The topic of this essay is core value issues, how they are mediated in school and how they are practiced. I am investigating a problem concerning the existential worth of the core values-content for children, or in other words, the difficulty of reconciling the theory of the core values and their practice. This problem is portrayed by two stories. The aim of this work is to investigate how to combine the core values theory with its practice, in other words, make it meaningful. In my essay, I turn to recent research in the field to provide a background to my issue, and hereby further point to my problem. To further deepen the understanding of the problem, I use the professor and educator Eugene Matusov´s theory of dialogic pedagogy. Matusov, much inspired by Bahktin, asserts that all human communication is inherently dialogic. Based on this thesis I have tried to understand my problem and examine what possible solutions Matusov can contribute with.

What I have found is that core values practice, here illustrated by my stories and current research, is problematic because it very much is program-based. This tends to lead to correcting children's behavior through actions and prevention against bullying and abusive actions. This becomes the core values practice. Instead I argue based Matusov´s theory, that the core values practice ​​should rather have a broad democracy and community focus where norms, societal discourses and structures are examined in a joint effort. I also argue that meaning making and learning can, and aught to, be promoted through dialogic pedagogy.