In every sphere of life, human behavior is guided and safeguarded by core values. Education is no exception, at that. The core values of integrity, service, and excellence are present throughout the childhood, school, college, and teacher education (Gordon ad Browne 224; Bowen 43; Astin, Astin, and Lindholm 6; Giardiello et al. 15).
“Integrity First” is a primary value that stands for directness and transparency in every action. Be it the teacher-to-student, teacher-to-parent, leader-to-teacher, or any other type of interaction, integrity should always be a priority. The reason is that the process of education is densely intertwined with leadership. Without trust, no leadership is possible; without sincerity, trust cannot be established (Paul 103).
For the process of education to be sincere, all the shareholders should be aware of the ethical component of education, which is even more important than competence. A teacher that is open to new knowledge and ready to admit they lack some information can be forgiven; an insincere or unethical teacher cannot. Integrity is what raises the ante for the morale of all persons concerned and the institution as a whole.
“Service Before Self” is another core value that prioritizes duties over everything else. In higher education, there is a set of disciplines related to this value – the “service learning,” as it were (Astin, Astin, and Lindholm 146). Such learning consists in relating the students’ academic work with the real world experiences, which is where they learn to apply altruistic values to practice. Service in education may amount to volunteering and charity. Apart from service learning, the core value guards the teachers’ and the students’ conduct in terms of discipline and self-control. Students serve their school by following rules and helping their peers; teachers serve their community by attending the students’ and parents’ needs first. Such practice requires strong will and continuous self-improvement, which makes it interrelated with another important value – excellence.
“Excellence” is the driving force behind promoting the core values and implementing them into practice in any area of life, especially education. Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and honing one’s skills to perfection; at the same time, there is always a space for improvement. The process of development and the urge to reach proficiency is the reason excellence can be regarded as a paramount value (Astin and Antonio 6). Indeed, this value encompasses the other values discussed: the necessity of being sincere and addressing other people’s issues in the first place takes a whole and well-developed personality. The improvement of self and enhancement of the others’ experiences by service leads to better performance of each individual student, teacher, leader, school, and community as a whole.
To conclude, the three primary core values include sincerity – or integrity – serving one’s community, and aiming at excellent performance. When an institution is based on such values, a healthy environment and high quality of education is reached easier. These values are present on all levels of education and should be practiced by everyone concerned about the community’s future.
Works Cited
Astin, Alexander W. and Anthony Lising Antonio. Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. Print.
Astin, Alexander W., Helen S. Astin, and Jennifer A. Lindholm. Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print.
Bowen, William G. Higher Education in the Digital Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015. Print.
Giardiello, Patricia, Elisabeth Parr, Naomi MacLeod, and Christine Redman. “Understanding Pedagogy.” Handbook for Teacher Educators: Transfer, Translate or Transform. Ed. S. Rodrigues. Liverpool, UK: Springer, 2014. 15-32. Print.
Gordon, Ann, and Kathryn Williams Browne. Beginning Essentials in Early Childhood Education. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.
Paul, Ron. The School Revolution: A New Answer for Our Broken Education System. London, UK: Hachette UK, 2013. Print.