Introduction

In 1990 the Consortium of Institutions for Development and Research in Education in Europe (CIDREE)² recognised that the concept of Values in Education was an interest common to a significant number of member institutions across Europe. It was clear that there were many different perceptions; about what was meant by values; whether there are genuinely universal values; whether there can be consensus on values; whether values can be taught; if so, by whom; whether it is legitimate for educationists to engage in this field; or are values simply, or not so simply, acquired?

² CIDREE Paper setting out purposes and objectives of organisation. 1990

The outcome of this shared interest within CIDREE was the setting up of a collaborative programme on Values in Education (VEEP)³. This programme involves 11 institutions in 7 countries (England, Germany, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain and The Netherlands) as full participants or observers. The programme is essentially a framework for sharing and discussing aspects of Values education across the countries involved with a view to each institution, and by association, every country gaining deeper insights into and understandings of how the values dimension of education might be addressed.

³ VEEP Proposal statement 1990

The focus of the VEEP initiative is curricular and aims to provide a range of strategies, guidelines and experimental approaches in the field of values education. It is based on the following assumptions and beliefs: that ‘in every educational approach and in every teaching group there are ... implicit values’⁴; that it is legitimate for schools and other educational organisations to instil values, setting aside for the moment what these might be; that consensus, no matter how difficult to achieve, is worth striving for; and that the curriculum is as concerned with attitudes, values and human relationships as with information, facts and skills.

⁴ TIANNA, A Research Project Proposal on Educational Values Madrid CIDE 1991