ABSTRACT

The role of schools in developing values is internationally recognised, with many systems grappling to identify and embed values in schools. Within an Irish context, the Education Act (1998) frames values from the perspective of ‘characteristic spirit’, giving responsibility to boards of management to uphold the characteristic spirit as established by the school’s patron. This was the first time this concept applied to publicly managed schools. Recently, the largest publicly managed sector, Education and Training Boards, has grappled with the question of which values should underpin the characteristic spirit of their schools. Following a national consultative process, the sector has identified values (excellence in education, care, equality, community, respect) and is now tasked with embedding these within its schools. The change literature highlights the complexity of this task. Following a review of the corpus of relevant research, this paper explores the enablers that support publicly managed schools to embed the core values in schools, as well as potential tensions that need to be considered to support enactment. The paper provides a critique of the sectoral response to these enablers and tensions. This paper contributes to international debates on values in education by considering these enablers and tensions to support change.

摘要

学校在发展价值观方面的作用得到了国际认可，许多系统都在努力确定价值观并将其融入学校。在爱尔兰背景下，《教育法》（1998）从“特色精神”的角度构建了价值观，赋予管理委员会维护学校赞助人所确立的特色精神的责任。这是这个概念第一次应用于公立学校。最近，最大的公共管理部门教育和培训委员会一直在努力解决哪些价值观应该支撑学校特色精神的问题。经过全国协商过程，该部门确定了价值观（卓越的教育、关怀、平等、社区、尊重），现在的任务是将这些价值观融入学校。变革文献强调了这项任务的复杂性。在回顾相关研究资料后，本文探讨了支持公立学校将核心价值观融入学校的推动因素，以及支持制定时需要考虑的潜在紧张局势。本文对部门对这些推动因素和紧张局势的反应进行了批评。本文通过考虑这些支持变革的推动因素和紧张局势，为有关教育价值观的国际辩论做出了贡献。本文对部门对这些推动因素和紧张局势的反应进行了批评。本文通过考虑这些支持变革的推动因素和紧张局势，为有关教育价值观的国际辩论做出了贡献。本文对部门对这些推动因素和紧张局势的反应进行了批评。本文通过考虑这些支持变革的推动因素和紧张局势，为有关教育价值观的国际辩论做出了贡献。