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

necessary for people to live together, children
immediately began mentioning the nine values,
as opposed to the anticipated answers outlining
the recreational, residential, industrial and
commercial areas of communities. So perhaps the
children’s answers were more accurate after all.
Younger children in particular seem to be giving
more recognition/acceptance to people with
differences. Many children who are on the ASD
spectrum at...[our school] who have always been
treated with great tolerance and respect have
celebrated a new found pride in their differences.
We had a Mary MacKillop competition, and the
award recipients, and a little fellow who had a
highly commended certificate, elaborated upon
the importance of acceptance of individuals who
are different. A DEEWR consultant commented,
and the KidsMatter team agreed, that the most
noticeable change in attitude, resilience and
values in the long run would probably be in
children who are in Kindergarten/Year 1 at the
beginning of the program’s implementation.
I guess the crux of the most significant change
for our school is that the person children want
to be and are asked to be, one who acts out of the
goodness God made them in, is more attainable
now and realistic because they’ve been shown
how values can be implemented into their own
lives. It has been emphasised to children that
we’re not just a Catholic school by name at...
[our school].
Story 8: Teacher story
One of the things as an educator that I continually,
and have always had heart-breaking moments
over, has been things that stop our young people
feeling safe and happy and learning. And I’ve
often seen that…in the bullying and the name
calling and the harassment that goes on in a
school…and I actually can remember back to
being a big sister of a five-year-old and being
challenged by the bullying and the harassment
that went on in a school, and stopped a little
brother from learning…
My biggest ‘Aha!’ moment with philosophy
was…when we were talking about courage and
bravery. And one little boy gave an example
of pulling his brother out of a dam and really
saving his life…And I listen in philosophy circle
and the children speak. And I thought, ‘Noone’s
going to top that’, and another young
person said, ‘I was brave today and I showed
lots of courage because Blah was bullying Blah
and I stood up for her’. And then the children
really started to speak about the bullying and
harassment and the bravery and the courage that
it’s taking them to deal with that. And for me
that was the really powerful moment and I think
that that’s a way forward in a school. We have
the values play where ‘everybody be’s caring
and everybody be’s a little bear and shows love
and care’. And we have the values hat and we all
go around being respectful with the values hat.
And nothing changes. With philosophy…and the
structure around the listening, ‘I’m not wrong
and you’re not wrong, we’re both right’, seem to
be a really powerful tool for those children.
And I know these children spoke today about
respect and they used the word ‘respect’ but
I actually think they’re also talking about
tolerance and understanding and a fair go. I
think when they use the word ‘respect’ I think
they’re talking about a lot of other values that
you would recognise as parents and as families…
it’s a really powerful way to really connect people
with values so that it becomes part of who they
are, not part of the costume they’re wearing for
that day.
Section 1: Looking for the impacts of values education
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