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Placing value on consensus: an elusive goal
Author(s) -
Cairns Josephine M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
the curriculum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.843
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1469-3704
pISSN - 0958-5176
DOI - 10.1080/0958517970080103
Subject(s) - discernment , value (mathematics) , variety (cybernetics) , sociology , set (abstract data type) , order (exchange) , public relations , environmental ethics , epistemology , political science , philosophy , finance , artificial intelligence , machine learning , computer science , economics , programming language
This article explores the implications of the National Forum for Values in Education and the Community. The author was herself a member of the Forum and thus writes from first‐hand experience. It was set up in order to make recommendations to the SCAA on: ways in which schools might be supported making contributions to pupils’ spiritual and moral development; and whether there is agreement on the values, attitudes and behaviours that schools should promote on society's behalf. The article examines the results of the Forum's proceedings and concludes that value consensus cannot easily be achieved and indeed should not be hurriedly imposed; rather, the opportunity is there for various interested parties to study the variety of human patterns or ecologies of value growth and discernment which exist across our diverse pluralistic community. This would link the wider community with its localized environments and allow consensus about values to emerge, which truly reflected the pluralistic nature of our society.