Abstract
Life and Values Education (LVE) should be student-centered, life-oriented and culture-based towards the holistic development of the young generation, especially for primary students who are at the most crucial and foundational stage for their psychosocial, cognitive and moral developmental stage of values formation and independent behaviors. To facilitate the delivery of LVE as a life-transforming journey in love, it is essential to connect students’ prior knowledge to attain new insights for reinforcement and consolidation of positive values in life. This preliminary study is endeavored to explore their perceptions of life so as to broaden the knowledge base for designing and implementing LVE activities for the primary students in the local context.
The design of this study has undertaken a mixed methods approach in convergent parallel design for data collection and analysis. ‘Draw and Narrate Approach’ and ‘Semi-structured Questionnaire’ have been respectively adopted in the qualitative and quantitative parts of this study as the major research tools.
This study has contributed to fill up the research gap by collecting the firsthand information for generating preliminary insights to explore the perceived perceptions and values of life with aspirations from the local primary students for enhancing LVE. This is an exploratory study rather than a correlational study. The research findings collected from a total number of 606 participating students have demonstrated that their perceptions of life are multi-dimensional to address different areas of human needs while their proposed ways in cherishing life are oriented towards various types of relationships.
By the sociocultural review of the major findings, this study also sheds light on understanding how sociocultural factors have profoundly affected the perceptions and anticipations of our local primary students. They have developed the awareness of ecological senses even though they live in a highly urbanized city. Students from upper academic levels have a yearning to explore the essence of their existence by living in a multi-faiths community with diverse cultures. Nevertheless, death is still a cultural taboo.
Simultaneously, the traditional collectivism-oriented cultures in the East and the teaching of Confucius have fundamental impacts on our students to be inculcated with strong family-oriented values to foster social harmony. Besides, the general over-emphasis of academic achievement in the competitive society with rapid-changing rhythm of new challenges may undermine their holistic development and lead to a comparatively low level of self-satisfaction.
The implication of the study is to encourage educators to put greater emphasis on involving our students’ active participation in the design and implementation of LVE. It is noted that the interactive learning model with mutual sharing is a significant pathway to lead out students’ potentials to attain the learning goals of LVE for enhancing their wellbeing with holistic development.
For the future development of LVE, the formation of self can be considered as the cornerstone. The synthesis of the four components including ‘Stewardship’ and ‘Authorship’ for developing intrapersonal relationship with self, whereas ‘Partnership’ and ‘Citizenship’ for enhancing interpersonal relationship with others for integration are recommended as the foundational dimensions of LVE. All rights reserved.
The design of this study has undertaken a mixed methods approach in convergent parallel design for data collection and analysis. ‘Draw and Narrate Approach’ and ‘Semi-structured Questionnaire’ have been respectively adopted in the qualitative and quantitative parts of this study as the major research tools.
This study has contributed to fill up the research gap by collecting the firsthand information for generating preliminary insights to explore the perceived perceptions and values of life with aspirations from the local primary students for enhancing LVE. This is an exploratory study rather than a correlational study. The research findings collected from a total number of 606 participating students have demonstrated that their perceptions of life are multi-dimensional to address different areas of human needs while their proposed ways in cherishing life are oriented towards various types of relationships.
By the sociocultural review of the major findings, this study also sheds light on understanding how sociocultural factors have profoundly affected the perceptions and anticipations of our local primary students. They have developed the awareness of ecological senses even though they live in a highly urbanized city. Students from upper academic levels have a yearning to explore the essence of their existence by living in a multi-faiths community with diverse cultures. Nevertheless, death is still a cultural taboo.
Simultaneously, the traditional collectivism-oriented cultures in the East and the teaching of Confucius have fundamental impacts on our students to be inculcated with strong family-oriented values to foster social harmony. Besides, the general over-emphasis of academic achievement in the competitive society with rapid-changing rhythm of new challenges may undermine their holistic development and lead to a comparatively low level of self-satisfaction.
The implication of the study is to encourage educators to put greater emphasis on involving our students’ active participation in the design and implementation of LVE. It is noted that the interactive learning model with mutual sharing is a significant pathway to lead out students’ potentials to attain the learning goals of LVE for enhancing their wellbeing with holistic development.
For the future development of LVE, the formation of self can be considered as the cornerstone. The synthesis of the four components including ‘Stewardship’ and ‘Authorship’ for developing intrapersonal relationship with self, whereas ‘Partnership’ and ‘Citizenship’ for enhancing interpersonal relationship with others for integration are recommended as the foundational dimensions of LVE. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Education |
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| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Theses and Dissertations
- Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Education University of Hong Kong, 2024.