In response to the National Framework for Values Education, a report was released in September 2006 detailing the implementation of the Framework in 166 schools all over Australia. This report captures the key outcomes of the schools’ endeavours and gives an account of their work, demonstrating what practice in values education looks like.

While the report specifies what good practice values education can do and gives recommendation to Australian schools about the principles of good practice in values education, I will focus primarily on how the framework was implemented in a variety of ways.

As the National Framework makes clear, there are countless of ways of applying it. There are many possibilities, and for the schools involved in this project, these possibilities unfolded, grew and developed over time. The different clusters of schools took different approaches. While the report is very detailed and specifies these different approaches and the process of teachers working through the difficulties of teaching values, this section merely outlines several of the strategies used in the schools to give a more general idea of what values education might look like in the classroom itself.

Case Study 1:

During a Year 6 unit of work on Antarctica, the teacher pointed out that the value ‘Doing your best’ was exemplified by the courageous undertakings of the early explorers. The teacher explored how to help the students understand what the value looks like, sounds like and feels like in this context. The class then discussed how their taking on this value would assist then to lead a fulfilled human life.

Case Study 2:

A school translated its values into ‘ten not negotiables’ that all teachers use. The school then refined these down to three core values: Respect, Responsibility and Relationships. The school then produced a brochure that highlighted its mission and emphasised what is recognised as important to the school. In doing this, the school first clarified the values focus and then highlighted that focus in a public way. The principal of one of these schools said:

“Get your values right; make them clear and put them everywhere! In the classrooms, in the staffrooms, in the newsletters. And don’t be afraid to say what you don’t accept. Don’t make apologies.”

This particular cluster was stirred to take on values education by a situation in the administration area of the school’s office where a group of Year 6 boys were waiting and taking up the only available seating. When a very solid middle-aged woman arrived for an appointment and the boys were asked to give up their seat for her, they were surprised by the request. Their attitude of “we were here first” alerted the principal to the need of a values education program based on the belief that the school needs to be the place for this sort of learning.

Case Study 3:

One primary school worked to bring its values into learning contexts rather than seeing them as purely a tool for behaviour modification. This involved workshopping values themes with students intensively in the first term of the year to develop in-class values statements and rules. This was reinforced with weekly awards based on values and encouragement of staff in modelling positive learning behaviours. This was followed by more activities to further embed values into all aspects of school life.

Case Study 4:

This school spent significant time at the start of each year working with students on its values and what really had meaning to them. Each classroom came up with a ‘code of beliefs’ and the children voted on these. These were then narrowed down to a set of 12 whole school qualities and then narrowed further again as any repetition is removed. An agreed set of values across the school were outlined in every classroom and highlighted in communications such as the school newsletter.

Case Study 5:

In another school, the values were translated into a range of classroom programs and activities trialled by teachers in the school, such as the Year 9-10 drama class where students chose to represent some of their values work in short plays about a specific and problematic area such as bullying. In this unit, the students explored a range of scenarios which they might have experienced and were able to discuss implications and strategies. They workshopped ways of presenting these scenarios using techniques such as ‘freeze frame’ to build awareness of verbal and body language at particular points in social interactions.

Case Study 6:

A cluster of Catholic schools in Victoria had the students take the lead. Student Action Teams in each of the six participating schools led the investigation and then oversaw the implementation of values education using a whole school approach. Each school in the cluster was allocated three of the nine values in the framework. Team members met regularly in their schools to research, plan and take action around the values they were given. They also communicated electronically. The teams collected data through means of surveys, questionnaires, etc. The students were then required to take action to increase the level of a particular value. For instance, one team organised a Manners Week where all student engage in activities to increase the degree of respect shown in the school. The students developed leadership skills, took full responsibility, effectively interacted with students from other schools and became increasingly engaged as they realised the true meaning of the values they had studied.

Case Study 7:

A cluster of schools in the Noarlunga area of SA looked at common values for improving student behaviour. The following excerpt (page 81-82) explains how they implemented this:

Three senior students had stolen a skate board from a secured area at school, modified it and returned to school with it the next day claiming it belonged to one of them. A teacher noticed significant original features and the boys subsequently admitted stealing it. The school’s behaviour policy was invoked and the students were internally suspended from their classes. During their suspension they worked away from their peers. Two critical factors became obvious. Firstly, the three boys gained ‘hero’ status among some of their peers because of the suspension, and secondly, other students were aware of what they had done, but saw no reason to report it regardless of the impact on the original owner.

The boys were counselled individually and as a group, using Restorative Justice procedures. The impact on the victim was a priority in these discussions. Among a number of issues discussed, it was decided trust would be a focus of our discussions with the students; what trust meant, looked like and felt like, and how to rebuild trust with their teachers and with their peers. The students’ parents were now part of the Restorative Procedures and were consulted about the process and our aims. This led to a meeting with each of the student’s class teachers, where they talked about their feelings over the issue of stealing and being isolated from their peers. After working with their teachers they then, with their teachers’ support, addressed their class, again expressing their thoughts about what they had done, each openly acknowledging the guilt they had felt and that the punishment only further shamed them. All three confronted peers who were very receptive and mature about the process because this public asking of forgiveness had not happened before.

Because this process was completed with the utmost sensitivity by the staff involved, the three students felt that they had asked for forgiveness and had set about re-establishing/rebuilding trust with their teachers and peers and that, to them, it was not a public shaming exercise. ‘I thought I’d feel bad talking to the whole class, but they made me feel okay’ – one of the boys.

The cohort of students were also spoken to prior to the students returning to their classes. Here the issue of hero worship was addressed as well as the moral obligation of reporting stolen items, etc. The teachers conducting this ensured it did not become a ‘top down’ address, but one that empowered and encouraged student involvement, questions, feedback and comment. In this activity, the language surrounding our school values and what the values mean and look like was reinforced.

All staff were involved in the procedures around the incident, in a formal staff meeting, how the incident unfolded and the important steps taken along the way. Teachers involved reported on the process and the impact the process and the outcomes had on the students involved and the senior student cohort … The boys’ behaviour has since improved, resulting in fewer referrals for behaviour.

 

Having taken on this approach of using values to improve behaviour in the schools, some now also are taking the values into the classroom in more concentrated ways such as: