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

Cross Border Values Community
Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia
Values through ICT and Philosophy
Participating schools
• Victor Harbor R7 School, South Australia
• Spearwood Primary School, Western Australia
• Mataranka Primary School, Northern Territory
• Peregrine School, Tasmania
• Birdwood High School, Western Australia
• Yankalilla School, South Australia
Cluster Coordinator: Mr Mark Sparvell , Kadina Primary School, South Australia (on behalf of the
lead school, Victor Harbor R7 School, Victor Harbor, South Australia)
Deputy Coordinator: Mrs Judith McLean, Mataranka Primary School, Mataranka,
Northern Territory
University Advisor: Emeritus Professor Robert Crotty, University of South Australia
The project
Linking primary and high school students
across four states through virtual and real-time
information technology, the Cross Border Values
Community cluster set out to engage their school
communities in an online philosophy project
to develop students as deep reflective thinkers
capable of making moral and ethical decisions.
This cluster had previously participated in Stage
2 of the VEGPSP, exploring the use of ICT to
develop student thinking skills and encourage
values discussions. The Values through ICT and
Philosophy project aimed to engage with the
whole school community – including parents –
at a deeper level than had been achieved in the
earlier work. The leading questions for the
project were:
• How do we develop students as deep
reflective thinkers
• Could philosophy be a mechanism to explore
the ethical frameworks that underpin the
behaviours we identify as values based
The cluster established an online tool (Moodle)
to explore ‘big issues’, such as ‘Is it ever right
to kill’ Through this network, students had
the opportunity to explore, discuss, debate
and defend a position they hold that is shaped
by their own moral and ethical framework.
Rules of conduct were established to ensure
that discussions modelled values of respect,
consideration, tolerance and fairness. As the
project progressed, student interest increased
and parents also became involved. This varied
across the sites. In some sites students were given
philosophical challenges to take home and work
through with parents before reporting back to
class. Other schools set up a philosophy lesson in
school with parents. Some sites invited parents
to join in the online conversations. This included
a specific parent event where students took on
the role of mentor and supported their parents
to contribute to the online discussion. Parents
reported a ‘ripple effect’ that resonated in their
home environment:
We’ve put the big questions up on our notice board
at home which sits near our dining room table so
we’ve not only discussed them with the kids as they
bring them home but anyone new who comes into
the house…[and] we end up in another discussion
and another point of view...that’s been interesting...
86 Giving Voice to the Impacts of Values Education: The Final Report of the Values in Action Schools Project