Mapping longitudinal trajectories of personal values in elementary school: unveiling roles of the classroom

Value transmission is a key societal responsibility, and value education has gained increasing global attention. Although classrooms represent important developmental environments for children's values, comparatively little is known about how different social actors within classrooms contribute to value development. This longitudinal study examined how classmates, teachers, and classroom relationships contribute to children's value development over time. A total of 1342 Swiss children (ages 5.8–7.3 years, Mₐₜₜ₁ = 6.82, SD = 0.50) were followed for 1.5 years from the onset of elementary school. We analyzed trajectories of four higher-order value types. Our results showed that self-transcendence (close to compassionate values) and openness-to-change values increased in priority over time, as did conservation values, although the latter increase leveled off at later time points. In contrast, self-enhancement values' priority decreased. Children's values became more similar to those of their peers over time. Children's perceptions of classroom dynamics also predicted value change: Perceiving the teacher as warm predicted later increases in self-transcendence and decreases in self-enhancement value priority; feeling close to the teacher predicted increases in conservation and decreases in openness to change value priority; and feeling close to classmates predicted increases in self-transcendence and decreases in openness to change value priority. Teachers' value-related educational goals did not predict changes in pupils' values. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of a multilayered social perspective for understanding value development and suggest that peers and teacher–pupil relationships play distinct roles in children's moral and social growth.