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Setting the Context
As we move into the 21st century, the search for ways to improve the quality of education is global. One area of focus has been that of values, attitudes, and behavior and how to develop these aspects of character in a positive and productive way. How do we empower individuals to choose their own set of values? What kind of specialized training is necessary for educators to integrate values into existing programs? How can values-based education prepare students for lifelong learning in their communities?
The Call for Values
The call for values is currently echoing throughout every land, as educators, parents and more and more children are increasingly concerned about and affected by violence, growing social problems, the lack of respect for each other and the world around them, and the lack of social cohesion. World leaders struggle with a myriad of problems. Educators are, therefore, once again being asked to address problems which have arisen within their societies. As UNESCO's Commission, headed by Jacques Delors, reports in Learning: The Treasure Within, "In confronting the many challenges that the future holds in store, humankind sees in education an indispensable asset in its attempt to attain the ideals of peace, freedom and social justice. The Commission does not see education as a miracle cure or a magic formula opening the door to a world in which all ideals will be attained, but as one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war." Living Values Education has been produced in response to the call for values.

LVE educators are creating caring, respectful environments where students feel safe and want to learn. Living Values Education Program is effective in decreasing violence and bullying, and creating safe, caring school climates which are conducive to quality learning. As educators, we are not only doing Living Values Education Program to improve student behavior and the school climate.  We feel that the cognitive thinking skills and social and emotional skills that students are exposed to and asked to explore and develop will help them grow toward their potential, protect them from violence, and help them engage in the community with respect, confidence and purpose.  What children and youth learn is later woven into the fabric of society. Education must have positive values at its heart and the resulting expression of them as its aim if we are to seek to create a better world for all.


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Delors, Jacques, et al. Learning: The Treasure Within, Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. UNESCO Publishing, 1996. ISBN 0 7306 9037 7
What Kind of Program Is LVEP?
Living Values Education Program is a comprehensive values education program. This innovative global program offers training, a practical methodology and a wide variety of experiential values activities to educators, facilitators, parents and caregivers to help them provide the opportunity for children and young adults to explore and develop universal values. Educators are asked to think about their values, use their creativity to see how they can incorporate values into their curriculum in a practical way, and create a values-based atmosphere. The curriculum includes Living Values Activities for peace, respect, love, cooperation, happiness, honesty, humility, responsibility, simplicity, tolerance, freedom and unity. Used in formal and informal settings, LVE also has special materials for use with children affected by war, children in difficult circumstances (street children) and youth in need of drug rehabilitation.

Designed to address the whole child/person, Living Values Activities build intrapersonal and interpersonal social and emotional skills and values-based perspectives and behaviors. Students are engaged in reflection, visualization, and artistic expression to draw out their ideas; cognitive and emotional skills grow as they are engaged in analyzing events and creating solutions. The approach is child-centered, flexible and interactive; adults act as facilitators. During LVEP training, educators are asked to create a values-based atmosphere in which all students can feel respected, valued, understood, loved and safe. Part of LVE educator excellence is viewed as modeling the values, respecting student opinions, and empowering children and young adults to enjoy learning and implementing values projects.

History of Living Values
Living Values Education (LVE) was initially developed by educators in consultation with the Education Cluster of UNICEF, New York, and the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU). Twenty educators from five continents met at UNICEF Headquarters in New York in August of 1996. They discussed the needs of children around the world, their experiences of working with values, and how educators can integrate values to better prepare students for lifelong learning. Using the values concepts and reflective processes within the BKWSU publication Living Values: A Guidebook as a source of inspiration, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework, the global educators identified and agreed upon the purpose and aims of values-based education worldwide – in both developed and developing countries.
Acknowledgements

The Association for Living Values Education International (ALIVE) wishes to thank the numerous organizations and individuals who have contributed to the development of Living Values Education.  

The approach, materials, training programs and projects, that are continuously being developed, draw on input from educators from diverse cultures, religions and traditions, giving it universal appeal and an active presence in 65 countries.

We wish to acknowledge the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University for its extensive contribution to the early stages of development of Living Values Education, including the dissemination and support of LVE through their global network of centers and their relationships with educators.  We would like to thank them for their continued cooperation in providing support or partnership when such is desired by a national LVE group.

We would also like to thank the many professional educators and artists who contributed to the initial LVE series of books, and the subsequent books for children at risk.

Our sincere appreciation is extended to the following organizations for their support of LVE in its beginning stages:

  • UNESCO
  • the Educational Cluster of UNICEF (New York)
  • the Planet Society
  • the Spanish Committee of UNICEF
  • the Mauritius Institute of Education
  • the regional UNESCO Office in Lebanon.

Special thanks goes to the many dedicated LVE coordinators and trainers around the world who served as volunteers, creating a strong foundation for the future.

Since the formation of the Association for Living Values Education International (ALIVE) in 2004, LVE has been able to benefit more educators, children, young adults and communities through the involvement of a host of other organizations, agencies, governmental bodies, foundations, community groups and individuals. The dedication of educators around the world has generated increased enthusiasm for Values Education, fostering children’s healthy development and quality based learning. ALIVE appreciates the additional specialized LVE resource materials that provide further avenues to contribute to the wellbeing of children and youth at risk.

We would like to acknowledge the following organizations for becoming ALIVE Associates, acting as the lead for LVE in their country and training educators in schools and agencies to implement LVE while fulfilling their broader mandate:

  • Bond zonder Naam in Belgium
  • the Jesuit and Brothers Association for Development in Egypt
  • Club Avenir des Enfants de Guinée in Guinea Conakry
  • Yayasan Karuna Bali in Indonesia
  • Hand in Hand in the Maldives
  • New Generation Vibe in New Zealand
  • the National Children’s Council in the Seychelles.

There are many examples of collaborative partnerships. Only the ALIVE Associates and Focal Points for LVE know the full extent of cooperation and partnerships in their own country. However, we would like to acknowledge the partnerships that we are aware of, as follows:

Vietnam – LVE has been disseminated widely through partnerships with:

  • the Hanoi Psychological Association
  • PLAN International
  • World Vision International
  • the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Drug Rehabilitation Department
  • VTV2 Education Channel, a television station in Vietnam.

Israel – the ALIVE Associate works with:

  •  the Informal Education Department within the Ministry of Education
  • AMEN – Youth Volunteering City
  • JOINT Israel.

They have jointly developed a project to implement values in schools and in the communities and reinforce the values base of volunteering as a way of life.

Spain – the national LVE entity has had a collaborative contract with the Fundación Cultura de Paz since 2001. They are also in collaboration with:

  • the Faculty of Translation and Interpretive Practices of the Universitat Autònoma, Barcelona
  • the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya with the Campus for Peace.

Paraguay – the ALIVE Associate has received cooperation from:

  • Universidad Nacional del Este (UNE)
  • Diario ABC Color
  • the Ministry of Education and Culture
  • the National Commission of UNESCO in Paraguay

and is in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Colegio Aula Viva to provide more training to educators.

Switzerland – when conducting its program in a number of countries in West and Central Africa, the Swiss Association for Living Values received collaboration from UNESCO/BREDA (Regional Office for Education in Africa) and a number of National Commissions for UNESCO, as well as cooperation from many other organizations and individuals.
The following contributed through generous sponsorship:

  • ACCENTUS Charitable Foundation
  • Karl Popper Foundation
  • Service Industriel Genève (SIG)
  • Jersey (UK) Rotary Club
  • West African Cement (Togo).

Brazil – the ALIVE Associate, Instituto Vivendo Valores, has provided training to thousands of teachers, including street educators who work with children in difficult circumstances.The trainings have been made in three ways: for a specific school or NGO; open programs, where educators from some schools or NGOs participate; or collective programs for a town or a region of a city.

  • Many large networks of regular schools or NGOs that work with children in difficult circumstances have received LVE training, through these collective programs:  São Sebastião, São José dos Campos, Itápolis, São Bernardo do Campo, Campinas, Valinhos, Guarujá, Araraquara, Limeira  in the state of São Paulo, Três Corações, in the state of Minas Gerais, Recife, in the state of Pernambuco,
  • and the social networks: Nossas Crianças, Rede Fiandeiras, Rede Oeste, Bompar – Centro Social Nossa Senhora do Bom Parto in the city of São Paulo.

Also trainings have been held in São Paulo for the Young Offenders agency, the CASA Foundation. These educators from numerous outside agencies and private and public schools have facilitated the exploration and development of values with more than 500,000 young people in normal schools and 75,000 street children. We would like to thank each one of these agencies for their contribution to these children, and especially acknowledge:

  • the Itau Foundation
  • the Santos Martires Society
  • the public regular schools Boa Esperança, Peccioli and Josefina

for their assistance to children, young adults and the community through a new LVE project in an especially vulnerable neighbourhood in Sao Paulo,

  • and the Brahma Kumaris Organization for their permanent support and inspiration.

Other ALIVE Associates have received cooperation from national UNICEF committees and Rotary Clubs, and other organizations as well as individuals.

None of the above cooperation would have been possible without the dedication, work and love of the educators who believe in Values Education, the LVE national teams around the world, the ALIVE Associates and Focal Points for LVE, the LVE trainers and volunteers, and those who serve on the ALIVE board and International Advisory Committee.  We would like to thank each one of you for your work towards safe, healthy, caring, quality learning environments for children and a better world for all.