S<strong>to</strong>ry 14: Teacher s<strong>to</strong>ry My experience <strong>of</strong> using values education as a teacher in <strong>the</strong> classroom has been quite powerful; not only personally but pr<strong>of</strong>essionally. I’ve noticed a very big difference in <strong>the</strong> students that I have this year. <strong>The</strong>y are a very confident group, very generally speaking, very strong characters. Many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m are competitive by nature. So using <strong>the</strong> techniques that you know… worked with us on, especially <strong>the</strong> [silent sitting time], I’ve noticed that’s…had a huge effect on <strong>the</strong> students in terms <strong>of</strong> bringing that energy level down…We do it immediately after every lunch and it helps <strong>the</strong>m focus on what now is needed in class. <strong>The</strong> mind mapping, <strong>the</strong> quotes, <strong>the</strong> songs, <strong>the</strong> activities we used <strong>to</strong> reinforce <strong>the</strong> value have been very powerful in, like I spoke about earlier, making <strong>the</strong> value explicit in terms <strong>of</strong> breaking open its meaning. And again picking up on what o<strong>the</strong>r teachers have said, so many times you have a class <strong>of</strong> 25–30 people come <strong>to</strong> you – young people with young minds <strong>of</strong> young families, all with different values, all with different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, religious backgrounds even – and <strong>to</strong> try and find a common ground from which <strong>to</strong> work with values; by teaching values explicitly gives you that common ground. And as mentioned earlier with someone else, for some kids <strong>the</strong>y don’t get that at home, and for me, if I can just reach one child who hasn’t had that experience <strong>of</strong> what that value is about, I’ve done my job…as an educa<strong>to</strong>r. Because I know that child, if I’ve seen it have an effect with <strong>the</strong>m, I know that that will stay with <strong>the</strong>m for <strong>the</strong>ir life’s journey. And yeah, I guess I’ve been lucky this year because I’ve seen it <strong>to</strong>uch so many <strong>of</strong> my students. that <strong>the</strong>y now demonstrate. I believe that, beside <strong>the</strong> program achieved, I’ve really seen <strong>the</strong>m work <strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r really well… I’ve seen it [<strong>the</strong> understanding] with certain students, <strong>the</strong>y’ve changed socially <strong>to</strong>wards friends, <strong>to</strong>wards people in <strong>the</strong> community, <strong>to</strong>wards – even how <strong>the</strong>y interact and talk with me, <strong>the</strong>y’re on a much more adult level. <strong>The</strong>y speak in a way that is more empa<strong>the</strong>tic <strong>to</strong> my voice. <strong>The</strong>y may be coming asking me for help but <strong>the</strong> way <strong>the</strong>y verbalise <strong>the</strong>ir issue or <strong>the</strong>ir concern or <strong>the</strong>ir question, whatever it may be, is way more empa<strong>the</strong>tic <strong>to</strong> how I may respond <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>m. I’ve seen girls who’ve gone through that pre-teen phrase <strong>of</strong> this narky little ‘myeah’, and some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m are still <strong>the</strong>re, but you can see <strong>the</strong>m, it’s hard <strong>to</strong> describe what I see because I can’t… Yeah, that’s <strong>the</strong> word I was looking for... grounded. …and even in <strong>the</strong>ir relations with each o<strong>the</strong>r now, as a lot <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> students commented <strong>to</strong>day, I’ve noticed big changes in <strong>the</strong>ir interactions. Girls are now playing with boys, and <strong>the</strong>y’re going between games…now <strong>the</strong>y swap between games between lunch hours, you know. And you can see a comfortability and an acceptance… knowing that <strong>the</strong>y can play this and next lunch go and play a different game with different people and not feel <strong>the</strong>y’re going <strong>to</strong> be scorned or sc<strong>of</strong>fed at or put down…[With new children <strong>the</strong>y are] welcoming. <strong>The</strong>y go out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir way <strong>to</strong> make <strong>the</strong>m feel a part… I’ve probably done a lot more or tried <strong>to</strong> do a lot with my particular class and I’ve seen quite pr<strong>of</strong>ound effects. Sometimes <strong>the</strong>re’s days when it…feels like <strong>the</strong>y haven’t internalised it…But even now within <strong>the</strong>ir social interactions in <strong>the</strong> playground or <strong>the</strong>ir coping skills, <strong>the</strong> resilience Section 1: Looking for <strong>the</strong> impacts <strong>of</strong> values education 35
36 <strong>Giving</strong> <strong>Voice</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Impacts</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Values</strong> <strong>Education</strong>: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Final</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Values</strong> in Action Schools Project
- Page 1 and 2: Giving Voice to the Impacts of Valu
- Page 3 and 4: Giving Voice to the Impacts of Valu
- Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements The Values in Acti
- Page 7 and 8: sharing professional expertise; par
- Page 9 and 10: interventions and, ultimately, futu
- Page 11 and 12: from action. Evidence gathered from
- Page 13 and 14: These projects complement the compr
- Page 15 and 16: how the class had ‘evolved’ and
- Page 17 and 18: 12 Giving Voice to the Impacts of V
- Page 19 and 20: Looking for the impacts of values e
- Page 21 and 22: On the matter of method In common w
- Page 23 and 24: Evaluation of VASP projects This ph
- Page 25 and 26: ACTIVITY Submission of project desi
- Page 27 and 28: The participatory and reflective na
- Page 29 and 30: Story 2: Teacher story I think the
- Page 31 and 32: Story 4: Student story Basically my
- Page 33 and 34: It was significant for me because..
- Page 35 and 36: More voices of Most Significant Cha
- Page 37 and 38: Story 9: Student story I’ve had t
- Page 39: I thought it was interesting that t
- Page 43 and 44: Impacts of the Values in Action Sch
- Page 45 and 46: Australian Juvenile Detention Centr
- Page 47 and 48: Another reflection from a school le
- Page 49 and 50: Interestingly, this general trend t
- Page 51 and 52: It is perhaps not surprising then t
- Page 53 and 54: left some gasping. There were some
- Page 55 and 56: said: ‘I liked the fact that this
- Page 57 and 58: Since we have been doing this thing
- Page 59 and 60: Evidence indicates that student age
- Page 61 and 62: Other students revealed how learnin
- Page 63 and 64: How do students in your school act
- Page 65 and 66: Impact 4: Connectedness The impact
- Page 67 and 68: Other examples of collaborative par
- Page 69 and 70: One reflective comment from a teach
- Page 71 and 72: Values in Action Teacher Survey 1 -
- Page 73 and 74: Impact 5: Transformation Change and
- Page 75 and 76: Professional transformation was als
- Page 77 and 78: How is values education addressed i
- Page 79 and 80: Collaborative student artwork - Eva
- Page 81 and 82: Accounts of the VASP cluster projec
- Page 83 and 84: The national gatherings proved an i
- Page 85 and 86: Beenleigh Believe, Achieve, Succeed
- Page 87 and 88: Key outcomes • Students demonstra
- Page 89 and 90: weekend to draft the new units of w
- Page 91 and 92:
Cross Border Values Community North
- Page 93 and 94:
Far North Queensland Cluster Queens
- Page 95 and 96:
The reach of the values work into c
- Page 97 and 98:
I think that the project’s change
- Page 99 and 100:
The service-learning projects were
- Page 101 and 102:
Lanyon Cluster of Schools Australia
- Page 103 and 104:
done, great, that’s fantastic’.
- Page 105 and 106:
The first of these was a forum wher
- Page 107 and 108:
the Cluster Coordinator to keep all
- Page 109 and 110:
Palmerston Values Cluster Northern
- Page 111 and 112:
anxieties through a values prism, u
- Page 113 and 114:
all going through this, working out
- Page 115 and 116:
Skoolaborate Cluster New South Wale
- Page 117 and 118:
that, yes, maybe interacting in a v
- Page 119 and 120:
I believe the most significant chan
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students’ responses and developme
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118 Giving Voice to the Impacts of
- Page 125 and 126:
Appendices Appendix 1: Background t
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The VASP is distinguished from thes
- Page 129 and 130:
Cluster selection for the VASP One
- Page 131 and 132:
Appendix 3: The Values in Action Sc
- Page 133 and 134:
Appendix 4: The Values in Action Sc
- Page 135 and 136:
Appendix 6: Teacher survey demograp
- Page 137 and 138:
How long have you worked in an educ
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Fraillon, J 2005, Measuring Student