Värdegrunden i praktiken ? Lärarupplevelser
The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a qualitative study of the perceptions of language teachers as to their role in the teaching of values and morals to pupils. Five language teachers have been interviewed about their perceptions of how values are taught and their role therein. The interviews serve to investigate the reality of teaching values to pupils in a Swedish secondary school and the work involved in this on-going process, this being with a view to having a better understanding of just how important a role the teaching of values plays in the daily working life of a teacher. Terms such as fundamental values and morals can be difficult to define as they are highly personal and can differ from person to person depending on one?s background, experiences and family circumstances, for example. The main values that are referred to in this piece of work are the fundamental democratic values and human rights as outlined in the national curriculum for Swedish secondary education (GY 11). It is insufficient for pupils to leave high school with a high academic aptitude and subject knowledge without having been guided by the school with regards to basic human values thus allowing them to develop into democratic citizens. Similarly, parents also have an important role to play when it comes to instilling their children with democratic values. Adolescents are highly influenced by the actions and opinions of adults in their immediate surroundings, therefore it is imperative that schools actively take a stand against and work to prevent all forms of discrimination, prejudice and negative attitudes that go against the school?s fundamental values. The results show that all teachers who have been interviewed are in agreement that teaching core values is a fundamental part of their teaching role. However, although they are aware of the National Curriculum´s guidelines regarding the teaching of values it is not a document to which they would often refer in their daily teaching role. Instead, they allow their own moral compass to guide them in how best to work with moral issues. Most of the teachers agree that it is important for teaching staff to have a unified view on how best to work with core values However, one teacher highlighted the danger of a combined ideology based solely on state doctrine and stressed that freedom of speech should still be respected. The teachers have expressed a wish to have more discussion, lectures and training about how to actively work with ethics and morals in the classroom. This is due to the fact that they are still unsure as to how to implement practical exercises involving core values into their lesson plans. They did, however, mention the importance of working with carefully selected literature, texts and films, for example, in order to put these moral issues into focus.