Australian Journal of Teacher Education - Volume 46 - Issue 6 - Article 3 - Fostering Values Through Authentic Storytelling

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Stories support diverse pedagogical purposes and are a culturally inclusive, widely used teaching technique. The effectiveness of storytelling interventions depends on how teachers engage students to analyse experiences and events for deeper insight that shapes thinking and behaviour. The paper synthesises Australian Curriculum and outcome-based approaches to values education in primary schools and presents a novel, taxonomy-driven storytelling framework grounded in a pedagogical model. It enables reflective ethical thinking, using stories as mirrors and windows to cultivate wisdom and influence students’ behaviour, not only understanding.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Values education in primary schools

Purpose and research questions

Role of storytelling in values learning

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 46 Issue 6 | Article 3 | | --- | --- | | 2021 | | | Fostering Values Through Authentic Storytelling | | | Maya Gunawardena | | | University of Canberra | | | Bernard Brown | | | University of Canberra | | | Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte)[ ](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte) Part of the Elementary Education and Teaching Commons | | Recommended Citation Gunawardena, M., & Brown, B. (2021) . Fostering Values Through Authentic Storytelling. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(6) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2021v46n6.3](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2021v46n6.3) [This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[ ](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss6/3](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss6/3) Fostering Values Through Authentic Storytelling Maya Gunawardena Bernard Brown University of Canberra Abstract: Stories are used for diverse pedagogical purposes. Storytelling is a culturally inclusive and widely used pedagogical technique. However, the success of storytelling interventions in education can be dependent upon how teachers engage students to analyse experiences, and events to gain deeper insights to influence change in their thinking and behaviour. This paper firstly provides a literature review which synthesises Australian Curriculum content and outcome-based approaches used in values education in primary schools including storytelling. Secondly, it offers a novel taxonomy supported by a pedagogical model for storytelling. The proposed pedagogical model contains a constructivist process that can enable teachers to catalyse students’ thinking to reflect on their own ethical behaviour, values, and actions. Metaphorically, stories and the process of storytelling enable them to understand themselves through mirrors and others through windows. The pedagogical model explains how wisdom is obtained to influence students’ behaviour as opposed to only developing students’ understanding. Keywords: The Australian Curriculum; values education; storytelling; pedagogies; primary school. Introduction Values education should have a fundamental role in school education (MCEETYA, 2008, Lovat, 2009; Mitchell, 2012; Lovat, 2019) as it contributes to increases in students’emotional intelligence, capacity to have greater self-control and enhanced cognitive functioning (Coskun & Oksuz, 2019, Lovat, et al., 2011) . Values education has also been connected to greater social competence and effective social interaction (Weissberg, 2019) . Emotional intelligence and social competence have direct influences on health and wellbeing of a person. The understanding of values is part of a holistic approach to education that does not compartmentalise different components of learning (Lovat, et al., 2011) . There is a consensus among school leaders that “schools play a vital role in promoting the intellectual, physical, social, emotional, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development and wellbeing” of children (MCEETYA, 2008, p.4). However, values education is diverse, sensitive, personalised and evidence is limited on the effectiveness of the pedagogies used in schools (Taylor, Taylor & Hill, 2019) . The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the extant literature on explicit learning outcomes-based approaches to values education in primary schools, and the place of values in the Australian Curriculum. Secondly, the paper will introduce a purposeful storytelling framework for primary school learners which has been designed by embedding key learning principles. These key principles were adapted from a range of social constructivist learning theories presented by scholars such as Dewey (1916), Vygotsky (1978), and Bruner (1990) who discuss effective principles that enhance students’understa

FAQs

What problem does the paper address about values education in primary schools?

Values education has a fundamental role, yet evidence is limited on how effective the pedagogies used in schools are and how teachers facilitate students’ deeper learning outcomes.

How does the paper propose storytelling to foster values?

It proposes an authentic storytelling framework grounded in a pedagogical model that supports a constructivist process for students to reflect on ethical behaviour, values, and actions.

What is the purpose of the paper’s research questions?

The questions focus on prominent approaches and considerations for fostering values in primary schools and on how the proposed authentic storytelling framework enables fostering and nurturing values.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy