In a world of high-stakes testing, league tables for primary schools as well as universities, funding cuts, teacher shortages, mass shootings in school campuses and rising rates of depression and suicide among students who miss out on university entrance, how do we decide what should be the core values in education? Because I believe it is the most important value that is largely missing from education today, I begin with pedagogical love. I discuss the philosophical background as to why love should be at centre stage in education. I follow this with an introduction to the contemporary educational approaches that support a caring pedagogy and some experiences and examples from my own and others’ practice, ending with some personal reflections on the theme.