Giving Voice to the Impacts of Values Education The Final Report of ...

Maroondah Education Coalition
Victoria
Youth Voice: Fostering Inclusiveness,
Respect and Tolerance
Participating schools
• Ringwood Secondary College
• Parkwood Secondary College
• Maroondah Secondary College
Cluster Coordinator: Mrs Lyn McGoldrick, Ringwood Secondary College, Melbourne
Deputy Coordinator: Mrs Val Morelli, Parkwood Secondary College, Melbourne
University Advisor: Dr Libby Tudball, Monash University
The project
The Maroondah Education Coalition comprises
a subset of a well-established network of
government secondary schools in Melbourne’s
outer eastern suburbs that have been working
together since 2005. The three schools that
participated in the Youth Voice: Fostering
Inclusiveness, Respect and Tolerance project
are situated approximately three kilometres
apart, and their students access common
community and cultural amenities. The schools
are, nonetheless, characterised by very different
student cohorts. Many Burmese, Sudanese and
Liberian refugee families have recently come to
live in the area, which previously had a largely
monocultural community. Staff at the three
schools believed there was a growing need to
develop students’ understanding of refugees and
build positive relationships between members of
different cultures. The project was recognised as
a meaningful way to support student wellbeing
and facilitate students’ awareness, development
and practice of their personal values. A key
objective of the project was to establish a sense
of community that embraced the whole school,
parents and the local neighbourhood.
The project drew on the National Framework
for Values Education in Australian Schools (DEST
2005) in addition to other national and Victorian
initiatives focused on action research, social
inclusion, tolerance and student wellbeing.
The cluster embedded values education across the
three school communities using a multi-layered
approach. Teacher pedagogy and practice was
developed through a common values language
and explicit projects, including excursions and
group work around the themes of inclusiveness,
respect, tolerance and empowerment of the
voice of youth. One school ran a radio program
with an emphasis on tolerance and intercultural
understanding. A second school produced a
student run magazine, Youth Voice, which
featured artistic and written contributions
from students that described how the project
had changed their attitudes to cultural and
racial difference.
The teacher pedagogy and practice was
underpinned by a substantial professional
learning program for all participants. The
cluster ran a pilot program for parents, teachers
and students, facilitated by Dr Karen Hansen
(Swinburne University), which had a particular
emphasis on focused emotional intelligence. This
program aimed to enhance teacher effectiveness
in the classroom in order to improve student
outcomes, both academically and socially, and to
encourage students to challenge their own and
others’ preconceptions about refugees.
In addition to the professional learning around
emotional intelligence, the cluster organised three
targeted, cross-school and community activities.
Section 3: Accounts of the VASP cluster projects
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