Researchers from the University of Navarra— Daniel Moulin, Apolinar Varela and Juan Pablo Dabdoub— visited a variety of secondary schools that pertain to the Unidad de Servicios para la Educación Básica en el Estado de Querétaro (Basic Education Services Unit in the State of Querétaro) in order to swap experiences related to values ​​and school life with students, teachers and parents at each respective center.

The team belongs to the Researching and Promoting Character Education in Latin American Secondary Schools project, which is funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. It is a joint initiative of the School of Education and Psychology and the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) and it’s led by Professor Concepción Naval.

The experts noted that, "forging ​​the personality and character of a child with values benefits society in every way. A disciplined, honest, fair, responsible and compassionate child will show better academic performance and have a better school life. We must work towards this."

In this sense, they advocated for the role of schools as an element of social transformation, where education is more than imparting content. According to them, true personal growth involves the development of ethical and moral virtues that allows for integration into a society capable of living in peace and harmony.

Parent and teacher involvement

They emphasized that in contemporary societies, commitment to a child’s education must be shared: teachers require family’s total support. In that same vein, they pointed out that children and young people need attention, time and to be heard. Therefore, they indicated that it is very important that parents spend time with their children.

"In Querétaro, we saw that teachers are very committed to educating students in values ​​beyond the school context. Today, more than ever, we need parents to be aware of all of the efforts that schools make. It is time for parents to face their children’s reality, which they live out at home and reflect in school in order to see what their children are really like."

Finally, they noted that students face great challenges outside of the classroom and perhaps school represents a small refuge for them, where they find allies in dedicated teachers fulfilling their vocation. "Education is necessary to change society," they concluded.