Professor of Educational Sciences

Research Project  | 4 Project Members

The project investigates how teachers and peers may shape the development of values among primary school children in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Its aim is to disentangle the dynamic effects within the classroom in order to establish a robust foundation for fostering value-related competencies in early schooling.

Although values are firmly embedded in curricula such as Switzerland’s Lehrplan 21 and the UK’s OFSTED educational standards, there is a lack of knowledge about how the social fabric of the classroom influences children’s value development. This project addresses this gap by focusing not only on children themselves, but explicitly on the potential influences of teachers and peers. Through a longitudinal study involving approximately 1,000 children in Switzerland, as well as qualitative interviews with teachers in both countries (Switzerland and the United Kingdom), the project pursues two main objectives: 1) to analyse the developmental trajectories of values and behaviour during the first two years of primary school, and 2) to identify the mechanisms through which pedagogical practices and social dynamics may shape children’s values. For the first time, the study examines how these factors interact, rather than considering them in isolation.

Building on the findings of the preceding VALISE research project (VALues In School Education), the present study (VALISE_CLASSROOM) focuses on processes of value formation within the classroom. The results are intended to support teachers and school leaders in shaping the classroom as an effective environment for children’s social and moral development. This is of high societal relevance, as reflective value formation constitutes a foundation for identity, behaviour, and social cohesion.