An inner-city perspective on values education

This chapter provides a case study of Handsworth Wood Girls' School, Birmingham, written from the perspective of the former headteacher. Grounded firmly in the realities of inner-city life, it tells the story of the development of policies relating to values education, with particular reference to the school's ethos and structures. The chapter examines the different contexts from which the pupils come, and considers how these might have affected the ways in which their values and standards of behaviour have been influenced and shaped. Other influences on young people at the school, such as the media, peer group and the local community, are also briefly discussed. The major part of the chapter concentrates upon the steps the school has taken to ensure that there are clearly agreed parameters, policies and procedures within which values and standards can be laid down, maintained and reviewed.