A HOLISTIC AND INTEGRATED APPROACH TO VALUES EDUCATION FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

(UNESCO)

INTRODUCTIO:

APNIEVE – is an acronym for the Asia Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education.
It draws its basic philosophy from the original mandate of UNESCO, expressed in the Constitution, to
develop peace founded upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity.

• Its principal objectives, the promotion and development of international education and values
education for peace, human rights, and democracy, in the context of a holistic, human and
sustainable development, through co-operation among individuals and institutions working in
these fields in UNESCO Member States of the Asia-Pacific Region.

Six main holistic concepts on education for a culture of peace under the UNESCO's education program.

1. An integrated comprehensive education covering human rights, democracy, international

understanding, tolerance, non-violence, multiculturalism, and all other values conveyed through the
school curriculum;

2. Education should be regarded as a social phenomenon communicating such values as equality,

harmony, solidarity, etc.

. Education (i.e. the content of all curricula) at every level in the education system, in which values
connected to the culture of peace are to be found; The all-round education of each individual;

4. Education for specific target groups for promoting equal opportunity;

5. The educational context, both formal and informal; and,

6. Education as a participatory and interactive process of instruction and learning, comprising the total
sum of values and knowledge transmitted.

The Asia-Pacific Region in the Context of Globalization

Asia Pacific Region is the most culturally, and racially diverse region in the world, containing a rich
tapestry of languages, religions, ethnicities and heritage.

-The new globalization is driving a revolution

in the production and trade of goods and services, knowledge and innovation, in work

and education and in relations among nations and local cultures. "It is changing the very

fundamentals of human relations and social life." (UNESCO IIEP: Globalization and

Educational Reform, p. 14).

The Valuing Process as a Holistic and Integrated Approach to Values Education: Model, Challenges and
Implications
 • Educative process that is both holistic and integrative in approach.

• A great challenge to the educator. How the educator will successfully guide and facilitate the
learner’s ability to actualize the very core values that lead to this experience would require great
sensitivity (sense-ability) and responsibility (response-ability).

• Firstly, one needs to reconsider the kind of learning approaches and atmosphere appropriate to
the learner.

• Secondly, one needs to possess an understanding and mastery of the dynamics involved in the
process of values development.

• This implies that the educators must themselves be attuned to and updated with the different
systems, including the intra-personal system, and their potential effects on the learner.

• This kind of examination will increase the learners’ consciousness, not only with their outer
realities, but also with their inner realities.

• In the process, the learners eventually realize their ability to work towards personal integration,
wholeness and a sense of harmony within.

• This means that the values they profess in the cognitive level will be filtered down to the
affective as well as the Behavioral, thereby making them authentic persons who are true to
themselves and becoming fully human.

• The whole learning experience involved in the valuing process will inevitably heighten the
learner’s self-awareness, which eventually also leads to an increase in self-identity and self-
direction.

The first challenge: reaching the valuing level

• The first challenge for the educator is to examine the level of teaching that is engaging the
learner. There are basically three levels of teaching:

• Fact

• Concept
 • Valuing, before what is learned is translated into behavior.

The second challenge: structuring clarifying processes

• Another challenge for the educator who seeks an integrative and holistic approach to education
is one’s ability to structure processes in the learning environment where the learner’s personal
values are examined and clarified by Louis Raths. has formulated a functional definition by
which values could be studied. According to Raths, valuing is composed of seven sub-processes:

The third challenge: Arriving at personal integration as a goal

• The learners must be guided to arrive at some degree of congruence between their values and
those of the systems to which they belong. In addition, the learners must seek consistency
within their internal system, i.e. moral and spiritual consciousness, ideals and aspirations, etc.

The fourth challenge: providing democratic space in the learning environment

• Educators in this process must guarantee a democratic space in the learning environment. By
doing so, the atmosphere for psychological honesty and truthfulness is established.

A model of the valuing process in the context of the teaching and learning cycle

Since our emphasis of Values Education is one of a holistic and integrated approach, all human faculties
of the learners must be tapped and developed. In this light, the Teaching and Learning Cycle as
proposed by Quisumbing is most appropriate as both a reference and a model.

Step One: Conceptual Level – Knowing. Valuing does not exist in a vacuum. It has to have a knowledge
base from which values will be explored and discerned.

Step Two: Conceptual Level – Understanding. In the proposed cycle, distinction is made between
knowledge and wisdom.

Step Three: Affective Level – Valuing. As discussed in previous sections, knowing and understanding are
not guarantees that values would be internalized and integrated.

Step Four: Active Level – Acting. The value concepts that are valued ultimately lead to action.