On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society
Besides the task of conveying information, methods and skills to their pupils, teachers are also expected to mediate certain basic values. In this paper we are interested in the educational task of mediating such values in societies imbued with individualist values and attitudes. As a background we...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Athens Institute for Education and Research
2017-05-01
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| Series: | Athens Journal of Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2017-4-2-3-Samuelsson.pdf |
| _version_ | 1830342746439680000 |
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| author | Lars Samuelsson Niclas Lindström |
| author_facet | Lars Samuelsson Niclas Lindström |
| author_sort | Lars Samuelsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Besides the task of conveying information, methods and skills to their pupils, teachers are also expected to mediate certain basic values. In this paper we are interested in the educational task of mediating such values in societies imbued with individualist values and attitudes. As a background we use the results from the recurring "World Values Survey" (WVS) which maps the evaluative profile of citizens in about 80 different countries worldwide. The results from WVS reveal that Swedes in general stand out as remarkably individualist with respect to their reported value judgements. Hence, Sweden constitutes our example of an individualist society, i.e., a society whose members to a large extent share an individualist evaluative profile. One important feature of such an individualist evaluative profile is a tendency to regard questions of value as largely a private matter and to downplay the importance of ethics in general. Against this background we investigated the evaluative outlook of 134 Swedish teacher students, using questions from WVS as a point of departure. The results indicate that these students do not differ to any significant degree from the Swedish population in general as regards their evaluative outlook, and yet they are supposed to mediate both individualist and social basic values in their coming profession. The purpose of this paper is to make visible and problematize the tension between an individualist evaluative profile and the educational task of mediating a set of basic values. This tension, it is argued, poses special challenges for teachers and the teacher education in societies on the individualist side of the scale. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:57:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bef425e4afbf4e9a915c72625e795eba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2241-7958 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:57:01Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | Athens Institute for Education and Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Athens Journal of Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-bef425e4afbf4e9a915c72625e795eba2022-12-21T20:04:16ZengAthens Institute for Education and ResearchAthens Journal of Education2241-79582017-05-0142136148https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.4-2-3On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist SocietyLars Samuelsson0Niclas Lindström1Associate Professor, Umeå University, SwedenAssociate Professor, Umeå University, SwedenBesides the task of conveying information, methods and skills to their pupils, teachers are also expected to mediate certain basic values. In this paper we are interested in the educational task of mediating such values in societies imbued with individualist values and attitudes. As a background we use the results from the recurring "World Values Survey" (WVS) which maps the evaluative profile of citizens in about 80 different countries worldwide. The results from WVS reveal that Swedes in general stand out as remarkably individualist with respect to their reported value judgements. Hence, Sweden constitutes our example of an individualist society, i.e., a society whose members to a large extent share an individualist evaluative profile. One important feature of such an individualist evaluative profile is a tendency to regard questions of value as largely a private matter and to downplay the importance of ethics in general. Against this background we investigated the evaluative outlook of 134 Swedish teacher students, using questions from WVS as a point of departure. The results indicate that these students do not differ to any significant degree from the Swedish population in general as regards their evaluative outlook, and yet they are supposed to mediate both individualist and social basic values in their coming profession. The purpose of this paper is to make visible and problematize the tension between an individualist evaluative profile and the educational task of mediating a set of basic values. This tension, it is argued, poses special challenges for teachers and the teacher education in societies on the individualist side of the scale.http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2017-4-2-3-Samuelsson.pdfbasic valuesevaluative profilesmediating valuesteacher educationvalue reproductionindividualism |
| spellingShingle | Lars Samuelsson Niclas Lindström On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society Athens Journal of Education basic values evaluative profiles mediating values teacher education value reproduction individualism |
| title | On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society |
| title_full | On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society |
| title_fullStr | On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society |
| title_short | On the Educational Task of Mediating Basic Values in an Individualist Society |
| title_sort | on the educational task of mediating basic values in an individualist society |
| topic | basic values evaluative profiles mediating values teacher education value reproduction individualism |
| url | http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2017-4-2-3-Samuelsson.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT larssamuelsson ontheeducationaltaskofmediatingbasicvaluesinanindividualistsociety AT niclaslindstrom ontheeducationaltaskofmediatingbasicvaluesinanindividualistsociety |