Four values underpin this curriculum guidance. They are intended to enable learners to participate as fully as possible in social and working life. Seen as a whole, they represent a commitment to ensuring that education and training takes full account of the expressed aspirations and needs of learners. The values also acknowledge the need for learners to be both challenged and supported if they are to become the people they wish to be.

The four values focus on key aspects of all people's lives:

• respect
• self-determination
• inclusion
• fostering relationships.

Respect

Respect is characterised by:

• listening to people
• valuing different ways of communicating
• allowing enough time for responses
• learning from each other privacy and 'personal space'
• understanding that dignity is precious
• valuing the home and cultural backgrounds of learners
• speaking for up for people when they want us to
• acknowledging the importance of people's feelings
• encouraging people to express their feelings and views
• supporting people when they feel vulnerable.

Self-determination

Self-determination is characterised by:

• choice-making, as an expression of personal freedom and autonomy
• access to a range of experiences and activities
• guided learning, living or working that supports independence
• encouragement and support to express personal aspirations and goals
• optimal opportunities for independent and guided choice and decision-making
• control of key aspects of one's life as a matter of right (eg in relationships with personal carers/support workers, including hiring and managing them)
• identifying and achieving personal ambitions
• personal decision-making that involves substantial and meaningful choices about their own lives.

Inclusion

Inclusion is characterised by:

• participation in a range of social or leisure activities within the community
• community-based living of various kinds
• participation in learning activities that involve working with a range of people, including other students, trainees and employees
• opportunities to play a role in the economic life of the country, through work or work-related activities
• person-centred planning approaches being 'owned' by the person concerned
• access to and participation in lifelong learning.

Fostering relationships

The fostering of social relationships is characterised by:

• friendships
• meeting other people and sharing experiences with them
• personal care and support where the interests of the learner are fully acknowledged and represented
• a range of relationships (eg personal, social and professional), in a variety of contexts and in accordance with the expressed wishes of the learner.

Fostering relationships is part of the commitment to the advancement of rights for people with learning difficulties in all aspects of their lives:

People with learning disabilities have the right to a decent education, to grow up to vote, to marry, and have a family, and to express their opinions, with help and support to do so where necessary.'
(Valuing people: a new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century, Department of Health, 2001, para 2.1, page 23)

The characteristics of these values are written primarily with staff in mind and should encourage reflection on both policy and practice.

Three of the values - respect, self-determination and inclusion - are well known to anyone working to improve educational opportunities for young people and adults who experience difficulties in learning. The importance of relationships, however, both within education and life more generally, is often either taken for granted or ignored. This guidance places a particular value on social relationships, seeing them as a central feature of the teaching and learning process, but also as the key to future participation in society and to personal fulfilment.

It is through an active commitment to these values and through working with them on a day-to-day basis that rights become meaningful. In this way, the values are intended to influence curriculum planning and the impact that this has on teaching and learning.

They represent a commitment to learners that can be expressed as a promise in each case.

• Respect - we undertake to listen to you and to speak up for you when you want us to.
• Self-determination - we will enable you to make choices about your life.
• Inclusion - we will enable you to take your place in the community.
• Relationships - we will enable you to be with different groups of people and to choose your friends.

It is anticipated that learners and staff will develop, through discussion, a shared understanding of the values. This might be recognised formally in policy documentation that is accessible to both learners and staff.

Senior management teams in schools, colleges and work-based training settings will need to:

• show, through policies and organisation, that all of the values are considered to be important and are reflected in practice
• ensure that skilled and knowledgeable staff are available to work with learners, and that they have regular access to continuing professional development opportunities
• allocate resources on an equitable basis so that learners can work in ways that most effectively meet their needs
• provide teaching environments that optimise opportunities for successful teaching and learning, whilst ensuring that the wellbeing and safety of learners are maintained.