Values Education in the Context of Orphans: Views of Caregivers

Today, one of the missions of schools is to equip students with 21st century skills and to raise them as citizens equipped with national and universal values. In this way, social cohesion of individuals is aimed. Values education is a process in which school and family take part together. In this context, parents play an important role in values education. However, since parents cannot fulfill this role for children under state protection, caregivers should undertake this role. Therefore, the views and competencies of caregivers regarding values education are of great importance. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the views of caregivers on values education. This study is a phenomenological research because it utilizes the experiences and opinions of the staff who are currently working as caregivers and because it is a research focusing on values education, which has been frequently emphasized in recent years. The participants of the study were 12 caregivers. Interviews were conducted in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The views of the caregivers on the values education of orphans were collected under the themes of the primary values they realized with them, the priority values they tried to impart, the people and institutions they received support from, their views on values education in schools, their views on their own values education self-efficacy, the problems and factors that negatively affect children, their expectations from the administration and home managers, and their views on the elements that should be considered in values education. Based on the research results, it is recommended that in-service training on values education be provided to caregiver staff to ensure that the values education for orphans is not left to chance.