The Role of Teachers in Values Education in Pakistan: A Case of Early Childhood Education and Development from Pakistan.

Abstract

The teachers in early childhood education and preschool have a significant influence on curriculum and daily practices in the class, therefore, have a dominant influence on the implementation of values education. Deeming values as a social construct, this small-scale qualitative case study was carried out to explore the priority values of early childhood education teachers and their ways of teaching values in a school in northern Pakistan. Interviews and classroom observations were conducted to gather in-depth data from the school leadership and the teachers. Teachers were found primarily focused on the inculcation of societal values, behaviors and life skills needed for children to successfully adjust to society. In this school, teachers are playing a dominant role in the values education of the young children through role modeling, daily practices and routines and interactions with the parents. School leadership is focused on values education. While doing so, they are aspiring for other stakeholders to accept the upper hand of the school values and expect them to facilitate the inculcation of these values in young children. The school and teachers are facing the problem of the reluctance of parents to take full responsibility for the values education of their children.