Shared Reflective Practices and Scenario-Based Learning for Values Development in Primary School Children. Book Chapter in Global Perspectives on Value Education in Primary School

Although there are many educational strategies to promote development in children, achieving meaningful and lasting change in sustaining moral ideals and virtues remains a challenge. Especially in the current AI era, the importance of instilling ethical and moral values and embedding these values into curricular activities is vital. Furthermore, the transmission of traditional social values such as faith, ethics, morality, respect, tolerance, justice, and compassion from generation to generation may be threatened by the inevitable deterioration of traditional social relationships that begin in the family and grow through neighbourhood associations, religious affiliations, and hometown associations that lead to a moral crisis in society. As a result, fundamental values such as kindness, collaboration, humility, and tolerance could start to seem strange, particularly to the younger generation. Therefore, there is a dire need to develop the development of value in children for a sustainable value-driven community.
Therefore, this chapter aims to discuss how reflective practices could be used to foster value development in primary school children using a scenario-based learning approach in teacher-mediated classroom discussions that includes shared reflections, interactions, and scaffolded discussions among students. This chapter will assist teachers in designing and implementing reflective sessions in the classroom using a scenario-based teaching approach. Specifically, this research chapter discusses the use of the Value-Based Reflection Framework (VBRF) which was used to carry out shared-reflective sessions in classrooms. VBRF is largely based on reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Previous research on the framework for the formation of values in children has revealed important aspects to understanding the development of values, particularly based on the conception and motives that underpin each value. In addition, this chapter is part of a major study that was conducted with 59 primary school children from an international school in Malaysia. The effectiveness of VBRF has been supported through empirical and qualitative evidence (Huah et al., 2022; Muthukrishnan & Huah, 2023). In the current chapter, key findings from the research study on the reflection exercise and selected case studies are discussed to emphasis the effectiveness of using the VBRF in fostering value development.