The current status of our environment, plunged into a deep economic and moral crisis raises serious concerns about the lack or misrepresentation of the values in all areas of society (Baker, 2005). This concern also involves the academic and educational speech, concluding on the need to bring a change of educational paradigm (Sterling, 2001), which entails the construction of a new society. 

The education in the values should provide young people with enough knowledge to relate to others, using the necessary and sufficient competencies intelligently and clearly promoting a positive attitude to favor such interactions (Aspin, 2000). That is, we refer to an individual's ability to assume a responsible commitment to the society in which they live and that will guide their future behaviors and attitudes (Schwartz, 1994). We understand that the way to achieve this model is complex, and therefore the education in values should be part of curriculum planning explicitly and integrated into everyday teaching practices. This means you must not focus the teaching of values as simple cognitive contents, for example only meaning what and how the values are, but it is also essential to incorporate them into the classroom life and in all subjects taught.

In this sense, we think PE can be a very beneficial context to promote and develop both individual and social values in students. Different studies such as those by Ennis (1999), Enis et al. (1997, 1999) show that sports can improve individual and social responsibility, conflict negotiation skills and a sense of belonging to a community. It also helps to develop maturity, moral reasoning, task orientation, social behavior and responsibility (Miller et al., 1997). At an emotional and educational level, many researchers (eg, Larson, 2000; Mahoney et al., 2005; Smith, 2003) argue that sports provide opportunities for emotional balance, to improve interpersonal relationships, to build relationships with peers, to improve academic skills, and also helps building self-esteem (McHale et al., 2005).

Despite the diverse and prolific opportunities that Physical Education provides in the formation of values in students, the findings of researches conducted in many countries such as Australia, Ireland, Slovenia and England indicate that teachers generally are not able to reflect on their attitudes about education in values, in a critical way, in the classroom (Thornberg, 2008), they do not use the right language when asked to describe their work in education in values and have scarce knowledge about the implications of education in values (Sockett, 2002). This may be because teachers receive poor training of education in values in their initial preparation (Bergdahl, 2006; Frånberg, 2006). This lack of skills can explain that education in values is not encouraged in the classroom and teachers do not have a common base of knowledge or the necessary theoretical guidelines. Consequently, education in values in physical education seems to be in the area of the hidden curriculum and there is little awareness of what values students should really learn (Thornberg, 2008) and the importance of them in the decision-making in the sports practice (Lee et al., 2008).

Based on the assumptions above, this study is aimed to determine which values observe a group of students, prospective physical education teachers, in the development of the classes in this matter, and what values they think should be developed. This experiential practice will allow an approach to the students of the specialty of Physical Education reality in their classroom through a reflective observation.

Aspin, D. (2000). A clarification of some key terms in values discussions. Moral Education and Pluralism, 4, 16. Baker, W. E. (2005). America's crisis of values: Reality and perception. Princeton University Press. Bergdahl, L. (2006). Om gemensamma värden i ett pluralistiskt samhälle: Lärarutbildares syn på och arbete med gemensamma värden i den nya lärarutbildningen [About common values in a pluralistic society: Teacher educators’ view on and work with common values in the new teacher education]. Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 13, 17–39. Bredemeier, B. J., & Shields, D. L. (1996). Moral development and children's sport. In F. l. Smoll & R. E. Smith (eds.), Children and youth sport: a biopsychosocial perspective (pp. 381-401). Madison, Wis.: Brown & Benchmark. Ennis, C. D. (1999). Creating a culturally relevant curriculum for disengaged girls, Sport, Education and Society, 4, 31-49. Frånberg, G. M. (2006). Lärarstudenters uppfattning om värdegrunden i lärarutbildningen [Teacher students’ perception of the foundation of values in the teacher education]. Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 13, 125–169. Mahoney, J. L., Larson, R. W., Eccles, J. E., & Lord, H. (2005). Organized activities as developmental contexts for children and adolescents. In J. L. Mahoney, R. W. Larson, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school, and community programs (pp. 3–22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates McHale, J. P., Vinden, P. G., Bush, L., Richer, D., Shaw, D., & Smith, B. (2005). Patterns of personal and social adjustment among sport-involved and noninvolved urban middle-school children. Sociology of Sport Journal, 22, 119–136. Miller, S. C., Bredemeier, B. J. L., & Shields, D. L. L. (1997). Sociomoral education through physical education with at-risk children. Quest, 49, 114-129. Larson, R.W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170–183. Lee, M. J., Whitehead, J., Ntoumanis, N., & Hatzigeorgiadis, A. (2008). Relationships among values, achievement orientations, and attitudes in youth sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 30(5), 581-610. Schwartz, S.H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and content of human values? The Journal of Social Issues, 50, 19–45. Smith, A. L. (2003). Peer relationships in physical activity contexts: A road less traveled in youth sport and exercise psychology research. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 4, 25–39. Sockett, H., LePage, P. (2002). The missing language of the classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 159–171. Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education. UK: Green Books Ltd. Thornberg, R. (2008). The lack of professional knowledge in values education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(7), 1791-1798.