Values, Moral Formation and School Efficiency. A Review of Educational Research in Mexico

Abstract

This work has two objectives: a) To develop a systematic view of the research on values in Mexican society in the perspective of change, as a context of approaches to education in values and moral formation arising from society and educational policy ; b) Conduct an analysis of Mexican educational research about the attention that the school has given to values and moral formation highlighting the judgments about its pedagogical or formative effectiveness.

It is feasible and productive to establish a link between values and school effectiveness (EE). If the EE is to achieve the progress of students "beyond what would be expected taking into account their conditions of entry" (P. Mortimore) and if an effective school is "one that achieves an integral development of each and every one of its students, greater than would be expected taking into account their previous performance and the social, economic and cultural situation of families "(J. Murillo), then the EE is a question that is directly related, intrinsically, to personal development and with the social functions of the school, specifically those related to social change and the promotion of justice and equity, and for all this, it is related, with democracy, both as a procedural context of school work and as a of goal, political partner of the same work.