Game-maker’s innovative resources help thousands of young people engage with core human values
Dipak Fakey OBE, a highly experienced educator and founder of the Good Values Club, is preparing to support World Values Day for another year, bringing his distinctive approach to values-based education to schools and communities across Britain.
The annual global campaign, which takes place on 16 October this year under the theme “Values For The Future”, has become a flagship date in the calendar for Mr Fakey’s registered children’s charity. His educational games feature prominently in the official WVD Schools Pack, providing teachers with practical tools to help young people explore and embody positive human values.
At the heart of Mr Fakey’s contribution this year is Let’s Talk, a board and card game that stimulates meaningful conversations across generations. Players engage with carefully crafted questions and topics designed to foster communication in a fun and lighthearted manner. Since its introduction to the Schools Pack last year, the game has proved particularly effective in connecting children and adults with elderly people experiencing memory loss or dementia, and has been successfully trialled in diverse school and community settings.
“The game works for any age,” Mr Fakey explains. “It creates bridges between generations and helps maintain those vital human connections, even when memory begins to fade.” The game’s emphasis on sharing values and personal stories has made it especially valuable for families navigating the challenges of dementia care, offering a structured yet flexible framework for preserving connection.
The game has also been used with considerable success in care homes and dementia clubs, bringing older people together, and interest is growing across the UK.
The Good Values Club also developed the Values Bring Us Together Project specifically for World Values Day, a series of engaging challenges that guide pupils on a journey towards becoming “Values Champions”. The programme reflects Mr Fakey’s broader educational philosophy, which previously transformed a struggling school into a top-performing institution through the systematic implementation of values-based learning.
A teacher by background, Mr Fakey was awarded the OBE for his services to education and community cohesion in Leicester, where he previously lived for many years. It recognized the decades he spent developing innovative approaches to teaching character and citizenship. His work addresses a growing concern among educators about the need to complement academic achievement with moral and social development.
For Mr Fakey and his team at the Good Values Club, this year’s theme of ‘Values for the Future’ carries particular resonance. “Young people today face unprecedented challenges,” he says. “Giving them a strong foundation in human values isn’t just about making better children, it’s about creating better adults and, ultimately, a better society.”
The Schools Pack materials are freely available along with many other resources for schools through the World Values Day website, ensuring that even schools with limited budgets can access high-quality values education resources. As 16 October approaches, the Good Values Club stands ready to support another year of reflection, conversation, and action around the principles that bind communities together.
