In recent years, an increasing number of schools in the UK have introduced more formal programmes about values. The ‘If I can …’ values programme comprises a written briefing for teachers including lesson plans, supported by an App containing short statements related to 36 core values. The initiative was inspired by the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. Students are presented with statements, such as ‘If I can be quick with sincere praise, but not so ready to criticise and blame…’, and encouraged to reflect upon them and discover how they can be used practically.
The programme aims to:
Developing this values programme required someone with technical expertise to develop the App, someone with educational experience to write the briefings for teachers and someone with an artistic eye to present the statements visually in a way that encourages quiet reflection. Trials were undertaken for the purpose of refining these materials.
According to the developer, the ‘If I can’ values programme offers several benefits for children, including calming their minds, opening their hearts, improving their self-confidence and feeding their inner spirit.
If you can treat triumph and disaster,
Those two imposters, just the same …
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run…
And if you do meet the challenge then
All the word is yours and everything that is in it,
And what more, you will be a man my son!