CULTIVATING WORK-RELATED VALUES IN PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS THROUGH ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

The article explores the pedagogical potential of role-playing games for cultivating work-related values in primary school pupils. Work education is interpreted in an age-appropriate and ethical sense: respect for useful activity and professions, responsibility for a shared task, perseverance, cooperation, planning, care for tools and materials, and reflection on the social value of work. The study is based on qualitative analysis of sociocultural theory, experiential learning, social learning, research on pretend and role play, and international guidance on learning through play. The synthesis shows that role play can connect moral understanding with observable action because pupils must make decisions inside a simulated social situation, coordinate roles, solve practical problems, and experience the consequences of incomplete or careless work. The article proposes a five-stage model—preparation, role allocation, scenario enactment, complication, and reflective debriefing—and provides examples such as a bakery, repair workshop, school garden team, post office, health centre, and community clean-up council. It also explains teacher mediation, inclusion, assessment, safety, and the avoidance of stereotypes. The article concludes that role-playing games are effective when the learning goal is explicit, the scenario contains a meaningful shared product or service, and reflection translates the play experience into stable attitudes and habits.