Values formation is a subject that has caught the attention of education specialists in recent years. Faced with the general deterioration of multiple behaviors observable at every level of society—conflicts betweens ethnic groups, manifestations of social hostility that go beyond a healthy social coexistence, various forms of real and symbolic violence in dealings between people, family members, and in the scholastic environment—it has been debated just how far schools and their curricula should go to encourage teaching that reinforces the formation of values. This essay examines the ways that historic thought related to didactic methodology has approached this subject, at the same time analyzing how the formation of values goes beyond responding to the cognitive and is linked to the dynamics of the affective, requiring not only the rational knowledge of principles and norms, but also the grounding of this in attitudes. The third section analyzes the way in which this subject has been approached in recent developments in the curricular field.

Key words: Values education, curriculum development, hidden curriculum.