Values Education: Possibilities for Integration

Starting with the view that there are four major approaches to values education in Australian schools, all with different theoretical underpinnings, this article examines two related issues of integration: to what extent these approaches can be used separately within a coherent program of values education; and to what extent they can be used together within particular teaching units. The author concludes that contemporary theories of teaching and learning have resulted in a narrowing of the contentious divide between prescription and non-prescription; and that as a result the different premises underlying the approaches are enriching rather than limiting factors in teaching values education.