recognised that schools are not the only nor are they the greatest influence on the values, attitudes and personal qualities of young people, but parents, communities and other agencies are also influential [ 21 ]. The early-stage value development through the family, neighbours, practice of religion, culture and nursery forms the foundation for the personal values system that one holds. It can be further sharpened through the formal and informal educational and cultural practices in the school or any other institution.

2.4. Learning Approaches

Approaches to learning mainly focus on how children engage in learning referring to the use of skills and behaviours. In addition, they are discussed incorporating emotional, behavioural and cognitive domains. Learning is a process of changing behaviour through experiences and is relatively a permanent product. Hence, it is important to understand student learning approaches to improve and maintain the quality of the learning experience. Beyaztas and Senemoglu [ 26 ] define learning approaches in terms of how a learner’s intentions, behaviours and study habits change according to their perception of a learning task to the context which the learner regards.

According to Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ] two major perspectives have guided theory and research into student learning: The first is The Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) rooted in North America, and the second is The Students’ Approaches to Learning (SAL) that is prominent in Europe and Australia/Southeast Asia. In parallel to that, Matthews et al. (2007) [ 3 ] cite Biggs’ [ 28 ] findings on Asian student learning approaches, and according to it, learning is based on two types: the Information Processing Approach and the Contextually and Experientially Based Learning Approach. The above findings specifically refer to the geographical region and it is reasonable to pose the argument that the variation patterns in learning approaches are existing to the sociogeographical factors such as country, region and culture.

Biggs [ 29 , 30 ] specified three distinct approaches (see Table 2 ) to learning namely, The Surface, The Deep and The Achieving approaches to learning [ 3 , 27 ]. In addition, each approach is composed of a motivation that directed learning and a strategy for the implementation of the learning approach [ 3 ].

Motivations and strategies in student approaches to learning.

Note. MNNote. Matthews et al. (2007) [ 3 ] following Biggs [ 29 ] and Murray-Harvey [ 31 ].

Li’s [ 32 ] perspective on student learning approaches is quite different from the above and states that students are smart in different ways and have different learning approaches. According to Na Li, the two major perspectives of learning are the constructivist and student-centred learning approaches: Inquiry-based learning, Problem-based learning, the Situated and embodied cognition model, Self-regulated learning and Cognitive apprenticeship model and Technology-enhanced learning approaches.

Research into learning approaches has focused on studying the impact of background factors such as gender, sociocultural backgrounds, discipline area, personal values and the learning culture of students. As highlighted by Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ], Cano-Garcia [ 33 ] has shown that older female students tended to score higher on the deep and achieving approaches to learning than younger male students. In addition, studies of Jones et al. [ 34 ] and Smith and Miller [ 35 ] reflected strong relationships between learning approaches and academic disciplines. Beyaztas and Senemoglu [ 26 ] reveal another dimension of research on learning approaches in relation to the examination on students’ learning and studying behaviour towards exams and exam types. Results of these interventions revealed that students’ learning approaches change according to the examination type they were preparing for and Ramsden [ 36 ] has proposed strategic learning approaches for students who have more exam-oriented study behaviours.

Another major area that researchers concentrated is changes in the learning approach over time. A number of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have investigated changes in learning approaches over time [ 3 , 10 , 37 ]. Both Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ] and Tarabashkina and Lietz [ 10 ] refer to the same group of studies that investigated changes in learning approaches over time. As they arranged into the chronological order the earliest, Watkins and Hattie’s [ 38 ] study on a sample of undergraduate students found that the longer students had studied, the more they displayed characteristics of the deep approach to learning. Contrary to the results of their first study, Watkins and Hattie’s longitudinal study [ 39 ] showed no evidence of students’ deep learning approaches intensifying over time. However, Biggs [ 29 ] reported a general decline in the deep approach from the first to final year of study in a sample of undergraduate students in Australia. However, no significant changes were observed for other learning approaches. In the study by Gow and Kember [ 40 ], results showed that older students used the deep approach significantly more often than younger students. In addition, students at the beginning of their studies appeared to prefer an achieving approach compared to students who were further advanced in their studies. In addition, the more time that had elapsed since leaving school, the fewer the number of students who displayed characteristics of the surface approach. In another study by Kember [ 41 ], it was uncovered that younger students showed a preference for a more superficial approach in a comparison of first, second and third-year students. In contrast to the results of his study in 1990 [ 40 ], he found that first-year students showed significantly higher scores on the deep approach to learning than second and third-year students. Zeegers’s [ 42 ] study on a class of chemistry students over 30 months has shown a significant decline in the achieving strategy and a significant increase in the surface strategy over the time of the study. For the deep approach, no statistically significant changes emerged over time. Another study carried out by Matthews [ 3 ] on the same issue discovered that students’ approaches to learning generally became deeper over time. In contrast, Cano’s [ 33 ] study observed a significant decline from junior to senior high school with regards to the deep and surface learning approaches both in boys and girls.

In general, preference for a deep learning approach has emerged as the major concern of all studies, and there is no specific pattern of applying a particular approach for learning among the students. Hence, there may be some other background factors influencing the selection and application as well as the changing of a specific approach to learning. In the point of factors affecting students’ learning approaches, Beyaztas and Senemoglu [ 26 ] summarize the 3P model (Presage, Process and Product), and according to it, prior knowledge, abilities, preferred ways of learning, values and expectations, teaching context (including the curriculum) and teaching methods affect the student’s selection.

As revealed through the research studies, approaches to learning are probable to change in response to gender, ability, formal teaching authority, time, personal values [ 3 , 27 ], the requirements of and as an adaptation to new environments, the learning culture and the academic discipline and its nature [ 10 , 27 ]. Additionally, as Beyaztas and Senemoglu [ 26 ] state, referring to an early study of Ramsden [ 36 ], students’ perception of their teachers and departments also have important effects on their learning approaches. In addition, the curriculum and sociocultural environment also may have an effect on selecting the learning approach. Thus, it can be concluded that students’ preference for learning approach is influenced by several factors and they may be inborn or situational. In other words, learning approached may be a result of a combination of several internal and external factors including personal value traits.

3. Methodological Design

This research is based on a systematic review of the literature with a narrative summary that exclusively depended on online databases. The predetermined selection criteria, which are given in Table 3 , were applied during the database search screening of the text titles, abstracts and whole texts.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Following the above-mentioned criteria, full texts that were reported within 20 years were purposely selected due to the availability of a limited number of accessible resources to retrieve the literature. In relation to the year of publication, the search action was conducted with the use of online databases. As the main sources of data, Google Scholar, JSTOR and Elsevier were used. The ResearchGate database was also used for the search of resources.

The comprehensive search resources were completed based on a wide range of key terms and phrases including “values”, “personal values”, “learning approaches”, “learning communities” and “learning approaches—academic achievement and value education”. However, similar terms that are often used interchangeably in the literature were also used. In particular, with regards to the concepts of personal values and value education, they have also been searched through the terms “humanistic values”, “soft skills”, “social skills” and “moral education”.

As the search action resulted in a limited number of appropriate and accessible sources, the reference section of the found texts were studied in the search for more relevant texts. After the exclusion of sources that did not satisfy the criteria in Table 3 , 38 texts were selected for analysis. The content of the selected resources was studied and analysed in detail. Then, the required data were organized under four main themes following the study objectives.

4.1. Objective 1: To Investigate the Role of Students’ Personal Values in Their Choice of Learning Approaches

In the most general sense, approaches to learning describe what a student does when he/she is learning and why he/she should do it. In other words, it is the way that students perceive and value the learning process and how they behave during the process. As suggested by the aforementioned facts and information, education correlates with personal values. Hence, a considerable number of educational studies have been carried out to examine the composition and structure of personal values and their relationships with learning approaches. Values are considered to be precursors as well as predictors of behaviour [ 3 ]. In the same way, studies have proven that a tendency towards certain types of behaviours depends strongly on the structure of one’s values. Conversely, learning can be seen as a type of individual-specific behavioural pattern. In that respect, it is justifiable to accept that there is a relationship between personal values and the learning approaches of students. In addition, the values are believed to be influenced by background factors such as religion, culture, political factors, age and many others. Assuming that they also definitely influence in preference of a student’s learning approach, research into learning approaches has focused on a variety of backgrounds. According to Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ], research studies have focused on studying the differences in choice of learning approach and personal values relationships depending on gender, discipline area of study, prior performance and the experiences of students, especially the students who undertake higher education in another country. With regards to personal values, researchers in this context have confirmed that values are correlated with different learning approaches.

The influence of personal values on life goals are better described as follows: “values refer to desirable goals that motivate action” [ 19 ]. Wilding and Andrew’s [ 43 ] study results of “Life goals, approaches to study and performance in an undergraduate cohort” can be discussed taking that as the ground. According to them, the deep approach and the surface approach are the two main approaches to studying that have been distinguished by several researchers. In addition, an achieving or strategic approach employs either deep or surface strategies, depending on the demands of the task. The research aimed to investigate factors contributing to the choice of the preferred study approach at university and relations between these factors and academic performance. Based on the results, as the researchers state, this study has shown that approaches to study are related to wider attitudes to life or the general life goals and relations were found to be consistent with the deep approach being associated with altruistic life goals and the surface approach being associated with wealth and status life goals. The achieving approach was related to both types of life goal, but more strongly to wealth and status life goals.

The most frequently referred research of Matthews [ 3 ] on sojourner students in Australia has found interesting relationships between values and learning approaches. From the three pairs of canonical variables that emerged out of the analysis the first pair of variables illustrated that students with clearly defined value structure had equally well-defined learning motivations and strategies. The second pair of variables showed that students who had low integrity values showed a higher preference for surface or superficial learning. In contrast, the third pair of variables indicated that students who had a lesser emphasis on values associated with the Confucian ethos showed a strong preference for the deep strategy [ 3 ].

In the study of “Values and Learning approaches of students at an international University”, Matthews, Lietz and Darmawan [ 3 ] relate the ten values postulated by Schwartz et al. [ 18 ] to Biggs’ [ 29 ] six subscales and the relationships between values and approaches to learning has been estimated by canonical correlation analysis. It has revealed that values can be linked to learning approaches even in a situation where students have left their home countries to undertake tertiary studies in a new social, cultural and educational environment. There, the results have been interpreted to the higher-order values: self-aggrandisement, conservatism, self-directedness and benevolent change, which were initially termed as self-enhancement, self-transcendence, openness to change and conservation, respectively, as proposed by Schwartz [ 18 ]. Four distinct pairings between values and learning approaches were established: (a) self-aggrandisement (Achievement and power values) is linked to the achievement learning approach, (b) conservatism (universalism and benevolence values) relates to the surface learning approach, (c) self-directedness (self-direction and stimulation values) is linked to the deep learning approach and (d) benevolent change (conformity, tradition and security values) is related to the learning strategies variables were emerged as the results.

In terms of the main research question, the impact of students’ personal values on learning approaches and changes in them over time of Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ] longitudinal study on “The Effects of College Students’ Personal Values on Changes in Learning Approaches” has given mixed results. The three-year study results have shown no changes within students in the deep and surface approaches to learning but a significant decline for the achieving approach, particularly for students who previously experienced a more formal teaching authority. As they described, the students who identified to a greater extent with the achievement, hedonism and security values have demonstrated a higher achieving approach to learning at the start of their higher education. Conversely, but in line with expectations, students who valued having fun and a good time more than other students have displayed fewer characteristics of the achieving approach to learning. However, none of the personal values were found to influence how the achieving approach to learning changed over time. Based on the research outcome they have concluded that, while personal values appear to explain differences in learning approaches at one point in time they do not seem to contribute to explaining changes in learning approaches over time. In that case, as explained in a similar study by Matthews (2007) [ 3 ] students are likely to change both their personal values and learning approaches due to the influence of the new environment or it may result to pursue their education.

Parallel to the theme of the above studies, Tarabashkina and Lietz [ 10 ] carried out a longitudinal research study on “The impact of values and learning approaches on student achievement: Gender and academic discipline influences” using a cohort of international students who started their three-year Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees in September 2004 at a university in Germany. According to the results, hedonism and achievement were consistently related to the achieving approach over three years, whereas the achievement value probably had a large positive effect on the achieving approach, and hedonism (that is, the tendency to have fun) was negatively related to this approach across all occasions. Hedonism was also consistently and negatively linked to the deep approach throughout all years, whereas self-direction had a positive impact on this approach over a two-year period. Self-direction emerged as a constant predictor of the surface approach, although in the opposite direction to this effect for the deep approach.

Accordingly, the reported literature provides insights that the personal values and learning approaches are two components that occur at the same time with parallel construction. In addition, it establishes the relationship regarding how personal values are linked with different learning approaches and how these interrelationships change over time.

4.2. Objective 2: To Investigate the Impact of Personal Values on One’s Academic Achievement

Personal characteristics such as skills, abilities and values, academic adaptability, concern on learning objectives, decision making, innovation and communication are some of the main features of any valid evaluation criteria. When elaborating on the state of personal values in line with its impact on one’s academic achievement, knowledge as a human-specific activity is in direct relation with the way a person through his values perceives the world, the phenomena and events Daniela et al. [ 2 ]. The values favoured by different individuals can be more or less equal or different. Similarly, within each unique and specific view of the world, each person attributes different values to the same experience or the same value to different experiences [ 4 ]. Accordingly, the existing similarities and differences in values cause much diversity in behaviour. Typically, human beings tend to adapt their values according to the circumstances. In addition, it can be assumed that the values do reflect themselves through all the activities of individuals. Identifying the worth of studying these variations, in addition to exploring the link between values and learning approaches, the relationships between personal values and academic achievement, including the effect of factors such as gender and academic discipline, has been carried out by scholars. As the literature notes, the achievement motive and achievement goal are different in their nature, but they both share a commonality in terms of the role that individuals’ values may play as their underlying antecedents [ 44 ]. The argument is further confirmed citing Kaplan and Maehr [ 45 ], and they contend that individuals’ achievement goals are associated with their values. Similarly, values are considered desirable goals and individuals work hard to pursue them. Hence it is justifiable to say that in the academic setting students personal values or their personal goals substantially influence the academic achievement of the students.

Among the several research studies made to study the impact of values on academic achievements, Bala [ 46 ] discusses the values and adjustment problem of high achievers and low achievers based on a sample of 100 students from two senior secondary schools. There, the researcher has considered values in terms of theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political and religious values and adjustments related to social, health and emotional, school and home values. Achieving one of the specific objectives to determine the nature of the values of High and Low achievers, it arrives at several conclusions: (a) Higher achievers are more theoretical and social in comparison to low achievers and they have a dominant interest in knowledge, learning and believe more in kindness, charity and love; (b) High achievers and low achievers are similar as far as religious value is concerned; (c) Low achievers are more economic in comparison to high achievers. They believe more in materialistic life than high achievers; (d) High achievers are more political in their approach in comparison to low achievers; (e) Low achievers are superior on the aesthetic value in comparison to high achievers.

There has been little research to study the effect of a school’s disciplinary climate on improving students’ learning and academic achievement. However, the available past and present research support the view that student learning is immediately affected by the nature of the school’s disciplinary climate [ 4 ] as it controls students’ conduct by restricting the engagement in misbehaviour during school time and, thus, enhance student learning.

According to Ma and Willms [ 47 ], research findings based on a sample of grade 8 students in the US, the two most important disciplinary factors that affect academic achievement pertain to whether students were concerned about class disruptions, the proportion of students who talked to a school counsellor or teacher about disciplinary matters and the effect of the teacher–student relationship. As they revealed, with respect to the effects of indiscipline on academic achievement, the disciplinary measure that had the strongest relationship to academic achievement pertains mainly to classroom disruption. Additionally, they say that the effect of behaviour concern, which is a more traditional indicator of disciplinary climate, was negatively related to academic success. As they have found that students’ indiscipline has a significant detrimental effect on their academic achievement, to improve academic achievement from the perspective of a disciplinary climate, providing an orderly classroom environment has been suggested as a remedy.

Research conducted at the individual level has consistently shown a correlation between low cognitive ability, poor academic performances, learning disabilities, delinquency and particularly the relationship between academic performances and discipline [ 47 ]. In schools where advantaged students are concentrated, there will be fewer discipline problems and higher achievement levels as they completely target academic success rather than other issues, whereas schools serving disadvantaged students will have even worse discipline problems and lower levels of academic achievement. Ma and Willms [ 47 ] support that claim with Hawkins and Lishner [ 48 ], who have framed the relationship between academic performance and discipline as a circular process. School misconduct in the early elementary grades, combined with low ability or learning disabilities, are antecedents of poor academic performance in the late grades; poor academic performance in the late elementary grades leads to a low commitment to educational activities, disaffection toward school and an association with delinquent peers. These factors lead to dropping out or to delinquent behaviour. Value education is another concerned faculty that is gaining much concern in education. The results of a study on students attending character education and some of which did not have shown that the scores of those who underwent character education were higher than the scores of others [ 49 ]. As a whole, according to these authors, schools’ or any other learning community’s disciplinary climate acknowledges that better-behaved students generally are higher academic achievers. On that basis, as highlighted in the aforementioned discussion, if personal values are considered as abstract ideals that guide people’s behaviour, then there should be a correlation between delinquent behavioural patterns, cognitive ability level, academic performance and the personal values of an individual.

Liem et al. [ 44 ] examined the relationships between values, achievement motives, achievement goals and academic achievement among Indonesian high school students. There, in terms of the relationships between values and achievement motives, findings indicate that security and conformity values are positive predictors of the social-oriented achievement motive; self-direction is a positive predictor of the individual-oriented achievement motive, whereas hedonism is a negative predictor of both achievement motive orientations. There is also evidence for the direct effects of values on academic achievement. How personal values influenced students’ learning approaches and in turn, how they related to students’ achievement has been examined several times, and they have resulted in more or less similar results, as in Liem et al. [ 44 ]. Accordingly, Wilding and Andrew [ 43 ], based on their study cohort behaviour, have observed that those with less interest in wealth and status life goals produced better academic results. In other words, the successful students would seem to apply themselves more (or more effectively) to the immediate task rather than wider ambitions. Hence, they concluded the two variables associated with better performance were a self-reported achieving approach to learning, reflecting good organization and a systematic programme of study and a lower emphasis on wealth and status achievement in life. Furthermore, they stress that Biggs’ achievment approach to learning has consistently been shown to be positively related to academic performance, but neither the surface approach nor the deep approach has shown any such consistent relation. In contrast to that, the results of a study on a sample of university students by Tarabashkina and Lietz [ 10 ] showed that specific combinations of values were related to each learning approach and their relationship with the academic achievement of students over three years. In general, certain consistencies of these relationships have been observed throughout the study period. The deep and achieving learning approaches were associated with higher achievement, whereas students who displayed more characteristics of the surface learning approach had lower academic performance. Through statistical analysis, they built up the positive and negative relationships between personal values and learning approach: (a) Achieving learning approach—self-direction, achievement and hedonism; (b) Deep learning approach—self direction and hedonism; (c) Surface learning approach—conformity and self-direction. As they found, if the deep and achieving learning approaches were associated with higher achievement, then it can be assumed that self-direction, achievement and hedonism values are consistently associated with academic achievements, affecting them negatively and/or positively.

Similarly, the research findings of the study on learning approaches of successful students done using freshman students ranked in the top one percent portion in a university placement exam (2013) in Ankara by Beyaztaş & Senemoğlu [ 50 ] were supported with the similar research literature and has shown that students can enhance their level of success by increased use of the deep learning approach and decreased use of the surface approach. Furthermore, references made in Watkins’s [ 51 ] meta-analysis of 60 studies addressing learning approaches and academic achievement found a negative relationship between academic achievement and surface learning approaches in 28 studies, a positive relationship between academic achievement and deep learning approaches in 37 studies and a positive relationship between academic achievement and strategic learning approach in 32 studies. Additionally, in a study by Senemoğlu [ 52 ] a positive and meaningful relationship was found between Turkish and American students’ perceived level of success and learning approaches. This study reported that students who perceived themselves to be successful tended to adopt deep and strategic learning approaches, whereas students who thought they were less successful used surface learning approaches in both countries. According to the outcomes of the above-mentioned research studies, any consistent assumptions cannot be made about the correlation between the effectiveness of the learning approaches and students’ academic achievements or about how learning approaches influence academic performance. As emerged in the previous research literature, students’ learning behaviour along with personal values may change according to the circumstances and, in turn, it makes a direct effect on the students’ academic achievement.

4.3. Objective 3: To Investigate the Importance of Developing Individual’s Personal Values as a Part of Their Academic Life

Education is a combined process in which the advancement of knowledge, development of skills and the acquisition of beliefs and habits progress from an earlier age. Education providers, especially schools, play an important role in helping young people to develop and manage their physical, social and emotional well-being, and to live and work with others in different contexts. Specifically, they are partly responsible for enlightening an individual in both personal and professional areas. In that sense, personal value development is given a prominent place in most of academic interventions since they are considered as the concepts of beliefs that guide behaviours, attitudes and social norms. Education is naturally and inevitably directly related to a person’s goals and values [ 53 ]. The objective of developing an individual’s personal values as a part of academic life has been discussed, mainly concerning the theme of value education in many of the studies. In general value, education occupies an impressive place in contemporary society and school education is the most influential means of developing an individual and the schools are meeting places of value and are also full of values [ 54 ].

Values education itself has been defined simply as a purposive attempt to teach what is good or bad. As Iscan and Senemoglu [ 49 ] define it, values education is an open initiative aimed to provide instruction in values, value development or value actualization. According to the definition underpinning the Value Education Study, Australia [ 55 ], ‘Values education’ is broader and refers to any explicit and/or implicit school-based activity to promote student understanding and knowledge of values and to inculcate the skills and dispositions of students so they can enact particular values as individuals and as members of the wider community. Beena [ 56 ] says that value education given at schools is much concerned with striving for personal wholeness as well as generating a responsible attitude towards others and an understanding of wrong and right behaviour. For Thornberg and Oguz [ 57 ], all kinds of activities in schools in which students learn or develop values and morality are often referred to as values education. It seems that through the value education at school, children are encouraged to explore the powers of good and bad while unconsciously setting appropriate limits to behaviour. In relation to the Schwartz theory of personal values, the school value education promotes the values (benevolence, universalism, tradition, conformity, security) that primarily regulate how one relates socially to others and affects their interests. Security and universalism values are boundary values primarily concerned with others’ interests, but their goals also regulate the pursuit of their own interests [ 19 ]. Particularly, schools being sites for ethical practices, it seems that they focus much on social value development rather than personal development. According to Kunduroglu & Babadogan [ 53 ], that may be because the values students get with values education affect firstly their families and circle of friends, then their acquaintances and at the end, all the community.

As Thornberg and Oguz [ 57 ] emphasize, referring to several studies, value education is accomplished in two distinct ways such as explicit values education (schools’ official curriculum of what and how to teach values and morality, including teachers’ explicit intentions and practices of values education and implicit values education (associated with a hidden curriculum and implicit values, embedded in school and classroom practices). Bergmark [ 54 ] also mentions that schools are full of implicit and explicit values which shape school leaders’, teachers’ and students’ perceptions and actions. Furthermore, Thornberg and Oguz [ 57 ] mention two general approaches to values education as described in the literature. The first is the Traditional Approach: adult transmission of the morals of society through character education, direct teaching, exhortation, and the use of rewards and punishments. The aim is to teach and discipline students to develop good character and virtues (being honest, hardworking, obeying legitimate authority, kind, patriotic and responsible) and to conform to the dominant values, legitimate rules and the authority of society. In contrast, the Progressive or Constructivist Approach emphasises children’s active construction of moral meaning and development of a personal commitment to principles of fairness and concern for the welfare of others through processes of social interaction and moral discourse. Reasoning and explanations, deliberative discussion about moral dilemmas and participation in decision-making processes are viewed as typical methods for this approach. The aim is to promote moral autonomy, rational thinking, moral reasoning skills and democratic values and competence among the students.

Values education has always been a part of the school curriculum in many countries aiming to inculcate religious beliefs, moral values, duties and social responsibilities as the social values are of crucial importance for an individual’s life [ 53 ]. Therefore, the personal value development of students is important as it is beneficial for the individual in academic, professional and social life. Academic development achieved without personal value development is worthless because individuals who are not disciplined find it difficult to survive in the long run of professional and social life. They lack positive qualities such as punctuality, flexibility, the willingness to learn, a friendly nature, an eagerness to help others, sharing and caring and many more. In addition, they do not believe in themselves and others and lack self-confidence, self-efficacy and self-courage, which are considered the main components of personal development. Obviously, educating people on an only cognitive level is incomplete and not functional [ 53 ]. Henceforth, academic growth must be supplemented with personal value development to strengthen the individual to fit in the competitive society and do away with negative behavioural traits. That gives the sense that better personalities yield positive results in academics, social and professional life.

The research study by Iscan and Senemoglu [ 49 ] on the effectiveness of values education curriculum for fourth graders to equip students with the values of “universalism” and “benevolence” on students’ value-related cognitive behaviours, affective characteristics and performances has resulted in important findings. The experimental group of the study has shown higher values-related cognitive behaviour acquisition level and used more expressions reflecting values in the interviews during and after the implementation of the program. Additionally, the experimental group has displayed a larger number of positive value-related behaviours during the study than the control group. In parallel to the particular study, Iscan and Senemoglu [ 49 ] highlight the the importance of value-based educational interventions. As they revealed, exposing students to such experiences may make them aware of moral issues, establish empathy with others and understand their moral values, decreasing bullying and violence. Furthermore, they have made students more tolerant, polite, compassionate and forgiving, and [ 58 ] it has led to positive changes in students’ respect and responsibility levels along with a decrease in unacceptable behaviour. A similar study on “Values Education Program Integrated with the 4th Grade Science and Technology Course’’ [ 53 ] has revealed that at the end of the 6-week intervention period, students in the experimental group improved their perspective on the values, being more open-minded, unbiased and scientific. In addition, they have interrogated values concepts and developed positive behaviours for the relevant values.

As a whole, it proves that value education is an essential component in the general teaching-learning procedure since it highly encourages positive personal quality development and value gain which in turn benefit the whole community, society and the world.

4.4. Objective 4: To Investigate How One’s Personal Value Shape the Learning Community around That Person and Vice-Versa

Definitions for learning communities that have been given by a variety of journals, top universities and educational experts indicate a common set of characteristics. Considering them all together, a learning community can be defined as the same groups of students taking the same subjects or studying in the same class together. In addition, they see and meet each other frequently, share the same learning experiences, work across boundaries, spend a considerable amount of time together and engage in common academic activities in two or more classes as a specific unit. Additionally, they hold common goals, characterize collaboration, peer review and relationship building.

Sometimes the learning community can be the whole class or a group of students. Otherwise, it can be the whole learning institution: a school, university or any other institution where the individuals of the community develop their intellectual and professional skills and abilities while improving socioethical values. In addition, they work collaboratively as a single unit for achieving a set of common academic goals, sharing and bearing all kinds of similarities and differences [ 58 ]. In a more formal sense, according to the literary evidence, developing and implementing an intentional learning community (LC) has emerged as a popular method for improving the quality of the undergraduate experience at a range of higher educational institutions. Learning communities have a long history in higher education, dating from the 1920s when Alexander Meiklejohn introduced the “Experimental College” at the University of Wisconsin [ 59 ].

It is known that, from early ages, pupils are greatly influenced by their peers [ 21 ], and this has been empirically studied. Zhao and Kuh [ 58 ] state that students who actively participate in various out-of-class activities are more likely to connect with an affinity group of peers, which is important for student retention, success and personal development. Peer communities sometimes encourage and sometimes discourage value development as the students encountered different learning activities. Ma and Willms [ 47 ] view peer relationships are associated with delinquency in early adolescence. So, the potential role of peers as an influential factor on others in the process of values formation at the schools has been studied several times. In this respect, the study of Garnier and Stein [ 60 ] confirms that peer groups in which people interact and share norms and goals are another significant matter that affects the personal values of an individual. One important source of values is that of a ‘pivotal’ person: a person observed as displaying values that would produce advantageous benefits for the observer [ 4 ]. In a learning community, there is a possibility of a friend or friends becoming a pivotal person or persons other than the teacher or the instructor. Hence, it is evident that learning communities trigger personal value development through peers, their behaviours and attitudes and all the personal attributes.

To address the above features through the teaching and learning process, different approaches have been taken by the educational practitioners to figure out the best way to teach their students, and many have failed. However, some have succeeded and are still on the ground with alterations and developments. Among them, the cooperative learning strategy has continued to be developed and used by the teachers at all levels. Hence, by exposing students to collaborative or cooperative learning experience, they are encouraged to work together with colleagues to achieve common targets. As the word sense, it is not just group work but a very dynamic strategy [ 61 ] that provides room for students to experience different personalities, to promote social interaction, to identify sociocultural dynamics, to transfer ideas, and to develop group leadership skills among students. Cooperative learning is a teaching practice that breaks students into groups of three to four, with each student having a particular role within the group [ 61 ]. However, collaborative learning goes beyond working together, and it inspires self-management, self-monitoring and self-directed earning while developing a core skill required for employment [ 62 ]. In that sense, when comparing the intended outcomes of collaborative and cooperative learning approaches with the Schwartz’s [ 19 ] categorisation of values, they enhance values such as self-direction, achievement, benevolence and universalism.

Zhao and Kuh [ 58 ] refer to several studies, and according to them, most learning communities incorporate active and collaborative learning activities and promote involvement in complementary academic and social activities that extend beyond the classroom. Such approaches are linked with such positive behaviours such as increased academic effort and outcomes such as promoting openness to diversity, social tolerance and personal and interpersonal development. In parallel to that, Stassen [ 59 ] points out the results of the empirical studies collectively and show that “living-learning communities have a significant positive effect on several student outcomes, including: student gains in autonomy and independence, intellectual dispositions and orientations, and generalized personal development and socialization”. Stassen [ 59 ] mentions that students in learning communities show greater institutional commitment, greater intellectual development and opportunities to analyse and integrate ideas, greater tolerance for difference and appreciation for pluralism and demonstrate higher persistence and academic performance as measured by college grade point average.

Taken together, by taking classes together and/or engaging in peer-to-peer learning as a learning community, students get to know each other better, learn from each other and support each other. Along with that, students experience more social relationships. A connected learning environment increases the potential for academic success while creating more opportunities for students to adapt themselves to the individual needs of each other, to adjust their schedules and to work with diverse groups since learning groups are a mixture of different intellectual abilities, academic interests and goals and learning styles. Then again, social relationships established as a result of learning communities will continue through the end of the academic experience and will last even after promoting social harmony. As explained in Schwartz’s [ 1 ], benevolence values provide an internalized motivational base for voluntarily promoting the welfare of others. Equally, conformity values promote prosocial behaviour to avoid negative outcomes for oneself. Hence, both benevolence and conformity values motivate the same helpful act of promoting cooperative and supportive social relations, separately or together. As discussed above the learning communities also directly or indirectly enrich the development of values such as benevolence and conformity in learners, since they support the natural integration of academic life with social life providing opportunities to interact with a variety of individuals. In turn, the learning community will be benefited or disturbed by the certain characteristics of the personal values held by the individual.

5. Discussion & Conclusions

Based on the above literature on the themes of personal values and related directions, it is clear that there is no universally accepted definition for personal values. However, despite the diversity and gaps in the definitions, values and personal values have been viewed basically as the concepts or beliefs which are depicted through behavioural patterns, selections and personal goals. Furthermore, intrinsic and extrinsic factors including family, social and economic background, neighbourhood, religion and education have been identified as the influential factors on value formation and development. Their effect on the life of a person alternate according to the circumstances. Jardim et al. [ 63 ] identified this nature of values as the two main functions: as a motivator (materialist or humanitarian law) or as guidance (personal, social or central). Furthermore, based on the different attributes of values and priorities given to them in different contexts, they have been defined, named and grouped in various ways with more or fewer similarities to each other. However, both Schwartz [ 19 ] and Jardim [ 63 ] explained the similarities of values and value systems. As they state values have a basic universal structure and character which make them to be believed as the judgment of truths. The emphasis given to values in many areas has resulted in a number of theories and frameworks, and they have been used as the theoretical grounds to evaluate the research outcomes. According to the search results of this particular study revealed that Schwatrz theory of personal values has been frequently used in many of the recent education-based research studies in comparison to the other theories.

The study of personal values can provide greater insight into the entirety of human behaviour. Therefore, it has been studied concerning a variety of disciplines including education. Although there are a limited number of educational studies dealing with values, attempting to explore the relationship between personal values and learning approaches, personal values and academic achievement, influence of one’s personal values on learning community and vice versa and value education are important trends that emerged in educational research. Those studies mainly focused on identifying students’ preferred learning approaches at different stages of academic life and underlying values that are likely to influence the preference. In addition, the positive and negative behaviours of the underlying values with the learning approaches over time and the changes were aimed at. When concerned with the learning approaches that are found frequently in studies, the deep, surface, achieving and strategic approaches are prominent. According to Wilding and Andrews [ 43 ], the two main approaches to studying are the deep approach and the surface approach, as distinguished by several researchers. In addition, an achieving or strategic approach employs either deep or surface strategies, depending on the demands of the task. Contrastingly, Matthews et al. [ 3 ] and Lietz and Matthews [ 27 ] cite Biggs [ 29 ], and he has specified three distinct approaches to learning, namely, The Surface, The Deep and The Achieving approaches to learning. The classification of Biggs’ [ 29 ] learning approaches appeared in many of the studies related to personal values, learning approaches and academic achievements. Research by Matthews et al. and Lietz et al. [ 3 , 27 , 37 ] based on personal values and their effect on students’ preference for learning approaches have revealed similar relationships and their changes over time, mainly related to the underlying values along with the other factors. In fact, revealing the correlation among value, learning approach and academic achievement is extremely important for educational practices. However, as they conclude, there is no consistency in those changes, and it has been further revealed that one learning approach is influenced by several value attributes. In general, deep and strategic learning approaches are found to be positively related to the academic achievement of successful students, whereas the surface learning approach is reported with less successful students. Self-direction and achievement values were identified as the most influential in students’ success through the above approaches. Collectively, the above study results offer potential insights that may be useful when designing new academic courses or in any teaching-learning intervention. Furthermore, though personal values are not the sole determinant of educational or career choice, the correct understanding of values is useful in addressing the arising needs and issues in any discipline. Especially to address a wide range of issues relating to schooling and any educational outcomes such as academic achievement, retention, participation, dropping out, discipline and career selection.

With regard to today’s transforming society, value education has identified a crucially important requirement. Both the cognitive and affective domains of a child need to be developed through education. Kunduroglu and Babadogan [ 53 ] stressed that the purpose of education is to furnish students with affective behaviours. Mainly, schools and other educational institutions are the places where students continue their value education process, which begins at home. One of the objectives of values education in schools is to develop a healthy, consistent and balanced personality in students [ 16 ]. In that sense, formal educational interventions are better focused on enhancing the values that children have already started to develop and help children to reflect, understand and implement their own values accordingly. At this point, direct or indirect inclusion of themes such as moral, religious, civic, democratic, national, personal and social goals and issues in the school curricula has been stressed as important. Furthermore, the need of treating value education as a high priority in terms of ensuring the continuity of society and cultural transmission at a personal level also highlighted in many studies. The effectiveness of curricula including value education has been studied several times, and the results revealed the robust links between value education, student disciplinary conduct and academic achievements. Additionally, the consideration given to the respective roles of formal and informal education, learning communities, peers, parents and other institutions and agencies in making sense of values and forming personal values is emphasized in much of the value-education-based research.

Another concept that emerged as important in the dimension of personal values is its close relationship with the learning community and vice versa. The peer group influence on shaping academic behaviour and personal behaviour have long been studied by scholars over different perspectives. Concerning that, many researchers have focused on cooperative/collaborative learning interventions as the means of establishing social relationships and value development.

In general, when analysing the contents of research studies, it was notable that research related to personal values and learning approaches have been the major focus of many scholars in comparison to the other directions. A few studies found online databases discussing the relationship between personal values and academic achievement. Study reports directly focusing on the correlation of personal values and learning community and vice versa and the importance of personal values as a part of academic life are found lacking in online databases. Methodologically, it was found that many of the studies tend to apply mixed method designs and only a few have taken qualitative and quantitative research as their main research method. Other than that, literature-based reports are also available as useful academic resources. In the data collection process, questionnaires and interviews were found as the most commonly used instruments.

The discussion of personal values includes many distinct dimensions and can be approached through numerous perspectives: education, personal and social life, professional world, culture, political, religion and so on. It is realized that focusing only on a part of it cannot result in a holistic study of the concept but still it would be important to understand the depth of the concept. Depending on online resource availability and the time period set for the selection of resources for the current review may have resulted in the exclusion of some valuable research outcomes and directions. However, the comparative analysis based on available literature would probably shed light on the variety of interpretations, findings and research tendencies.

Finally, as the research literature reveals, the insight gained through the results of value-related studies facilitate the clear identification of the role of value in personal life and partly as a deciding factor of academic life. If one is not clear of his or her own values, then he/she is not clear with aims and is ineffective in controlling their life. Hence, further investigation on value-related topics over the wide range of its interrelated dimensions would give a more holistic and profound view of the role of personal values in education.

6. Recommendations

Based on the above discussion, it is apparent that still there is much room for future research studies on the theme of personal values since they affect all the avenues of human life, individually or in common as a group or a community. Conversely, several factors influence personal values and their changes. Therefore, a detailed further examination of the complex interplay of factors influencing personal values and how personal values influence an individual and in common to the whole human community seems to be valuable.

According to the analyses presented in this article, it is implied that the topic of personal values is very much important in the field of education to identify students’ behaviours, life goals and expectations, learning styles and how these change over time. Furthermore, increased attention is given to value education since values are considered as essential social or soft skills that one must acquire and practice in the 21st century world. Therefore, education, regardless of the level of junior, secondary, tertiary or professional, should aim at making human life better not only through professional or economic enhancement but also through social, moral and spiritual strengthening. At present, schools and other educational providers have adopted several co-curricular programmes that uplift values in students, such as peer support systems, community service projects and student action teams. These interventions provide students with opportunities to develop a sense of responsibility, empathy, unity, appreciation of others and their views, lifestyles and cultures and work with others to resolve the problems. These programmes have been recorded with notable achievements. This is a common feature of almost all the educational contexts that ensure values are incorporated into teaching programmes across the key learning areas to develop students’ civic and social skills. Thus, there is a need for a realistic and balanced curriculum in which the programs that inspire the value acquisition and internalisation of socially beneficial skills and behaviours are emphasized. In addition, the integration of such features into the disciplines in the curriculum is also important. Along with that, research studies to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses and the positive and negative aspects of such programmes need to be continued. According to the general and most practiced procedure, during or at the end of the academic experience, cognitive behaviours are always tested, but testing effective behaviours is always neglected. Hence, it is a noteworthy point to mention the importance of assessing processes for the progress of value development in students.

Finally, the current study based on the available literature has shown that students probably tend to adjust their approaches to a specific learning strategy due to several factors: learning environment, subject area, expectations, curriculum, teacher and teaching style, origin and cultural context, gender, religion, etc. Furthermore, there is no significant pattern of selecting learning approaches such as deep, surface or achieving, etc., at different levels of the context of learning. Therefore, deep study into how learning approaches are changed, on what basis and what the most influential motives for such alterations are will be beneficial to understanding students’ learning behaviours. Hence, research studies further investigating such dimensions would probably useful and needed at present and in future.

Author Contributions

Conceptualisation, K.A.A.G.; methodology, D.M.S.C.P.K.D. and K.A.A.G.; formal analysis, D.M.S.C.P.K.D. and S.Y.E.; investigation, D.M.S.C.P.K.D. and K.A.A.G.; resources, K.A.A.G.; writing—original draft preparation, D.M.S.C.P.K.D.; writing—review and editing, K.A.A.G.; supervision, K.A.A.G. and S.Y.E.; project administration, K.A.A.G. and S.Y.E. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Does teaching values improve the quality of education in primary schools?

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Values education: the development and classroom use of an educational programme Footnote 1 An earlier version of this article was presented to the 2002 Conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), 12–14 September, 2002.

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The article is concerned with values education in schools in the light of the requirement for schools to provide for the spiritual, moral, cultural and social development of children and in the light of wider discussions regarding ‘spirituality’ in (post)modern society. The authors focus on Living Values, a programme developed as a way of introducing values‐based education to schools as wellas to the wider community. They examine both the contents of the programme and the way it reaches schools and is utilized. The authors report on their recent field research carried out in schools andevaluate textual sources. Emerging issues and perspectives, among them the provenance and sponsorship of the programme, are raised.

*  Corresponding author: Dr Elisabeth Arweck, Institute of Education, University of Warwick, ­Coventry CV4 7AL. Email: [email protected]

An earlier version of this article was presented to the 2002 Conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), 12–14 September, 2002.

The term ‘New Religious Movements’ (NRMs) is used here to describe religious groups and movements which have come to prominence in the West in the 1960s and 1970s. Given the history and character of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU), the group can be subsumed in the category of NRM, although there are scholars who see close connections with New Age thought. For further details on NRMs, New Age, and related terminology, see, for example, Arweck, Citation 2002 .

A pilot project (spread over 12 months) was carried out in 2001 by Eleanor Nesbitt and Ann Henderson at WRERU. It had the wider remit of focusing on values and citizenship with reference to programmes associated with the Brahma Kumaris and two other ‘small religious organisations’ (see Nesbitt & Henderson, Citation 2003 ). A research team in Australia, at the University of Newcastle, is currently engaged in a project which examines the effect of the Living Values programme by looking at primary school children before and after the application of the programme (personal communication and Living Values website).

An article on the stages of this process is forthcoming (Arweck & Nesbitt, Citation 2004 ).

Like each Brahma Kumaris centre, the Global Retreat Centre offers a foundation course in meditation. It also offers courses in positive thinking, stress management, and self‐development skills. Lectures and seminars focus on particular aspects of human life, such as decision‐making, fear, anger, worry, etc. There are also ‘one‐day retreats’ which introduce participants to meditation and ‘spirituality’ in daily life.

Human Scale Education is an educational charity which promotes small, schools and classes ‘because of the many educational benefits which small size can bring’. The organization began in 1986 as an educational movement to promote small, human scale learning environments, ‘at a time when most secondary schools were very large, when small village schools were in danger of closure, and when the state education system was becoming increasingly inflexible’ (Human Scale Education website).

The National Association of Small Schools ‘exists to advise and support small schools against threats of closure, … to promote the virtues of small schools and especially with local communities …’ (Human Scale Education, website: www.smallschools.org.uk).

The Home Education Advisory Service ‘gives advice and information to parents who wish to educate their children at home in preference to sending them to school’ (Human Scale Education website). The web address of the Advisory Service is: www.heas.org.uk

Antidote launched its manifesto in early 2001 and its aim is ‘To create an emotionally literate culture, where the facility to handle the complexities of emotional life is as widespread as the capacity to read, write and do arithmetic’ ( Observer , 21 January 2001). It also aims to ‘create a “listening culture”, putting emotional literacy at the heart of the education system’ ( Observer , 21 January 2001). The director of Antidote is James Park and information about the Campaign can be found on its website (www.antidote.org.uk).

The examples given here are taken from the website of Human Scale Education, which lists such groups under ‘Other Interesting Groups’. The same and related organizations are also listed on the website of the Values Education Council of the United Kingdom (www.rexs.ucsm.ac.uk) under ‘Links’. Further details about the Values Education Council follow.

The fair is organised by Human Scale Education. The third fair took place in late September 2002 (see www.hse.org.uk).

The website is at www.hibbert‐assemblies.org.uk

The Sathya Sai Baba Organization is another example of a Hindu‐related New Religious Movement (see footnote 1 regarding the definition of the term ‘New Religious Movement’); it, too, has its headquarters in India (in Puttaparthi, Andra Pradesh) and is led by Sathya Sai Baba (believed by himself and followers to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, d. 1918). Sathya Sai Baba is best known for the paranormal powers to materialize objects and vibhuti (holy ash) (see, for example, Haraldson, Citation 1987 ; Taylor, Citation 1987 ; Bowen, Citation 1988 ). The Education in Human Values programme was the subject of an AHRB‐funded WRERU research project (January–December 2003).

Such educational (nurturing) projects have not been altogether successful, but it would go beyond the remit of this article to elaborate. Academic research regarding children in NRMs and their education is still relatively scant, with the volume edited by Palmer and Hardman ( Citation 1999 ) a first major contribution.

The 1988 Education Reform Act stated that a broad and balanced curriculum should promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at school, and of society (see Gent, Citation 1999 , p. 13; see also Taylor, Citation 1998 , p. 5).

The 1992 Education (Schools) Act set in place the framework for Ofsted inspectors not only to inspect quality, standards and efficiency in a school, but also its contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (see Gent, Citation 1999 , p. 13).

The ‘National Forum on Values in Education and the Community’ was set up to make recommendations on ‘ways in which schools might be supported in making their contribution to pupils’ spiritual and moral development; whether there is any agreement on the values, attitudes and behaviours that schools should promote on society’s behalf’ (SCAA, Citation 1996 a, p. 1, cited in Taylor, Citation 1998 , p. 8) The Forum identified a statement of ‘values’ on society, relationships, self and the environment, with implications for attitudes and action (see SCAA, Citation 1996 b, referred to by Taylor, Citation 1998 , p. 8). The statement was endorsed by a MORI poll (see MORI, Citation 1996 , cited in Taylor, Citation 1998 , p. 8). Regarding the composition of the ‘Forum’, see Taylor, Citation 1998 , p. 8.

In 1998, the QCA issued draft guidance for pilot work in November 1997, March 1998, and May 1998. One of these documents, the ‘Draft Directory of Resources’ of March 1998, includes material by the Brahma Kumaris, but an introductory note states expressly that ‘The resources in this directory are not endorsed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’.

In England and Wales, citizenship education was introduced in September 2002 as part of the National Curriculum for all secondary schools and as a non‐statutory part of the curriculum for primary schools (see Jackson, Citation 2002 , Citation 2003 ).

See, for example, Halstead & Taylor, Citation 1996 , Citation 1998 ; Haydon, Citation 1997 ; Leicester, et al. , Citation 1998 ; Taylor, Citation 1998 . The promotion and development of values education and values in education are also the concern of the ‘Values Education Council’ mentioned earlier. Its website does not state when it was created, but to judge from the publication date of the first annual conference papers, the Council must have been set up in the mid‐1990s. Its chair is Dr Monica Taylor who has made a number of contributions to the research on values (see also earlier).

Questions of spirituality, also with regard to religion, are beginning to be addressed in academic literature (see, for example,Erricker & Erricker, Citation 2001 ; King & Beattie, Citation 2001 ; Rose, Citation 2001 ).

This document was available on the Living Values website and could be found as a pdf file on most web pages. It provides general information about the programme and its development. It had no particular heading, except ‘Living Values: an educational program’ and is dated July 2000. For reasons of simplicity, it is cited in the text by the title of the pdf, which was ‘LV Abstract’. During 2002, the title of this file was changed to ‘Living Values: an educational program overview’. Sections of this document are also reproduced in some of the Living Values manuals which are described later.

The Planet Society is an educational organization of UNESCO which invites other organizations and individuals to become partners. It has a website at this address: www3.unesco.org/planetsociety

The connection with UN organizations and the status of the BKWSU as a non‐governmental organization (NGO) are issues which cannot be explored here further with regard to their relevance to the Living Values programme.

This initiative has to be seen against the background of the status of the BKWSU as a non‐governmental organization (NGO) with the UN in consultation with the Economic and Social Council and UNICEF. The process of obtaining this status began in 1980 (see, forexample, BKWSU, Citation 1993 a, p. 205). Further, this initiative was not the first or only ­international project which the BKWSU launched with regard to the UN. In 1986, the UN International Year of Peace, an appeal was made to donate a ‘Million Minutes of Peace’ through meditation or prayers. This was followed, in 1988, by ‘Global Co‐operation for a Better World (GCBW)’, a ‘Peace Messenger Initiative, which sought to elicit responses to the question, ‘What is your vision of a better world?’ ‘The Global Vision Statement’ resulted from GCBW (see, for example, BKWSU, Citation 1995 , p. 69, as did a publication entitled Visions of a Better World (BKWSU, Citation 1993 a).

This quotation is also on the cover the Living Values Guidebook (BKWSU, Citation 1995 ), which is mentioned below.

The LV Abstract states that by spring 1997, the material ‘was piloted at 220 sites in over 40countries’.

On the website is also material for ages 0–2, and a Living Values seminar, attended by one of the authors, included a workshop for ages 0–7.

Note the current debate of parenting and parenting skills in Britain (see, for example, the discussions during the 2002 conference of the ATL, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, in Cardiff, regarding parenting orders). Family Links, another approach used by some schools, also makes provision for parents.

In the UK, the head teacher of a primary school which took part in the pilot project of the Living Values programme noted positive results regarding pupils’ attitudes and behaviours, stating that ‘the pupils enjoy peaceful, respectful, cooperative relationships with their peers and teachers. The school enables the students to think carefully about values and to reflect values in their behavior and attitudes. School assemblies have become a powerful vehicle for teaching values, raising self‐esteem, and developing enthusiasm’ (LV Abstract).

The range of courses and lectures offered by the Brahma Kumaris (BKWSU) has been mentioned earlier.

By comparison, in the early 1990s, the organization spoke of 3000 branches in 62 countries (see BKWSU, Citation 1993 b), and in 1995, it quoted 3500 centres in 65 countries (see BKWSU, Citation 1995 , p. 107).

For a view of the role of women in the organization from the ‘inside’, see Sister Sudesh, ( Citation 1993 ), and Skultans ( Citation 1993 ) for a view from ‘outside’; see also Howell, Citation 1998 .

The stress on ‘spirituality’ and using ‘spiritual powers’ in everyday life (rather than reference to a ‘religion’) is—to judge from impressions gathered during fieldwork—what makes the programme attractive to the general public. Another point is that the qualities within or the ‘virtues’ are consonant with the set of values in the Living Values programme. This parallels the teachings of other religious groups which promote such qualities or values.

See Bhagavad‐Gita , ch. 13: v. 1–3.

Messages through a medium or the practice of ‘channelling’ are aspects associated with sections of the New Age movement and with Spiritualism. For a comparison between ­Spiritualist mediumship and New Age Channelling, see Spencer, Citation 2001 .

In the light of ethical considerations, the identity of schools and staff involved in the research will be kept anonymous, despite the fact that one school is well known for its adoption of values‐based education.

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Values and Education for Values of Today's Youth

• Andrea Lesková Department of Ethics and Aesthetics, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Hodžova 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovak Republic
• Miri Yochanna English Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and Arts, 149 Namir Rd, Tel Aviv, 69117, Israel

Thesis. The aim of the study is to critically reflect on the challenges and current issues of value-oriented education in relation to youth. It focuses on youth as a specific generational group, internally extremely variable, in the context of massive changes in society, especially with the increase in the importance of digital technologies and social networks in the educational process.

Concept. In the published study, several perspectives on the issue overlap on the theoretical and research levels. Healthy, functioning families are at the epicentre of concern for any society that cares about its own future. One of the major problems of contemporary public life, especially after the emergence of the so-called new media, is undoubtedly the issue of raising children in a media-saturated environment. The line of thought of the study is concentrated on the responsibility for the future of the society also through the formation of the value system of the young generation, considering the potential of the family in the given context.

Results and conclusion . The study captures the essence, specifics, and selected aspects of insight into value-oriented youth education in the context of contemporary society. The present analysis is based on the knowledge of several scientific disciplines and its interdisciplinary character allows to look at the mentioned issue through the prism of one's own scientific field. The conclusion of the study highlights the irreplaceable importance of values education for youth, based on the central idea that values are the fundamental pillar of any society's development. It calls for values education, which is primarily the task and responsibility of the family or parents, pointing to authenticity and the need to preserve unity of thought, word and deed in a given context. Considering the dynamically changing times with an emphasis on value pluralism, as well as the tremendous growth of digital technologies, the study is a beneficial contribution to the social science discourse on values education in relation to children and youth, especially family education, which is of fundamental, formative importance for the individual.

Author Biographies

The author works as an assistant professor at the Department of Ethics and Aesthetics of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia). She deals with issues of family, education and media in socio-ethical contexts. Social inequalities, stratification and social pathology are also the subject of her interest. She is the author of 2 scientific monographs, as well as several chapters in monographs, studies and scientific works, published at home and abroad. The projects in which she is involved as an investigator are focused on the Central European geopolitical space, especially in the field of axiology, ethical consequences of contemporary nanotechnologies and media practice.

The author is head of the English Department at Kibbutzim College of Education. She is a linguist, and has been a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teacher trainer for over thirty years. Her fields of expertise are applied linguistics, teacher education, ESL methodology, material development and language assessment and evaluation. Her research focuses on identify, bilingualism and bilingual identity, preservice ESL teachers, self-efficacy and the enhancement of preservice teacher ability, self-perception and self-confidence. In addition, Dr. Yochanna develops, edits and evaluates teaching materials for English language education for schools in the Israeli education system.

Andresová, N., Husák, J., & Vlčková Fishbone, V. (2021). HODNOTY MLADÝCH: Porovnanie hodnôt a postojov Čechov a Slovákov [YOUTH VALUES: Comparison of values and attitudes of Czechs and Slovaks]. Rada mládeže Slovenska.

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Judák, V., Ďatelinka, A., Hlad, L., & Zemančík, V. (2023). Symbols of the jubilee year as inviting signs to the complex development of man in the postmodern age. A historical-theological kerygmatic study. Historia Ecclesiastica, 14(1), 218-234. https://www.unipo.sk/public/media/46853/historia_ecclesiastica_01_2023.pdf

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Koldeová, L. (2016). Hodnotová orientácia a morálne postoje adolescentov v Slovenskej republike a Nemeckej spolkovej republike [Value orientation and moral attitudes of adolescents in the Slovak Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany]. HUMANUM. Miedzynarodowe Studia Spoleczno-Humanistyczne, 20(1), 119-130. https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/2131205.pdf

Kondrla, P., Trstenský, F., & Ďatelinka, A. (2023). Social Teaching of the Church and the Values of a s Sustainable Society. Acta Missiologica, 17(2), 142-154. https://www.actamissiologica.com/sub/am_2_2023.pdf

Králik, R. & Máhrik, T. (2019). Metaphysics as a base for improving critical thinking. In L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, & I. Candel Torres (Eds.), Proceedings of ICERI2019 Conference (pp. 8901-8903). IATED. https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2019.2130

Krupa, J., Trstenský, F., Tirpák, P., & Kondrla, P. (2023). The Permanent Validity of the Doctrine on the Universal Mission of the Church. Acta Missiologica, 17(2), 283-289. https://www.actamissiologica.com/sub/am_2_2023.pdf

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Máhrik, T., Giniyatullovna Vasbieva, D., Králik, R. & Kondrla, P. (2020). Salvation as the teleological vector in Kierkegaard’s Practice in Christianity. European Journal of Science and Theology, 16(4), 43-52.

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Pavlíkova, M., & Tavilla, I. (2023). Repetition as a Path to Authentic Existence in Kierkegaard’s Work. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 14(2), 105-115. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2023.2.105.115

Šoltés, R. (2021). Starosť o dušu v súčasnom svete [Caring for the soul in today's world]. Prešovská univerzita v Prešove.

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Personality Development and Value Education- An empirical Study of their co-relation

Education has enduring impression on human persona. It is believed that life skills and value education taught in schools and colleges lay foundation of an individual to lead a value based life. There can be numerous ways to evaluate whether teachings of human values inculcate virtues in a student. However, the researcher has conducted an empirical study with 647 samples of teachers and students from schools, colleges, universities and technical institutions across Odisha on five parameters. This qualitative sampling survey was conducted to examine whether curriculum encompassing human values play a role in personality development of a student. These value parameters include conviction, optimism, and acceptance to responsibility, acceptance to new opportunities and challenges in life and career, self motivation and ambition. With the help of Likert scale the opinions from the samples were collected with utmost care. Statistical analysis viz., average, percentage, bar diagram and Chi-square tests of independence were used to test the hypothesis. Finally, the robustness of statistical analysis was analysed through Pearson’s contingency coefficient to describe the strength of association. Teachers and students perceive and believe that teachings of human values bring positive personality traits in students and thus value education may be made mandatory in formal and non-formal educational institutes.

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CAREER WITH A CHARISMATIC CHARACTER IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR. " Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of Value, Success will follow you ". Albert Einstein. People today are living in a cyber world, where the day begins and ends with technology. The TECH-GEN is so much engrossed in the life driven by Science and Technology, the youth of today fail to imbibe the human values in their life. Though at one facet the growth based on Science, Technology and Economy is welcomed, there has been a drastic deterioration in ETHICS AND ETIQUETTES. This topic of Value Education would help the students who are vigorously equipping themselves to compete with other nations to make our country as a developed one. The values which they imbibe will not only help them grow in a long run but also enable the world to know about our country's cultures and traditions which are being followed even by this generation. Value Education generally refers to a wide gamut of learning and activities ranging from training in physical health, mental hygiene, etiquette and manners, appropriate social behaviour, civic rights, and duties to aesthetic and religious training.

Today we are living in ‘Computer Era’. In present scenario where we live, it seems that we have got mastery approximate in every sphere of life that is materialistic gain, it may be the one side of coin, may be brighter but the other side of the coin which is darker and we are not able to see, that is, we are losing our values day by day. It is not an exaggeration if to say that even have become hollow in order to achieve money, power, post, degree and…..many more things. The main idea behind this is ‘we have to get any way….by hook or crock’. This trend must be checked urgently. Perhaps a major responsibility for the corrective action lies on our teachers, education policies and syllabus. Nevertheless educational institutions can also play a significant role in the promotion of dying values. The ultimate good of human society is the good

Education works to moulds and shapes an individual by producing and generating the peculiar and well balanced, suitable and appropriate personalities, refined culture, stable emotions, sound ethics, mental alertness, upright morals, strong physiques, upright spirituality and socially, self esteemed, liberal internationally and self-sufficient vocationally, personality development represents the gradual and steady development of characteristics, emotional responses and temperament, a recognizable life style, personal roles and behaviour, a set of values, aim, ambition and goals, scintillating patterns of adjustment, characteristics interpersonal relations and sexual relationship, traits and a relatively fixed self images. On the other hand it is the developmental result of organized pattern of behaviour and attitudes, that directly makes and individual distinctive. Values play its pivotal and significant role to be guiding forces to determine life's direction and to choose desirable behaviour in the society. So, it's much more needful and necessary to inculcate the beautiful value among the students with a view to develop the nation. In this study, the investigator has tried to find out relationship between personality development and moral values of secondary school students. For this study, the investigator was taken 600 secondary students as a sample and descriptive survey method was applied. The result revealed that there is inter correlation between personality development and moral values and there is also inter correlation between moral values and environmental awareness of secondary school students.

This study examined the relationship between Human Values and personality of B.Ed. Trainees in Thiruvallur District. The study adopted normative survey method of research. Participants were 200 B.Ed., Trainees randomly selected from two B.Ed., Colleges in Thiruvallur District. The research instrument used for data collection was: Personality questionnaire And Human values developed by S. Sathiyagirirajan tested at 0.05 & 0.01 level of significance. The findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between Human Values and Personality of B. Ed trainees. There exist significant impact with respect to gender, parent qualification and medium of instruction. And there is no significant impact on subject and location on the human values and personality of B.Ed., Trainees.

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The present study was undertaken to investigate the relation between personal value and academic achievement of higher secondary students. The objectives of the study also include the presentation of gender-wise correlation between personal value and academic achievement of higher secondary students. 800 students were randomly selected from eleven higher secondary schools in Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The Personal Value Scale (PVS) developed by Halder (2018) was adopted and employed in this study to collect the data. The study reveals a positive correlation between personal value and academic achievement of higher secondary students. The gender-wise analysis also shows similar results.

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Education based on values is development of an individual in three folds irrespective of their gender and age. It endeavors in developing three aspects which are character, physique and mentality as well. The aim of the study is to explore the effect of value based education on social maturity among middle and high school student. One hundred twenty middle and high school student in Raipur, Chhattisgarh were selected by using random sampling technique as sample. The sample responded to the Spiritual Values Scale developed by Fauzia Nazam,

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Values in British higher education: knowledge, freedom and wellbeing

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• Rosalind M. O. Pritchard   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-7637 1  

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British higher education is ranked among the best in the world, but some of its core values are under strain. Knowledge and critical thinking can be undermined by biased mind-sets, especially when engaging with the social media. Research demonstrates that false news goes viral much more quickly than true news. Political correctness and the woke movement can militate against freedom, especially in gender-related matters. Surveys show that many staff and students have a lower sense of wellbeing than the rest of the population. Conscious of these problems, the Government has responded with an Act to place extensive new obligations on certain types of online service providers, requiring them to protect their users by managing risks relating to illegal and harmful content. A separate Act has also been passed to protect freedom of speech in universities. The issue of staff and student unhappiness is much less amenable to legislation because it is so multi-faceted. However, it is a very important issue for a healthy, democratic society that fosters cooperation, trust and community. It needs to be addressed.

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What are values and how are they to be understood in higher education?

Where shall we find a baseline for values in higher education? A kind of gold standard or tradition that can support or inspire? That shows us where we have been? That might influence were we are going? A book by Östling ( 2018 ), published in Sweden, is entitled: Humboldt and the Modern German University: An Intellectual History . He is of the view that generally, there is a lack of well-developed ideas characterising the nature of a university. He believes that: “When it comes to conducting basic research on cardinal academic issues, Germany remains a scholarly nation in a class by itself. Those who wish to ponder the idea of the university cannot disregard the German tradition of scrutiny and reflection” (Östling, 2018 : xv). It is true that the essentialist ideal of the Humboldtian university is regarded by some critics like Paletschek ( 2002 ) as a quasi-mythological construct that has waxed and waned historically; but Humboldtian ideas have had a renaissance at times when healing and inspiration were needed: e.g., after WWII, in the 1990s and at the turn of the millennium. Perhaps it is needed in our own post-pandemic times? Wilhelm von Humboldt has been “invoked as a rhetorical concept for those who fought against utilitarianism and market adaptation” (Östling, 2018 : 216); “a corrective of the contemporaneous market ideology and of neo-utilitarianism” (ibid.: 221) that was only “widely and seriously discussed after the turn of the millennium” (p. 228).

The following parameters relating to knowledge, freedom and human relations/ wellbeing can be extracted from the Humboldtian ethos.

Knowledge is at the heart of higher education. In Germany, it incorporates a concept of the unity of knowledge, and also of the unity of research and teaching, both of which are integral to the research university. Knowledge is not a fixed quantum to be delivered, but rather a process, a search and a mode of thinking that helps to form one’s identity (Pritchard, 1990 : 31-36, 41-44). It is related to education which is conveyed by the term Bildung. This derives etymologically from the word Bild meaning a “picture” of the Self as a work of art that has been transformed by education. The Self displays wholeness and balance of bodily, moral and spiritual values to be achieved through study and lifestyle. This educational concept is so deeply held in German society that it is embodied in the Constitution, Article 2 (1): “All persons have the right to the free unfolding of their personality , insofar as they do not infringe the rights of others, nor offend against the constitutional order or the moral law.”

Freedom is important in this enterprise and pertains to research, teaching and learning. The academic staff must be free to search for and disseminate truth as they see it. Students too must have freedom to search and to form themselves; they should not be “spoonfed” ( verschult ) with dumbed-down material (Pritchard, 1990 : 36-40). In the Humboldtian canon of literature, Fichte ( 1807 / 1956 ) advocates grants for the students to liberate them from the constraints of poverty. Young people, he believes, should have an opportunity to develop an independent existence and not merely move from dependence upon parents to dependence upon employers. He regards academic freedom as a necessity for the attainment of maturity, and essential too for the good of the nation.

In the pursuit of knowledge, human relations and wellbeing are important. The unity of staff and students is a core value because they form an organic whole animated by their pursuit of learning. The community of scholars is important, and individuals should learn to express their distinctiveness in a liberal, common forum containing people from many different environments (Schleiermacher, 1808 / 1956 : 281-3, 301). The students need variety of situation to grow and accept challenge to their previously unquestioned assumptions (Cowan, 1963 : 142). This helps to liberate them from the narrowing bonds of class and interest groups. The community is democratic because neither the professors nor the students have a monopoly of knowledge. The personal relationship between staff and students promotes this process of seeking knowledge which unites research and teaching. It also helps to confer a research identity on universities (Pritchard, 1990 : 44-46).

Aspects of this traditional value system were the inspiration for Harvard and Johns Hopkins in the United States. The aim of the present qualitative article will be to consider modern challenges to it, especially the ways in which it is influenced by modern media. The discussion will be based mainly on British higher education.

The challenge to knowledge

Post-truth knowledge and fake news.

Universities may have done themselves a disfavour in some of the knowledge paradigms that they adopt. Especially in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, there has been a move from modernity to postmodernism which favours the transitory. The concept of knowledge is de-constructed, and the idea that objective truth is possible becomes discredited (Williams, 2016 : 157). The spirit of the postmodern age is one of scepticism resulting in a relativity of values. According to Delanty ( 2000 ), it involves secularism, a lack of unity and cultural fragmentation. Knowledge forfeits its emancipatory, sometimes even redemptive, power which rested on its status as a metanarrative. Knowledge is often abandoned as an endpoint of research, leading to a mere “plurality of language games” (ibid.:143). Delanty (ibid.: 127) argues that “[S]cience has lost its ability to legitimate itself by reference to an independent criterion (…), such as a grand narrative”. Individuals now construct their own narratives, but nothing provides a principle of cultural unity. In such a cultural climate, it is difficult to find independent validating criteria. Post-modernist intellectual trends constitute, to some critics, a sort of epistemological relativism or nihilism that undermines trust in knowledge and by extension in universities as institutions. Östling ( 2018 :242) claims that post-modernism has drained history of meaning.

The decline of confidence in knowledge is exacerbated by “fake news”. The British Government finds “information disorder” a more acceptable term than “fake news” which it regards as “poorly-defined” because it “conflates a variety of false information, from genuine error through to foreign interference” (Murphy, 2018 ); but in some circumstances, it continues to deploy the older terminology and accepts its use in Parliament. The UK’s Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) was set up in 2019 within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) because of government concern about Russian meddling with the 2016 US presidential election and the UK referendum to leave the EU (Brexit). Footnote 1 Disinformation has been particularly prevalent in the time of COVID-19, during which the National Cyber Security Centre revealed a range of attacks being perpetrated online by cyber criminals seeking to exploit coronavirus. The CDU works with social media to deal with disinformation, such as claims pushing harmful ‘cures’ for COVID-19, e.g., drinking diluted bleach, gargling or holding your breath for 10 seconds. Footnote 2

In 2019, the Government’s report on Disinformation was published. Footnote 3 Damian Collins, Chair of the DCMS, greeted the emergence of the Report with a statement: “Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day. Much of this is directed from agencies working in foreign countries, including Russia. (…) Companies like Facebook exercise massive market power which enables them to make money by bullying the smaller technology companies and developers who rely on this platform to reach their customers. (…) We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the platforms and the people. The age of inadequate self-regulation must come to an end. (…) We also have to accept that our electoral regulations are hopelessly out of date for the internet age. More needs to be done to require major donors to clearly establish the source of their funds. (…) Much of the evidence we have scrutinised during our inquiry has focused on the business practices of Facebook. We believe that in its evidence to the Committee, Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions.”

Damian Collins’ efforts were not in vain. In the UK, the Online Safety Act (OSA) became law on 26 October 2023. Footnote 4 It joins the EU’s Digital Services Act (EU DSA) as an attempt to regulate technology in Europe. The OSA takes a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children from online harm, while conferring more choices on adults to determine what kids see online. It places legal responsibility on internet platform companies to prevent and rapidly remove illegal content like terrorism and revenge pornography. If providers fail to comply with the rules, they will face significant fines that could reach billions of pounds, and if they do not take steps required by the regulator, Ofcom, to protect children, their bosses could face prison (gov.uk, 2023 ; Persoff et al., 2023 ).

The debate round this issue demonstrates the tension between freedom for online platform providers and safety for users, particularly young people who are the most likely to use social media. In a major study, Vosoughi et al. ( 2018 ) show that tweets containing falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted than truthful tweets. Interestingly, they regard “fake news” as irredeemably polarised in the current political and media climate; they opt for the term “false” instead of “fake”. They investigate the diffusion of all the verified true and false news stories distributed on Twitter from 2006 to 2017. The data comprise ∼126,000 stories tweeted by ∼3 million people more than 4.5 million times. These data were verified as true or false using information from six independent fact-checking organisations that exhibited 95% to 98% agreement on the classifications. The researchers begin their article with a statement about apparent parity of values in the media: “[S]ome conceptualization of truth or accuracy [is] central to the functioning of nearly every human endeavor. Yet, both true and false information spread rapidly through online media. Defining what is true and false has become a common political strategy, replacing debates based on a mutually agreed set of facts” (ibid.: 1146). They find that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information; politics is the largest item in their data set which also includes science, terrorism, natural disasters, urban legends and financial information. Many more people retweet falsehood than they do the truth. Falsehood is disseminated through peer-to-peer viral branching processes more intensively than through broadcast dynamics. It takes the truth about six times as long as falsehood to reach 1500 people. The top 1% of false news spreads to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas the truth rarely diffuses to more than 1000 people.

The authors (Vosoughi et al., 2018 ) look at the dynamics of going viral and conclude that it is human behaviour more than bots which contributes to the differential spread of falsity and truth. When they investigate further, they find that novelty is an important force in spreading false rumours. False news is more novel than true news, and people are more likely to share novel information. Falsity and truth inspire different emotions. Whereas false stories inspire fear, disgust, and surprise in replies, true stories inspire anticipation, sadness, joy, and trust. Contrary to conventional wisdom, false news spreads more than the truth because humans , not robots, are more likely to spread it. This means that the human actor is more salient than the non-human actor which is a digital artefact. The power of false news is thus in large measure to be attributed to behavioural syndromes, mediated by technology. It will be the purpose of the next section to analyse some of these syndromes.

Bubbles, cognitive misers and biases

On 16 January 2023, the British Member of Parliament, John Penrose, led a debate in Westminster Hall on Filter Bubbles in public life. The concept emanates from Pariser ( 2011a , b ) who pointed out that social media can be manipulated in an unbalanced, one-sided way that cuts users off from important evidence. Information providers sometimes manipulate users in an attempt to “please” them by presenting material that is personalised and based on algorithmic editing of their web history. This stratagem can be financially lucrative. Advertisements can be inserted of a type that is likely to appeal to the interests and life circumstances of the user. However, Filter Bubbles may have less benign consequences than achieving user congruence and user-relevant advertisements. Depriving social media users of information that is critical of a regime helps dictators to maintain whatever fictions suit their purposes and can effectively put blinkers on the population. This is the reason why it was an issue for the political authorities of East Germany that their people were able to watch West German television before the fall of the Wall (Garton Ash, 1993 :135-136). In a worst case scenario, Filter Bubbles can result in a threat to democracy. Pariser ( 2011a ) in a TED talk addresses internet providers as follows:

[I]nstead of a balanced information diet, you can end up with information junk food…We really need you to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them a sense of the public life, a sense of civic responsibility…We need [the internet] to connect us all together, we need it to introduce us to new ideas and new people, and it’s not going to do that if it leaves us all isolated in a Web of one.

Filter Bubbles are linked to a number of syndromes that are highly relevant to the use of social media and to knowledge. During the debate on Brexit, many young people obtained their information directly from social media and voted the way they thought their friends were voting. One year before the referendum, only 18% of 15- to 24-year-olds could correctly answer three basic questions about the European Union. Footnote 5 Of the 28 members states (now down to 27 with the UK withdrawal) the United Kingdom’s knowledge score was the lowest of all (Hix, 2015 ). After the Brexit vote in June 2016, questions posed on social media by young people themselves revealed continuing ignorance about basic facts. This demographic was unsure what the EU was and what the Common Market was. Confronted with an important political issue, they had voluntarily deprived themselves of information that was freely available, if they had been receptive to information about it. They had become “Cognitive Misers”. The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines a cognitive miser as “anyone who seeks out quick, adequate solutions to problems rather than slow, careful ones. Despite this negative denotation, the term describes a general tendency among all people. That is, as a rule people tend to use mental shortcuts [heuristics] in making judgments and drawing inferences.” Footnote 6 The human mind often seeks to avoid exerting cognitive effort. This can result in platitudes, wishful thinking, phatic communion, stereotypes, over-generalisations, quotations rather than thoughts, shortcuts, memes and tropes that are compatible with individuals’ existing schemata.

The era of COVID-19 was particularly conducive to conspiracy and misapprehension. Nationally it was a difficult time in the UK where there were many deaths. The then prime minister, Boris Johnston, was himself hospitalised with COVID and for some days, his life hung in the balance; his young partner, Carrie Symonds, was expecting their first child and despaired of his recovery. He was in intensive care (Merrick & Gye, 2020 ). When eventually he was discharged from hospital, he was filmed on the steps of St Thomas’ Hospital with the medical staff who had fought for his life. Boris and Carrie were so grateful for the medics’ efforts that they included “Nicholas” as one of their infant son’s three Christian names; this was explicitly intended to be a token of thanks to Dr Nick Price and Professor Nick Hart who had both cared for Boris during his illness. At this stage, a personal friend of the author communicated to her the view that Boris had never had COVID . Though the friend was convinced of this as a truth, it turned out to be a meme of the British Labour Party (Boris Johnston is Conservative) which prevailed briefly before being refuted. Labour’s most senior elected official, Andi Fox, had spread the rumour (Devlin, 2020 ). The friend picked up the disinformation because she drew her news predominantly from Twitter (X). One chooses whom or what cause to “follow”, and she followed Labour which made her, on this occasion, a victim of Confirmation Bias —notwithstanding the fact that she was a degree-holder. Higher education did not protect her against being deceived.

Confirmation Bias pertains to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. The term is believed to have been coined by Wason ( 1960 ) and indicates the tendency of people to take on board information that is compatible with their existing beliefs. It is guided by defensive rather than accuracy motives and is difficult to change once established (Hart et al., 2009 ). It may lead individuals to ignore challenging information and only remember whatever supports their current opinions. They tend to overlook or reject disconfirming information. This has the comforting effect of avoiding cognitive dissonance when confronted with uncongenial material, but it may lead to wrong conclusions and decisions. Confirmation Bias overlaps with Motivated Reasoning (Kunda, 1990 ) in which one’s emotions control one’s approach to information. Being one-sided, it is incompatible with clear-headed analysis based on a range of evidence. A related concept is Cognitive (not Confirmation) Bias which involves intellectual selection of whatever confirms one’s views (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974 ).

Such types of bias are perpetuated by users of social media who seek out certain angles or websites that only present sympathetic information. Bias and bubbles make it more difficult to pursue those values of critical thought and logical reasoning that are supposed to characterise academic study — and they may be conducive to cheating. The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) (2020) found that 60% of US university students admitted to cheating in some form. The publisher Pearson claimed that Chegg Inc. (a US Tech. Company) was violating copyright by selling answers to questions contained in the publisher’s textbooks: in effect, Chegg was helping students cheat (Braithwaite, 2021 ). “Academic misconduct is not a micro-problem, it’s not even a macro-problem – this is a mega-problem,” said Sarah Eaton (University of Calgary and the ICAI). “This is rippling across the globe right now” (reported by Basken, 2020 ). In the UK, Alpha Academic Appeals (AAA) (July 2022) sampled 900 undergraduate students about academic integrity. About 16% of students had cheated in online exams during 2022. Of those students who admitted to cheating, only a very small minority (5%) were caught by their institutions. About one third of students believed that cheating was either not wrong or only mildly wrong. The lead barrister at AAA, Dr Daniel Sokol, pointed out that this problem is “of great importance to employers who rely on degree grades to aid recruitment. For some subjects, like medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy, cheating in exams can result in unqualified students graduating and exposing other people to risk of serious harm.” Since April 2022, essay mills enabling contract cheating have become illegal in the UK under the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022. However, the cheating trend is encouraged by high-stakes testing; inflation of results; COVID-19; and vigorously “helped” by technology: 79% of students in the AAA survey reckoned that it was easier to cheat online than in examination halls.

In an age of unprecedented access to knowledge, technology provides the means to disseminate it or to subvert it on a scale never seen before in human history.

The challenge to freedom

Political correctness and freedom.

The difficulty of pursuing reason, logic and factual accuracy is intensified by political correctness which constrains freedom of speech. Here we shall present one case study of a particular academic; but there are many comparable cases: for example, that of Professor Jo Phoenix of whom more later. Footnote 7

A Case Study: Kathleen Stock was professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex. She was so successful that in New Year 2021 she was honoured by the Government with an OBE award (Order of the British Empire) for services to Higher Education; however, 600 academics signed a letter criticising the Government’s decision, claiming that she was attacking trans people. She was forced to resign from her post because of student protests at the University of Sussex where a furor arose from publication of her book Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (2021). This book is written in a clear accessible style, ranging over disciplines such as law, history of ideas, medicine, psychology, biology and genetics, as well as philosophy.

The controversy could be described as follows. Stock ( 2021 ) criticises the one-sided nature of “standpoint epistemology”: this is the view that the opinions of non-trans people who are critical of trans argumentation should be ignored as irrelevant, and that because trans people may be members of an oppressed minority, everyone should defer to the trans standpoint (ibid.: 213). Footnote 8 Stock (ibid.: 143) rejects the arguments of feminist writer, Butler ( 1990 ), that biological sex does not exist and that womanhood & manhood are exclusionary categories; she strongly disagrees with the proposition that there are “no material biological sexes” (Stock, 2021 : 275). She believes that one needs to distinguish between biological reality and invisible, self-chosen, gender identity; she further contends that biological sex is more important than gender self-identification especially when it comes to law and policy. Though normally scrupulous about respecting people’s gender pronouns, Stock denies the desired pronoun “she” or “her” to Karen White, a man who transitioned to become a trans woman, and who was placed in a female prison. White committed sexual assault on female prisoners when in that jail (ibid.: 209-210). Stock argues that people cannot literally change sex; and that the 2004 UK Gender Recognition Act created a legal fiction about the possibility of sex change. The law sometimes acts as if something is real when it is not: e.g., a company can be treated as a “person” (ibid.: 178 & p. 181).

Students at the University of Sussex castigated Kathleen Stock as a transphobic person and a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF). She was exposed to an intense, hostile campaign involving threatening communications, demos of masked men on campus, posters, graffiti and flares (p. viii). She was told by police to stay away from campus; to take precautions for her safety, including installing CCTV at her home and using bodyguards. The situation became so inflamed that she was forced to resign from her post. Yet the irony of the trans attacks on her is that she is a lesbian and a sex-nonconforming woman (Stock, 2021 : 40) who lives with another woman, Laura, her “darling wife” (ibid.: 277). She strongly supports protective laws for trans people. “I gladly and vocally assert the rights of trans people to live their lives free from fear, violence, harassment or any discrimination”. Footnote 9 Another irony is that despite losing her job at Sussex, Kathleen Stock’s publications were entered into the University’s submission to the British Research Excellence Framework (REF) as evidence of Impact. Philosophy performed well in Impact so, despite her suffering and dismissal, Stock’s publications will bring thousands of pounds to the institution that failed to give her adequate support when she needed it (Grove, 2022 ).

Freedom of speech

The case of Kathleen Stock raises issues about freedom of speech. She believes that in her plight “[[L]egislation about such freedom] would have made a real difference because there is …lack of understanding of the value of free speech and academic freedom on British university campuses” (Grove, 2021 ). The then Vice Chancellor Adam Tickell of Sussex did admit: “I’m really concerned that we have masked protesters putting up posters calling for the sacking of somebody for exercising her right to articulate her views.” Stock herself states that “Universities aren’t places where students should just expect to hear their own thoughts reflected back at them. Arguments should be met by arguments and evidence by evidence, not intimidation or aggression” (Lawrie, 2012 ). Actually, the University of Sussex could and should have done better by Kathleen Stock. In a case entitled Maya Forstater versus CGD Europe , an Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that “gender critical beliefs” fall within the definition of philosophical belief worthy of protection under the Equality Act 2010. It is possible to believe that human beings cannot change sex whilst also protecting the human rights of people who identify as transgender. This means that employees who hold gender critical beliefs cannot legally be discriminated against for holding such beliefs (Warner Goodman, 2021 ). In a case analogous to that of Kathleen Stock, Professor Jo Phoenix, a lesbian who set up the Gender Critical Research Network (GCRN) at the Open University (OU), came into dispute with her employer over her views on gender. She was obliged to resign from her job in December 2021, but a tribunal ruled that this was constructive dismissal; on 22 January 2024, Jo Phoenix was found to have suffered victimisation and harassment, as well as direct discrimination (Siddique, 2024 ). She had won her case against the OU.

The UK does not have a written Constitution, so the freedoms that are explicitly mentioned in the Constitutions of some other countries (e.g., Germany) Footnote 10 mostly remain implicit in British socio-political life. This implies the pre-existence of a society with a relatively strong degree of cohesion and consensus. However, these freedoms can no longer be taken for granted because of the woke movement. Footnote 11 A survey entitled “You Can’t Say That” (Hillman, 2022 ) which deals with student views on freedom of speech polled 1,019 undergraduates. It was previously administered in 2016, so comparisons can be made between past and present opinion. Clearly in 2022 UK students have moved away much more decisively than in 2016 from supporting campus freedom of expression. Eighty-six per cent (86%) of students support the No-Platform Policy of the National Union of Students, (up from 76% in 2016) while just 5% say “the NUS should not limit free speech or discussion” (down from 11% in 2016). Most students wish to see greater restrictions imposed on their peers than in the past: for example, nine out of ten students now support trigger warnings. A new question was asked on freedom of speech and the answers reveal that fewer than half the students (48%) support the idea of a new “free speech champion” in England. Hillman (ibid.: 14-15) concludes: “A high proportion of students have a very different conception of academic freedom and free speech norms than earlier generations and from many of those who legislate, regulate or govern UK higher education institutions. (…) The level of student support for greater restrictions on free expression is so high that it is unlikely to be something that higher education institutions can grapple with on their own, assuming it is thought to need tackling, but instead is an issue for wider society.”

Notwithstanding potential student pushback, and in defiance of the traditional unwillingness to codify freedom, the British Government has now passed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act which came into operation on May 11 2023. Footnote 12 It brings in new measures that will require universities and, for the first time, student unions, to promote and protect freedom of speech for students, academics and visiting speakers. As a result, academic institutions may face sanctions, including fines, if they are found to have unlawfully stifled educational freedom of speech. During the preparatory stages when the Freedom of Speech Act was still a “Bill”, yet to be passed by Parliament, the then universities minister, Michelle Donelan, stated that it was designed to “tackle the growing chilling effect on campuses which is silencing and censoring students, academics and visiting speakers” (Jamdar, 2021 ).

The Act defines freedom within the law as the right to question and test received wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions without individuals placing themselves at risk of being adversely affected by loss of their jobs or privileges, making it less likely that they might secure promotion at their “higher education provider” (HEP) (Act, AI, paras 6 & 7). The governing body of a registered higher education provider must a) define its understanding of, and promote the importance of, freedom of speech within the law, and (b) lay down the procedures to be followed by staff and students of the HEP in the organisation of meetings which are to be held on its premises (Act, A2 (1) (2) (a) & (b)). A speech either in a students’ union or in the HEP’S premises must not take place on terms that require the individual or body to bear some or all of the costs of security relating to their use of the premises (one recalls here the police urging Kathleen Stock to employ a bodyguard). There are to be sanctions against the HEP if it fails in its duties. The Office for Students (OfS, the independent HE regulator in England) has been given the power to enforce freedom of speech under a new complaints scheme. Professor Arif Ahmed, formerly a philosopher at the University of Cambridge, was appointed in June 2023 to oversee the OfS’s performance of its free speech functions. So, legal support for freedom of speech at national and institutional level is now judged to be vitally necessary in present-day British academia. Levitsky and Ziblatt ( 2018 ) in their book How Democracies Die argue that democracy is in retreat all over the world. To combat this, they believe that students need to be committed to the survival of the democratic political order and to freedom of speech. This can no longer be achieved by discussion and consensus in the UK; it needs to be backed by the force of law. Kathleen Stock considers that it is “a shame that we have to use such a big stick to get universities to recognise the value of academic freedom which should be seen as an end in itself” (Grove, 2021 ).

The challenge to wellbeing in higher education

Stress on staff and students.

We must never forget that a sound economic basis is essential to the good conduct of higher education -- vulnerable as it is to contraction of resources. In fact, Menand ( 1996 :19) fears that academic freedom will be “killed by lack of money”. However, neoliberalism is conducive to a utilitarian concept of higher education, and on occasion to managerial ruthlessness. At its worst, such instrumentalism can result in a toxic culture for both the individual and the institution –ultimately even for society as a whole. In 2019, the most successful article in the Times Higher was entitled “Want to get ahead in academia?” (Dumitrescu, 2019 ). Of course, this catchy title lured many people into the text, hoping no doubt to pick up a few tips in the battle to achieve promotion; but quickly the irony of the piece became obvious to them. Here was the advice provided.

Try adopting a toxic personality.

Do nothing for anyone unimportant. Cultivate powerful friends.

Crush the confidence of students with the potential to surpass you.

Claim your students’ work as your own and reassign their best ideas to your favourites.

Anyone else’s gain is your loss. Life in academia is a zero-sum game. Collaboration is for losers.

“Gaslight” other people and spread misinformation about anyone who stands up to you. Footnote 13

Gain power over as many publication organs and scholarly bodies as possible and use them to promote your clique.

“You too can become upwardly toxic; if you are the sort of person who likes harassing less powerful people, you will enjoy it too. (…) Threaten lawsuits, repercussions, closed-off opportunities. The more people cave to fear, the more they become implicated in shared guilt and work to maintain silence whether they want to or not.” (Dumitrescu, 21.11.2019: 29).

The word “toxic” (poisonous) is used by other authors too, for example Smyth ( 2018 ) in his book entitled The Toxic University . He claims that too much emphasis is placed on the economic value of higher education thereby leading to materialism and instrumentalism. Unwillingness of governments and inability of universities to pay for sufficient staff in HEIs lead to the casualisation of academic teaching, and the resulting employment insecurity causes fear and stress. In fact, stress is rampant in British academia where levels of psychological wellbeing fall badly short of national Health and Safety Executive standards. Between 2009 and 2015 there was an overall increase of 165% in referrals of academic staff to occupational health services (Morrish, 2019 : 23). There have been 2 suicides (Malcolm Anderson and Stefan Grimm). A Workload Survey carried out by the University and College Union (UCU, 2022 ) indicates that most academics work an average of more than two unpaid days every week. Overall, 87% of HE staff reported that workload had increased over the past three years, with more than two thirds (68%) saying that it had increased significantly (up from 59% in 2016). Almost one third of those in HE ( N =9850) regarded their workload as unmanageable most of the time (UCU, 2022 :30).

Students as well as staff suffer from stress which can affect their mental health. The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and Advance Higher Education (AHE) have completed an annual longitudinal survey for 2023 which facilitates year-on-year comparisons by posing key questions (Student Academic Experience Survey (SAES) authored by Neves and Stevenson, 2023 ). It has been running since 2005/06, so trends can be identified over almost two decades; it also sometimes includes new questions to address current concerns. The 2023 sample consists of 10,163 responses. There is some recovery from the time of COVID, but “political and policy uncertainty, high inflation and the shock of the pandemic all ensure we are not living in normal times” (ibid.). Students’ levels of wellbeing are low especially when compared with the general population surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Footnote 14 The SAES and the ONS Surveys both asked the same questions about wellbeing. The ONS response figures will be given below in brackets after those of the SAES 2023 Survey. Students were questioned about the following dimensions of wellbeing: whether their lives were worthwhile : SAES, 17% responded positively (77% ONS); happiness 17% (74% ONS ) ; life satisfaction 13% (74% ONS); anxiety 16% (32% ONS). The disparities between the student and the general population are strikingly different.

Student perceptions of whether their higher education is value for money have fluctuated greatly over a decade. In 2013, 50% of students found their courses good/ very good value for money (VFM); but in 2021, the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this sank to 27%. It has now risen to 37%, so there is progress in the right direction, but the percentage is still low. Roughly a third of British students (31%) find their courses poor VFM. The student concerns that led to these ratings of poor VFM were as follows (aggregated for all four countries of the United Kingdom): cost of living 41%; tuition 40%; teaching quality 31%. The authors of the SAES 2023 study (Neves and Stevenson, 2023 : 16) express their surprise at cost of living now outstripping tuition fees which is a perennial concern. There has been a statistically significant increase (11% up to 16%) in the proportion who feel their experience has matched their expectations – nearly double the level of 2013. This 16% is the highest it has ever been but as with VFM, the figure is still very low for such an important parameter. About 3/10 have considered leaving their course, and this is mainly because of their poor emotional health. They wanted more in-person contact with their lecturers. They also wanted enhanced mental health support within institutions, as well as increased understanding from academic staff. An average of 7.5 hours per week are now spent working to earn money to stay alive. One student stated in an open-ended response: “The cost of living is crippling and having to work to pay bills while studying is a nightmare” (ibid.). Fifty-five per cent (55%) of the students were in paid employment which is a lot higher than before the pandemic, and indeed is at the highest level since the survey began (ibid.: 35). Callender and de Gayardon ( 2021 ) have conducted a study of English Graduates’ Attitudes towards Loan Repayment. They found that in 2020, UK HE graduates left higher education with average loan debts of £45,060 (ca. $52,000). Most believe that they will never be able to repay this money. (…) The very thought causes a psychological burden of anxiety, pressure, worry and dread about the ever-present and growing debt hanging over them until the day they die (ibid.: 21 & 44). Cater ( 2023 ) argues for “forgivable” fees on the grounds that repayments scheduled to continue for 40 years lead to unfilled posts in schools, hospitals and the community; they may also correlate with a decline in the British birthrate (813,000 in 2012; 682,000 in 2020).

One recalls that Fichte ( 1807 / 1956 ) advocated grants for the students to liberate them from the constraints of poverty. British higher education is ranked among the best in the world, but the cost of such quality can be high for those who learn, teach, and manage in its institutions. To survive and thrive in the modern academic environment, it has been necessary to modify some features of the Humboldtian tradition; after all, higher education is now a mass rather than an elite system. However, the power of online social media combined with the one-sidedness arising from bias constitutes a real danger to knowledge and critical thinking. Even well-educated persons are routinely duped by the media’s disdain for fact and truth values. Political correctness can militate against freedom and natural justice, especially in gender-related matters. The heavy weight of financial debt can cast a dark cloud over student days which traditionally are “supposed” to be happy. Many governments now consider happiness and wellness statistics in conjunction with Gross Domestic Product. The 2012 World Happiness Report (WHR) (Helliwell et al., 2012 ) includes a special case study of Bhutan with its famous Gross National Happiness Index. The 10th Bhutanese Plan explicitly seeks “to address a more meaningful purpose for development than just the mere fulfillment (sic) of material satisfaction” (WHR/Helliwell et al., 2012 : 117). It is believed that “a holistic education extends beyond a conventional formal education framework to reflect and respond more directly to the task of creating good human beings. It is important for Bhutan that an education indicator includes the cultivation and transmission of values” (ibid.). The 2012 WHR/Helliwell et al. publication (ibid.: 6) poses the question: “[S]hould we consider some parts of our society to be ‘off bounds’ to the profit motive, so that we can foster the spirit of cooperation, trust, and community?”

Perhaps we should apply this to universities. Perhaps too there are some lessons that we can learn from values in Bhutan.

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Pritchard, R.M.O. Values in British higher education: knowledge, freedom and wellbeing. Tert Educ Manag (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-024-09137-2

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