The Values Pyramid is a board game activity that encourages exploration of values-based issues.
It encourages participants to:
• express their own values
• consider which of their values are most important
• listen to other people
The Values Pyramid can be used in a wide variety of contexts. It is suitable for:
“One of the most successful parts of the day was when we were asked to
play a values pyramid game. In small groups, we arranged a number of cards onto the pyramid grid – and the overriding value differed in each group,
from ‘Respect’ to ‘Enjoying Myself’. This would be an excellent activity for staff and/or
governors to engage in, as after deciding where a card should be placed, we could challenge each other and move it. A great deal of
purposeful discussion arose, centred around what we perceive to be the most important drivers in terms of the values that we have and use to shape our
school ethos.”
R. Washford Mower, head of Nash Mills Primary School, Hemel Hempstead, evaluating a Drugs Awareness Training Day, November 2007
• adults and young people
• use in school-based lessons, informal groupwork and training courses
• PSHE, sex and relationships education, drug education, citizenship and religious education
There are three themes:
• sex and relationships
• drugs
• faith, culture and ethnicity
The basic pack consists of:
• a set of three boards
• three sets of 18 ‘value’ cards common to all three themes
• three sets of 18 'theme' cards of your choice, either sex and relationships; drugs; or faith culture, and ethnicity
• the instruction sheet
• a box to keep the activity in
Additional boards and additional sets of cards can be purchased separately.
Using the Values Pyramid
The Values Pyramid is an activity which needs the ability to reason, listen well and respect other people and their differences. It should be used in situations where the group is able and willing to listen with respect to others.
The following describes how a teacher or facilitator might use the Values Pyramid in a practical setting.
The teacher or facilitator decides in advance which cards will be used, ideally focusing on one theme which is relevant to the work in hand, and selects between 18 and 24 cards.
The teacher or facilitator thinks beforehand about what kind of questions they will want to ask participants at the end of the activity.
Participants are split into sub-groups of 4–6 people. Each sub-group is given a Values Pyramid board and a set of the selected cards. All sub-groups play simultaneously.
The first person in each sub-group takes a card. After careful consideration
of how greatly they value the word or phrase on the card, they place it on the appropriate level of the Values Pyramid
or in the rubbish bin, describing:
• their interpretation of the word or phrase
• their reasons for the position they have chosen.
No one else in the sub-group comments at this stage. The next person in
the sub-group then has a choice:
• either they take another card from the pile, and follow the same procedure
as the first person
• or they move the previous card one space up or down the pyramid
(as the activity progresses, any card may be moved one space up or down), again
describing their reasons for wanting to move the card.
Any number of cards may go in the rubbish bin. If one card is constantly being moved up and down the board, delaying the progress of the activity, the group may decide to place it in the 'fridge' to keep it fresh for discussion later. There is no limit to the number of cards that may go in the fridge.
The sub-group continues in this way, either placing a new card or moving a
card that is already on the pyramid. Play continues until all the cards have been placed, or time is up. Then the teacher or
facilitator brings all the participants together to process the activity using some or all of the following questions:
• did anything surprise you?
• how did you feel when others clearly had very different values or views?
• why do you think other people sometimes have (or appear to have) very different
values?
• which were the most difficult cards to place and why (focusing on cards which were
placed in the fridge)?
• what have you learned from this activity – about yourself or others?
• what will you do differently as a result of your learning?
