Education in values: An analysis of teachers’ role in Mozambican military higher education

Abstract

Now that the moral values preserved by the Mozambican society are contesting by insurgents and there are already allegations of collaboration between some military and insurgents (Habibe et al., 2019), the role of teachers in value education in military education is pertinent to examine. From this perspective, with a qualitative method approach and the involvement of 21 military personnel, the study analysed the role of military teachers in education values in Mozambican military higher education. Based on the analysis, it turned out that a teacher is one of the vectors that a military higher education uses to shape the new generations of officers. To this end, the teacher first adopts values about convictions, character, duty and tradition, preserved by the military institution. Then, it uses four modes of education to the values: active exposure class, supervision of the institution rules, exemplary demonstration, and exposure to professional experience; using these methods and the values they adopt, the teacher teaches students to discover and adjust to the military environment. But, factors related to the international situation, social, political and economic situations, and greed mean that some graduates in military higher education do not follow the values of Mozambican society.

1. Introduction

Education in values is one of the tools that contemporary societies use to adopt a conception of justice, to give citizens a taste for collective life, as well-creating the habit of thinking about acting according to the values of their society, taking into consideration the relations with their fellow citizens [1,2].

Higher education, through the pillars of knowing how to be and knowing how to live together, defined in the UNESCO Report on Education in the 21st century, plays a leading role in this process of education in values; since it has the challenge, among other things, to dissipate two trends: individual or collective overvaluation leading to unfavourable prejudices towards others, and, give priority to the spirit of competition and individual success [3].

Despite the severity of its principles, Mozambican military higher education does not constitute an ‘island’ in education in values, as much for the development of character attributes and attitudes inherent in military culture; it guides or directs the behaviour of students based on the military conditions embodied in the Codes of Honour and the Internal Life Norms [4]. But, like ordinary education, high military education appears to have the figure of a teacher, the critical success factor in education in values because he is the one responsible for the teaching process and building, together with his student, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for the mobilisation of the specific competencies, at the appropriate time [5,6].

However, the military teacher conceptualised in this study as being an officer on the permanent staff of the Mozambique Armed Defence Forces (FADM), holding higher education qualifications, teaches without often having a pedagogical enough background to remain active in the teacher-student relationship nor creating a teaching identity because he has career requirements that make him move to other military organisations or do other activities [7,8]. Furthermore, according to Ref. [8], the military teaching career is vague, given that from the trainee, the military is immediately appointed to the teacher, regardless of academic degree and teaching experience. In other cases, the military teacher appointments immediately follow his higher training.

Parallel to this situation, in the armed conflict taking place in Mozambique’s northern provinces, particularly Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa, where the Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jammá group is beheading, burning and kidnapping people, as well as destroying infrastructure [9], local people and researchers such as [10,11] report the practice of systematic human rights violations and the sponsorship of the insurgents by the military of the state armed forces, some of whom are graduating officers in the Mozambican higher military education.

In this scenario, the question asked was: what is the role of the military teacher in values education in Mozambican military higher education? From this question, the following specific objectives emerged to list the values adopted by the teacher in military higher education, describe the modalities of education in values used by the teacher in military higher education, and explain the importance of the values transmitted by the military teacher to the graduate in military higher education.

The study intends to draw attention to the academic community of military higher education institutions and the FADM, as well as the (inter)national educational institutions, to review their teaching practices in the face of contemporary conflicts or events that often calls into question values such as respect for human rights, civility, and citizenship. It also intended that teachers or military instructors reflect on their actions in school and social environments.

That is why a study developed based on the phenomenological paradigm and case study method, which structure comprises: a literature review that includes general and military concept of value; initial socialisation to military culture; values adopted by Mozambican military higher education, modalities of education in values in military education and the profile of the teacher in military higher education; method; results that cover values adopted by the teacher in military higher education, modalities of education in values used by the teacher in higher military education and importance of the values transmitted by the teacher to the graduate in military higher education; conclusion and references.

2. Value: general and military concepts

The study of the value concept and its problems is often axiology referred to, which is a term derived from the GreekAxia, meaning value [12]. According to the author, there are not one but many meanings to the word value in axiology. Ref. [13] acknowledging this positioning refers that the value concept can never be exclusive to any specific area, given that it manifests itself in multiple contexts: from economics to human sciences, to philosophy and even to everyday language, being pointed out for its lack of clarity and consensus, although it is, in general, associated with the idea of good.

To get an idea of the different meanings of the word value, Ref. [12] lists the following senses: Subjective - characteristic of things that are more or less esteemed or desired by a subject or, more commonly, by a group of subjects determined; Objective - of things that deserve more or less esteem; Hypothetical - characteristic of that satisfy an end; Things that a social group, at a given moment, exchanges for a given quantity of a commodity taken as a unit; and Price that estimated is from the normative point of view of a given object or service (fair value).

It is thus that it is not easy to assume only one concept of what a value is understood: what it is for one author, may not be for another, what it is in one era, may not be in another, what it is in one society, and may not be in another. In this way, so as not to incur the risk of a different interpretation of what in this study is written, value is understood as something that guides our actions, that is, everything that groups or cultures find worthy of being pursued. From this perspective, are various values for the actions of human beings to guide in each society, era, and organisation or institution considered.

In this way, it demands from citizens an incalculable number of sacrifices, among which that of their own life in favour of the Homeland and witnessing the injury or death of their comrades and continuing in the fulfilment of the mission [14], the military institution must, obligatorily, be by legitimate moral precepts supported, that is, military values [15].

Military values are perennial in time and are based on history and tradition, being part of the idiosyncrasies of the military profession [16]. They are fixed references, immutable and universal fundamentals [14], as they are essential manifestations and existential military organization postulates, transmitted in military training and developed throughout the military career.

3. Initial socialisation into Mozambican military culture

The initial socialisation of Mozambican military culture place abruptly and suddenly takes [17]. It begins in the staff selection phase, wherein the function of [18], every Mozambican citizen (regardless of gender, race, tribe and party colour) can be a military man.

The cultural and ethnic diversity with which conscripted citizens bring to the military institution, for [19], does not endanger the unity of the FADM since they inflate the fortifying synergies, reinforce the consciousness of belonging to the same country and people, gain the patriotic dimension.

However, after admission to the military institution, recruits are trained to live together in a boarding school regime and perform joint activities. This regime aims to transmit the values of esprit de corps, camaraderie and unity, according to which they are the collective soul of the members of a given group [20]. More than that, recruits are subjected to rigid schedules, basic and disciplinary rules, bureaucratic procedures and execution of orders issued without challenge that they adopt the values of military discipline and obedience [4].

One aspect of the socialisation phase of military culture highlighted is that recruits are too exposed to a high risk of contracting wounds and injury, loss of limbs or even of life, whose intent is to make them experts in the military art. According to Ref. [21], this aspect stems from the reality of the profession, where fear may be constant, but the impulse to perform duty drives the military to go further.

With these and other military values (respect, loyalty, and valuing Mozambican history, among others) [4], the Mozambican military will develop them in their career and their training (mainly higher education).

4. Values adopted by Mozambican military higher education

Higher military education in Mozambique currently takes place at two institutions: (a) Marshal Samora Machel Military Academy – aimed at training officers, at honour degree level, for the FADM permanent staff [22]; and (b) Lieutenant General Armando Emílio Guebuza Higher Institute of Defence Studies – aimed at continuous training officers from the permanent staff for the Mozambican Armed Forces Defence [23].

Now, to talk about the values adopted by these two militaries’ higher education institutions leads us to go back a little to the history of independence of the Mozambican State because of their roots immersed, like the FADM, in the Popular Liberation Forces of Mozambique (FPLM), resulting from the 1st Congress of the Mozambique Liberation Front, held in September 1962. At that congress, the Mozambique Liberation Front noted that, given the intransigence of the Portuguese authorities in discussing a negotiated agreement, the armed struggle was the only way to defeat the colonial regime and ensure the achievement of independence [17].

Refs. [17,24] assure that it was during the process of the National Liberation Struggle that the FPLM strengthened its intimacy between the guerrillas and the peasant population (through help in the recruitment, feeding and housing of guerrillas, and these, guarantee of security in liberated areas), and friendly consolidated relations with other fighters from the region (Africa) and latitudes.

Today, FPLM’s identity values are part of FADM’s core identity. And the latter, in turn, feel proud heirs of the honours and glories from the FPLM, demonstrating and reaffirming this in their commitment to national unity, peace, progress in the Mozambican state and the consolidation of civil-military relations [24].

In this context, among the values that the FADM and their respective educational institutions preserve, Ref. [19] highlights the listed below, argued by him [20,21,[25], [26], [27]]:

• (a)National unity. The starting point for the construction and consolidation of national ideals of promotion and defence of Mozambicanity and for cultivating, maintaining and raising the values of self-esteem, patriotic spirit, friendship, solidarity, inclusion, mutual respect, tolerance and peaceful coexistence and ongoing appreciation of cultural and ideological diversity.
• (b)Patriotism. Natural adherence to the environment that surrounds us, which is like our own; the homeland ends assuming the role of the divinity to whom respectable and sacrifices are due, when and wherever necessary.
• (c)Pride in national history. The assumption is that the history of Mozambique is a book written by all Mozambicans without exception to race, social position, sex, creed or ethnic group, whose appreciation, evocation, and preservation is a patriotic necessity.
• (d)Courage. The intense moral sense in the face of risk or danger, where the individual demonstrates bravery and intrepidity; the capacity to decide and the initiative to tool the decision, even at the risk of life or the sacrifice of personal interests, to do one's duty, assuming responsibility for one's attitude.
• (e)Honour. The deserving of public consideration for the discharge of one's duty and the practice of good deeds; when this becomes known to all, and the possibility of deserving public consideration for the discharge of one's duty and for the practice of good deeds, when this is not known to all.
• (f)Example. The quality of becoming a model in complying with the laws and principles in society.
• (g)Discipline. The ability to proceed by legal orders received norms and laws established; is the indispensable condition for a harmonious social life and the fundamental basis for ensuring the use of the rights of individuals without losing sight of the rights of others.
• (h)Spirit of the body. The collective soul of the members of a given group; the feeling of healthy comradeship and solidarity that arises among the members of a military group that has already carried out or is carrying out tasks with commitment or has consolidated objectives whose conquests demanded painful sacrifices.
• (i)Loyalty. Is a characteristic that leads a human being to be faithful and grateful to another person or entity; it consists of never abandoning or leaving a person, a social group or a country to their fate.
• (j)Connection to the people. The establishment of good relations with the people, respecting their cultural values, their property, women, children and men, old and young and the State resources management.
• (k)Spirit of sacrifice. The imminent possibility of physical harm or death in defence of a person or the Homeland.
• (l)Dedication to work. Availability for service throughout the 24 h of the day, without the right to claim any more payment, compensation of any kind or service calculation.
• (m)Permanent study. A system of continued education throughout the professional life that allows for the acquisition of specific competencies for the various levels of exercise of the profession. And periodic recycling to update and maintain standards of performance.

5. Modalities of education in values in the military education

Two curricula can stand out in military education: (a) the real – composed of subjects, training, and framework of school activities, and (b) the hidden – perceived as military culture or education in values [28].

For [29], the hidden curriculum, or from the military culture, which interests the present study, establishes a formative model expressed through “warrior’s pedagogy”, which aims at the formation of a type of sensitivity and world-view specific to the military, based on a fundamental characteristic of the military profession: the possibility of confrontation with the enemy and the need to stand firm in the face of the threat of death. This paradigm has a specific type of professional socialisation, which has not equal in the civilian world.

Moreover, education in values in the military also takes on traditional pedagogy, whereby negative and positive reinforcement (punishment and praise) are often used either in the classroom or outside to shape student behaviour and keep them disciplined and committed to their studies [30].

Still, this pedagogy, according to Ref. [31], the [4,[32], [33], [34]], military education features the following methodologies:

• (a)Active exposure class: aims for the student to develop a greater understanding of beliefs he holds. But without trying to change them. The student discusses the rules which govern his life in the group and may re-elaborate them by starting to understand the social utilities of the rules. And the judgement of the acts of other fixes the intention; the worst correspond to those which most breaks the bonds of solidarity and trust between people, even if not very clear or not punishable.
• (b)Supervision of the institution rules: aims at transmitting to the student certain specific values, forcing him to adopt certain predispositions or positions; the student follows the rules set by the surrounding authorities/her and obeys them for fear of the loss of affection or punishment; moreover, a whole set of beliefs and actions of the student reveals his imitative and egocentric position about the others; the student believes in the divinity and immutability of the rules and judges the others more of their acts’ consequence than by their intentions.
• (c)Exemplary demonstration: aims to leave the student to reflect on which values to adopt, transmitting to their experiences and practices through actions practised by the teacher and incorporating them into the school ethos. In the end, the student, through critical reflection and understanding, values adopts.
• (d)Exposure to professional experience: the teacher, convinced of what he believes in, proposes his experience, knowing that the most important thing is not that the student has the same scale of values as him but that he knows several possibilities, including his own. In this process, the teacher recognises the values that govern his behaviour and which guide his vision of the world, not imposing on the student what he judges to be positive or negative.

6. A teacher profiles at the military higher education

In the Mozambican military higher education, the military professor is an officer on the permanent staff of the FADM who has specific curriculum attributes and proven technical and pedagogical competence and is a researcher with higher education qualifications. Yet, to be a military professor, one recruits officers by choice, invitation by documentary competition, and complemented by public examinations [22,23].

Although he is susceptible to changes in activities because of his military career, to shape the student's character and thus leave marks of great significance on him, the teacher of any education system or subsystem must have enough knowledge to work, not only the physical and motor aspects although also the social, cultural and psychological components [35].

These competencies, for [36]: organising and directing learning situations – ability to select content according to learning objectives and student representations; managing learning progression – ability to adjust and relate subjects to the student's level and possibilities; designing and evolving differentiation objectives – knowing how to work heterogeneity; to involve the student in learning, aiming at restructuring his understanding of the world; to learn and teach in a team – to elaborate team projects; to take part in the administration of the school; to inform and involve parents; to use new technologies; to experience and overcome the ethical conflicts of the profession; to manage his continuous training.

With these characteristics and in general terms, the military teacher must: to follow and enforce the determinations in force, taking particular care to maintain discipline as an indispensable value for the student's military training and for the conservation and proper use of the facilities and material means to place at their disposal for the exercise of the teaching duties assigned to them; to provide the teaching service to them, paying permanent attention to the educational and formative component inherent to it; to develop, or in groups scientific research activities, aimed at the production and development of science, the methodological training of students, the constant research for new pedagogical solutions, and the improvement of teaching; to take part in the tasks of teaching management, in the exercise of the functions assigned to them in that area; to cooperate in the pedagogical guidance and coordination of a subject or group of subjects [22,23].

7. Methods

For the reflection and knowledge building on the role of the military teacher education in values, the basis of the study was the phenomenological paradigm, substantiated by the qualitative method and many case study methods. Based on this foundation, the information collected from the Marshal Samora Machel Military Academy and the Lieutenant General Armando Emílio Guebuza Higher Institute of Defence Studies raised the discovery of meanings through an interrelation of the author with the reality.

In the study, 21 participants were intentionally chosen and determined by empirical saturation. In general, the choice of the 21 participants had four main aspects based: (a) being circumscribed to the object of study (being a military teacher and a student in military higher education); (b) having a training and experience profile linked to civic-patriotic education; (c) availability in participating in the research; and (d) providing new data.

Based on these four general aspects (being circumscribed to the object of the study, training and experience profile, availability, and providing new data), we identified:

• (a)10 Military Teachers (6 from the Military Academy and four from the Higher Institute of Defence Studies) from the Directorate of Civic-Patriotic Education (the area responsible for moral and civic education) of experience in military education above or equal to 7 years (minimum period of existence of the two establishments), who were available, and provide new data to the study; and
• (b)11 Students, 4 and 3 from the 3rd and 2nd year of the Military Academy, and four from the Promotion Course for Superior Officer in the Higher Institute for Defence Studies. All students from the Civic-Patriotic Education speciality (speciality responsible for the conduct and good image of the military), of a length of stay in military education equal to or greater than two years (case of students of the Military Academy), who showed themselves available, and provide new data to the research (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Description of participants.

Participants	Institutional Affiliation		Area of work/training	Experience in military education	Total
	Military Academy	Higher Institute for Defence Studies
Teachers	6	4	Civic-patriotic education	$\ge 7$	10
Students	7	4		$\ge 2$	11
					21

Information was through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and participant observation collected. The semi-structured interviews obeyed two scripts containing open and flexible questions (extracted for the study objectives materialization) aimed at teachers and students. They, which had an average duration of 8 min, were conducted using a mobile phone recorder from July 2018 to October 2019 at the Military Academy and the Higher Institute of Defence Studies establishments.

During the interview period and in each establishment (Military Academy and Higher Institute of Defence Studies), documents dealing with values (statutes, codes of honour and internal rules of life) were collected and analysed, as well as the teacher's classes participating in the study.

For data treatment, used content analysis was, with which categories were established from the specific objectives. In other words, in each 1 of the three objectives defined, an analysis category was constituted, namely, values adopted by the teacher in military higher education, modalities of values education used by the teacher in military higher education, and importance of the values transmitted by the teacher to the graduate in military higher education.

It is important to remark that the present study is from one of the chapters of the author's Master Dissertation, entitled “Values transmitted by the military teacher in teaching and learning processes”, updated in the aspect of the place of study (in the Dissertation it indicated only the Military Academy) and several participants (in the Dissertation it involved seven military personnel). However, although we drew from another study, and were able to collect and process information to achieve the study objectives, locating available military teachers and students and processing information made available by the 21 participants were challenges.

Furthermore, it is important to mention that this study was approved by the Command of the Marshal Samora Machel Military Academy (Ethics Committee) by order No. 231/DC/AM/0202/2023 because in addition to not hurting the local and international research ethical standards, it also obtained consent from human (military) involved in the study to participate in it.

8. Results and discussion

8.1. Values adopted by the teacher in the military higher education

The information collected from the Military Academy and Higher Institute of Defence Studies, from teachers and students, participants of the study, refer that the values adopted by the teacher at the military higher education concern convictions, character, and duty. These values, for the teachers, are national unity, fellow feeling, citizenship, patriotism, respect, ethics and professional deontology, respect for the people and their goods, the spirit of body, courage, loyalty, civility, and conviction in the fulfilment of FADM missions.

The students, in turn, consider the following: love of the profession, technical professional improvement, professionalism, prioritizing the collective will, military honours, honesty, compliance with doctrinal guidelines and honour.

Although the observation technique indicates the adoption of values by the military teacher related to tradition (the form and the march), the documents analysed also refer that the military teacher should adopt values related to convictions, character, and duty. These are availability for service, fidelity, discipline, dedication, assiduity and punctuality, the exact and prompt fulfilment of activities, courage, a high sense of duty, order, and correctness.

So, although per the [22,23,37], values about convictions the teacher of the military higher education adopt, according to Ref. [32], values such as courage, patriotism, fidelity, loyalty, comradeship, helpfulness spirit, honesty, and profession love are abstract certainties found in the minds of individuals. And the full demonstration of these values depends on the individual himself and the context. In other words, each individual is a unique one, with a specific personality and free to make choices [33].

Values such as national unity, discipline, assiduity, punctuality, elegance, respect, exact and prompt compliance with the activities and doctrinal guidelines, dedication, technical and professional improvement, professionalism, high sense of duty or responsibility, professional deontology, ethics, civility and citizenship, which relate to the character, as well as the values relating to tradition, form and marching, are constructs hidden and perceived in the daily behaviour of individuals and the activities of the establishments [38]. These values are the institutions' rules (Military Academy and Higher Institute of Defence Studies), and the teacher adopts them for fear of loss of affection or punishment [31].

8.2. Modalities of education in values used by teachers in the military higher education

Of the modalities of education in values used by the teacher in the military higher education, four results stood out: active exposure class, mentioned by some teachers, and which refers to the fact that the military teacher exposes, in the classroom, the values for debate, looking for such practical examples from the past; supervision of the institution rules, ascertained by the observation technique and mentioned by some teachers and students, which the military teacher supervises if the student is complying with the military and the rules of the institution; exemplary demonstration, verified by the observation technique and mentioned by all the participants in the study, according to which the military teacher demonstrates values by actions and appears as a reference in good deeds; and expounding professional experience, mentioned by some teachers, which refers to the military teacher expounding his professional to the student.

Now, the active exposure class modality, mentioned by some teachers, refers to the fact that the military teacher exposes, in the classroom, the values for debate, looking for practical examples from the past; Ref. [31] says that the student discusses the rules that govern his life in the group and can re-elaborate them by starting to understand the social utilities. For the [32], in this type of education in values, the aim is to develop in the student a greater understanding of the beliefs he holds, but without trying to change them. But, given the transformative nature of education, this is not always a stable position, i.e., it cannot be the only values education model in a teaching and learning context.

About monitoring of the institution rules modality, ascertained by the observation technique and mentioned by some teachers and students, which the military teacher supervises if the student is complying with the rules, according to the [22], it aims at maintaining of discipline as an essential value for the student’s military training, the conservation and proper use of facilities and material means.

Ref. [39] states that to establish limits, the teacher uses the supervision of compliance with the rules to contribute to the organisation of the working environment, promote justice, and foster responsibility for what occurs in the teaching environment. Although it has this advantage, this values education model uses coercion, which to Ref. [32], makes the model uncertain in its results, particularly in the social context in which many young people rebel and often even reject the school system.

The exemplary demonstration modality verified in the observation technique and mentioned by all participants in the study, according to which the military teacher demonstrates the value through actions and appears as a reference in good acts; according to Ref. [32], the aim is to leave the student to reflect on which values to adopt, transmitting to their experiences and practices through actions practised by teachers. For through critical reflection and understanding, the student the values can adopt.

However, despite this great advantage, Ref. [31] recognises that currently, there is no certainty about the results of this modality of education in values. Ref. [33] explains that teachers are no role models for most adolescents and young people since celebrities in the cultural, political and sports areas are the greatest inspirers.

The professional modality experience exposure mentioned by some teachers, Ref. [28] says that it is relevant in the student's learning insofar as it places them before the reality of military practice, and by bringing examples experienced or occurred throughout their career as an officer, the military teacher changes the student's opinion and behaviour. In this modality, according to Ref. [33], convinced in what he believes, the teacher proposes his experience, knowing that the most important thing is not that the student has the same scale of values as him but that he knows that there are several possibilities, including his own.

Despite this advantage, Ref. [34] points out that in this model, the teacher recognises the values that govern his behaviour and guide his world-view so as not to impose on the student what they judge as positive or negative. Moreover, the teacher must reconcile examples from his past with current facts because [40] mentions that given globalisation, adolescents and young people live in the present. A present media-influenced that shapes young people's views and behaviours while instructing also creates misinformation trivialises issues and generates doubts and hasty attitudes [34]. These findings support the position of one of the teachers, he said:

“It is not enough to have experience. You have to see the context in which we present or transmit the values. Today the situation is different. The conjuncture allows everyone to be free; today, we can even escape from the military rules”.

With these modes of value education, the study participants mentioned the following activities carried out by the military teacher, making the student have the military eating habit, making the students salute, and putting students in joint activities.

Regarding making the student have the military food habit, it aims for the student to engage in a context of complete harmony and fellowship since food represents a factor of physical and psychological well-being for the military and a pleasant break between service occupations [41]. Despite this, the [42] states that military nutrition should observe regional food habits to preserve traditions without prejudicing the nutritional balance, rescuing referenced food practices and values.

While making the student salute, according to Ref. [43], saluting is the obligatory form of greeting and recognition between military personnel is a sign of respect given by individual military personnel to their comrades and their superiors. Ref. [44] states that saluting in societies seems to be a frequent practice, given that gestures, looks, words or even a conversation are its main features. The author further considers that from an anthropological perspective, the greeting is part of the good manners of living together in a community in which belonging to the same group exchange messages in presence for the most part.

The obstacle in this activity is the obligation aspect, which casts doubt on the effective assimilation of the value because it imposes the student to follow or obey for fear of loss of affection or punishment [31].

Finally, putting students in joint activities is an activity that [45] considers a tool in the teaching and learning process that provide favourable situations for learning and developing skills or the value of living together in community and fellowship. This tool is essential to face one of the challenges of education and contemporary society, learning to live together, as it develops the understanding of the other and the perception of interdependencies [3].

However, despite this advantage, the implementation of this activity requires monitoring by the teacher because, during school life, many students have difficulty working in groups, some do not accept the opinion of others nor bother to listen to them, and others everything they accept it as if they had none opinion [45].

8.3. The importance of the values transmitted by the teacher to the graduate in the military higher education

The information collected indicates four lines of the importance of the values transmitted by the teacher to the graduate in the military higher education: the majority line of the study, participants who state that it is the graduate as it helps him to fit in and prove actions required in the military environment; some participants line, who consider it for the graduate as it to discover himself; and documents line, who report that it is the graduate as it creates attributes that influence the performance of his military command and leadership functions.

The first line of importance, put forward by the study participants majority and highlighting that values help the military higher education graduate show actions required in the military environment; Ref. [32] argues that values serve as a guide to the individual conduct. As guiders, they do not determine but only influence and motivate the individuals’ actions. The values help individuals choose between alternatives for final decisions about what to do and how to act. The same is true for organisational or military institutional values. Besides that, in the military institution, for [46], values constitute standards that guide the military's behaviour within the institution.

But, the demonstration of the values required in any organisation is the (inter)national conjuncture influenced [31]. Thus, the study participants mentioned that some Mozambican military higher education graduates, driven by the capitalist system, greed, spirit of poverty and corrupt practices in society and the fact that the government does not keep its electoral promises, are not guided by the values of society. So, in the conflict taking place in Cabo Delgado and Niassa, they do not respect human rights and sponsor insurgents.

The second line of importance, pointed out by some students, indicates that the values help the graduate in military higher education to discover himself: [19] substantiates that the members of the FADM, by bringing from their areas of origin, the various cultural values, continue with this they inflate in the military institution the fortifying synergies, reinforce the awareness of belonging to the same country and people, gain the patriotic dimension, ensuring the cohesion of both the military and society in general.

Finally, the third line of importance, established in the documents state, that the values transmitted by the teacher create, in the graduate, attributes that influence the performance of his military command and leadership functions, Ref. [47] maintains that:

In the military institution, values represent a determining factor insofar as they contribute to the moral component that guides the military action in general and in the decision-making of their commanders in adverse and high-stress contexts (p. 13).

Furthermore, Ref. [46] state that the values transmitted by the military teacher to the graduate in higher military education are imperative because, being a future officer and a leader of the troops, in performing his duties, he should stimulate his followers to participate in decisions, giving them freedom and autonomy, but expecting common sense and results framed in the standards and organisational culture. Understanding leadership under the aegis of base values combines reason and feeling, seeking the good, justice, and freedom of expression.

9. Conclusion

The teacher in Mozambican higher military education plays a fundamental role in education in values since it is one of the vectors that military higher education uses to mould the new generations of officers for insertion into the military institution. To this end, the teacher adopts values from the military institution and Mozambican society in general. That is, values, on the one hand, those concern convictions or abstract certainties localised in the minds of individuals and manifested in contexts, for example, courage, patriotism, fidelity, loyalty, honesty, and love for the profession.

On the other hand, values that concern character, duty and tradition, that is, hidden constructs, are present in the daily behaviour of individuals and the activities of higher education military institutions, for example, national unity, discipline, assiduity, punctuality, bravery, respect, dedication, ethics, line up and marching.

Despite the absence of a teaching career, the military teacher in higher military education uses four modalities of values education, active exposure class, supervision of the institution rules, exemplary demonstration, and exposure to professional experience.

With these models of value education and the values adopted by them, a military teacher guides the students' activities of a behavioural nature to enable the graduate of the military higher education to discover himself, to fit into and show actions required in the military environment, as well on create attributes, which influence the performance of his functions of military command and leadership.

Yet, factors related to the international situation, the national social, political and economic situations, and greed mean that some graduates of military higher education do not follow the values of Mozambican society, to such an extent that in the conflict taking place in Cabo Delgado and Niassa they do not respect human rights and sponsor insurgents. Now, the subject of values education in military higher education to deepen, future research can explore the following aspects: circumstances and actions that can make military higher education graduates adopt other values, both in operational theatres and in society in general.

Author contribution statement

Mauro Tiago Njelezi: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analysed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Data availability statement

The authors are unable or have chosen not to specify which data has been used.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

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