The reciprocal influence of values, or the guiding principles in a person’s live, and behaviour has been established across many studies (Vecchione, Döring, Alessandri, Marsicano & Bardi, 2016; Benish-Weisman, 2015). That value priorities are related to prototypical behaviours has been confirmed several times outside the school context (Vecchione et al., 2016; Bardi & Schwartz, 2003). However, only a few studies have been embedded in the school context (e.g., Berson & Oreg, 2016) and previous research has paid too little attention to the relationship between children’s value priorities and their value-related behaviours. Moreover, a question that remains open is the direction of these relationships in the school context. The present paper reports on conducting a study that examines the formation of children’s values during the first two years of primary school in Switzerland. It reflects on the experiences of the second data collection in autumn 2021 of a longitudinal project and focusses on the following research questions: Q1. What is the value structure and what are the value priorities of primary school children in Switzerland? Q2. What is the relationship between children’s value priorities and their value-related behaviours in the Swiss school context? While the value priorities as well as the value structure of 1249 children, mean age 7.35 years, was measured with the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (Döring et al., 2010), a well-established instrument to assess children’s values at this young age, the pupil’s value-related behaviours were rated by their class teachers (N=97) (i.e., Schoolchildren’s Behaviour Scale as developed by Berson & Oreg, 2016). It can be assumed that the higher order value types of first graders in Switzerland correspond to prototypical behaviours. If prototypical behaviours also predict certain value types will be further analysed. SPSS was used to run Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) analyses to find out which value structure the children have. To calculate children’s value priorities descriptive statistics was applied. First results replicate findings of earlier studies which have been conducted in the family context (e.g., Döring, Makarova, Herzog & Bardi, 2017). By employing a multilevel analysis, we will present the relationship of children’s value priorities and value-related behaviours in the school context (Q2) and analyse how our findings go along with earlier studies on the interplay between values and behaviour (e.g., Berson & Oreg, 2016). Based on the findings of the study implications for fostering value education in schools will be discussed.

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