Examining the opinions of secondary school teachers, students and parents on values education

The survival of societies is possible with the existence of individuals who have grown up with and adopted their values. Values education is the process of transferring cultural and universal values through education. Since values education is an educational process that aims to ensure the moral, ethical and social development of individuals; It starts from the family and continues until the end of formal education. The aim of this study is to examine the opinions of middle school teachers, middle school students and parents regarding values education. The study population of the study consists of teachers working in middle schools located in the provincial and district centers of Istanbul in the 2021–2022 Academic Year, students studying in the 8th grade and their parents. The number of teachers participating in the research is 919 and the number of students is 1334. The number of parents interviewed in the research is 19. In the research, first of all, the Values Education Opinion Scales were developed for teachers and students and the Interview Form was developed for parents and validity and reliability analyzes were completed after the pilot applications. Applications were made in secondary schools using the developed scales and interview forms; then, data were collected and analyzed with SPSS and Lisrel package programs, and qualitative data were interpreted through themes and codes. In quantitative analyses, t Test was used to compare binary variables, One-Way Anova Test and Post Hoc tests were used to analyze and compare multiple variables. The quantitative dimension of the study is the general screening design from research methods, while the qualitative dimension is the basic qualitative research design. According to the results of the research, it was found that teachers' views on values education varies according to the variables of gender, years of work in the profession, level of education and teaching fields, but did not differ according to the type of school they graduated from. It was determined that students' views on values education; varies according to gender, number of people living in their home and father's education level variables; and there was no statistical difference according to the variables of the status of the houses they lived in, the working status of the mother and father, and the education level of the mother. According to the parents' views on values education; it was concluded that according to the parents, the connotations of the concept of value and the prominent values are the common denominator in society, love-respect, morality, the meaning of life, the elements attributed with value that organize social life and truthfulness; the most important social values they consider are respect, affection, faith-religion, honesty, justice, love of the country, morality, tolerance, honesty, truthfulness and peace; the values that should be taught most in schools are love, respect, honesty, love of the country, being well-mannered-moral, national values, sense of responsibility, helpfulness and tolerance; the majority of the parents think that the value education studies given in schools are weak and insufficient; the majority of the parents see themselves as sufficient in teaching values; the parents' suggestions for values education to become better and more qualified in schools are that teachers should be role models, student-centered practices-games should be carried out, cooperation should be established with the family and the exam-focused system should be abandoned. According to the research results; suggestions were presented under the headings as; organizing trainings, seminars and applied drama activities that will establish and develop school-family cooperation; rewarding students who show examplary behavior; teachers being role models; ensuring the participation of educational leaders, supervisors and teachers in the studies to be carried out in creating curriculums of obtaining opinions and suggestions specifically for values education through different methods such as surveys, interviews and focus groups.