Building values in education: a challenge

Abstract

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO (acronym in Spanish) considers inclusion and respect for diversity as fundamental components of the harmonious coexistence as they overcome and eliminate exclusion. Therefore, all those belonging to the educational system are expected to develop procedures that can generate trust in its members. In addition to the academic and research activities; the Universidad Tècnica Particular de Loja develops complementary activities as part of the relationship with the community facilitating their interaction and becoming the support center in the achievement of its objectives. These activities are considered essential, multidisciplinary and integrative. They enable the community participation in the scientific, technological and humanistic heritage, through the prior diagnosis of the community needs. This way, the relationship project "The school in values education" started. This project was developed with the participation of 11 students and 2 Human and Religious Sciences’ teachers, through the implementation of the 3.2 Practicum component. The aim was to strengthen strategies and methodologies in order to motivate the teaching-learning process on values formation for the educational institution's students, teachers, and parents. In this study, a quantitative methodology was used with the application of the survey, "The school in values education", to 290 adolescents from eight different educational establishments in the cities of Santa Rosa, Guayaquil, Quito, Bahía de Caraques, Cuenca, Ibarra, and Ambato. Thus, it was possible to promote learning transferring and exchange between the university and the community members; allowing to familiarize students with real contexts through dynamic and creative workshops that are generators of positive impact, especially on the most vulnerable groups of society. Experiencing values is closely related to three aspects: school coexistence, students-teacher relationships, and family relationships within the home.