Abstract
M.Ed.
Peoples' daily actions is a display window of their values. In the same way are the creations of people, whether it is art, cultural or technology creations, a reflection of what people (creators) regard as beautiful, meaningful and useful - that which they value. The presence of dualism in the values of educators appears to create confusion in relation to the value orientation of young people.
Continuous, rapid changes in all walks of life could be seen as a possible reason for the confusion in relation to values that young people in South Africa are currently experiencing. Economic improvement, the result of technological development, resulted in secularisation as well. Secularisation is responsible for the superficialisation in the value-orientation of people. This superficialisation persists and although the "right things" are said in the education process, it appears from the actions of the very same educators, that other things are right and acceptable.
The problem statement of the research is that it is not determined yet that through the integration of values to the learning content of school curricula, the value orientation of the learners could be established and enhanced. In lieu thereof the aim of the study was to determine whether the ethical value orientation of learners can be enhanced by an integrated learning programme.
A case study consisting of action research was done. A qualitative research approach was followed and focus group interviews were conducted as a data collecting method. Empathy, an ethical value, was integrated to the learning content of Afrikaans Seconds Language and were taught through following an interdisciplinary approach between Technology and Language, Literacy and Communication.
The results of the study shown that as a result of the close interwoveness within valueorientations, not only was empathy intensified, but other values were sensitise too.
Although only two learning areas were involved in the case study, it is recommended that values be integrated to the learning content of all learning areas at school level.