Key values for school children

'To help others' is at the top of primary school children's list of values that are important to them. (Illustration: Andrea Blauensteiner) The values that matter most to primary school children are safety and the well-being of others. Teachers, meanwhile, also want to cultivate self-direction - in the same way that the Swiss curriculum aims to do. These are the initial findings of an extensive study conducted by the Institute for Educational Sciences to explore how values are taught in schools. October 2022 Our values shape every aspect of our lives. "They affect our relationships, happiness, well-being and, not lastly, how we go about our everyday lives," says Elena Makarova, Director of the Institute for Educational Sciences at the University of Basel. In addition to their lives at home with their parents, the school plays a key role in how children develop their own values.