1. Introduction

Learn more about Shalom Schwartz’s theory of personal values, why values are important and why values are important in an educational context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQxzmjWUnK8

2. How Can We Define Values?

Values are what is important to us and essentially, what guides us in life and what helps us identify who we are and what we wish to achieve. In other words, values are what points us to certain directions and actions; it is through values that we choose to express our personal traits and preferences, how we behave to others and to ourselves and, generally speaking, to the world around us. For example, a person who states that one of their values is acceptance and openness honours these values by accepting diversity, welcoming people with different backgrounds, identities, and/or preferences to their group, and forming relationships with them.

Shalom Schwartz, a social psychologist and cross-cultural researcher, developed the Theory of Ten Personal Values, which aims to present ten universal values that exist in all cultures and can explain the dynamics of agreement or conflict between people. These ten values are: self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, and universalism.

3. Here are Some Basic Conclusions Derived From Schwartz’s Theory of 10 Personal Values:

• When we think of our values, we think of what is important to us in our lives (e.g., security, independence, wisdom);
• Values are beliefs;
• Values refer to the goals people try to attain;
• Values transcend specific actions and situations. They are abstract goals. The abstract nature of values distinguishes them from concepts like norms and attitudes, which usually refer to specific actions, objects, or situations;
• Values guide the selection or evaluation of actions, policies, people, and events and serve as standards/criteria;
• Values are ordered by importance relative to one another. People’s values form an ordered system of value priorities that characterize them as individuals;
• Values influence most if not all motivated behaviour.

4. Ilda’s Story

A good example of all the above would be the following: Ilda is a young woman who owns a local business selling eco-friendly products and organic food. She values integrity, sustainability, harmony, and money. Her goal is to expand her business by building a website and promoting her products online to a bigger audience, thus increasing her profits. Since Ilda values honesty and integrity and as she believes in harmony and balance, she has decided to collaborate with a small web developing company to build her website instead of a bigger company and she has opted for local producers and family businesses to buy the stock for her shop instead of buying from bigger international suppliers. Ilda prioritizes sustainability and integrity first and then harmony and money; this is obvious through her actions, which are all motivated by her values: Ilda wants to be successful, but she has also decided not to sacrifice her core values in order to earn more money.

5. Why are Values Important?