States and Territories

Queensland – news – 24/07/09

Professional Development Calendar for 2009

Event	Date	Venue
Values Education Workshop	24 August	Emerald
Values Education Leadership Breakfast	11 September	Cairns
Values Education Workshop	11 September	Cairns
Values Lunch with Dr Neil Hawkes	6 October	Sunshine Coast
Two-hour Workshop with Dr Neil Hawkes	6 October	Sunshine Coast
Values Breakfast with Dr Neil Hawkes	7 October	Ipswich
Two-hour Workshop with Dr Neil Hawkes	7 October	Ipswich
Values Education Expo	23 November	Brisbane
Values Education Leadership Breakfast	4 December	Mackay
Values Education Workshop	4 December	Mackay

See education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/values/pd-calendar.html for further information and registration forms.

Queensland Grant Schools 2009

Seven schools in Queensland were successful in obtaining a grant to explore how they could further embed values education into their schools in a way that was relevant to their particular school community. The schools will be completing an interim report on their project by 31 July, followed by a final report in October. The grant program will culminate in a State-wide Values Education Expo to be held in Brisbane on 23 November 2009, where the seven schools will showcase their work.

SCHOOL	Notes
Clover Hill State School – Primary	This project is using the concept from the movie Pay it Forward to inspire and motivate students to make a positive difference in their classrooms, school and wider community by ‘paying good deeds forward’ (that is, doing a good deed for three people who must in turn each do good deeds for three other people). This project is an opportunity to engage the student council/student leaders in an action research project which demonstrates values in action.
Murgon State School – Primary	This project aims to continue to implement Aus Identities, a program to help identify natural learning styles and preferences across Murgon State School for both staff and students. It will develop and implement lessons incorporating Aus Identities and identify values education priorities for all year levels. This will result in developing and implementing tools to audit all curriculum and pedagogy and to develop curriculum that connects the values of the school to the Aus Identities program.
Baralaba State School – Primary	This project will incorporate values education within a whole school positive behaviour and social skills program and marry it to the ‘You Can Do It’ program.
Mabel Park State High School – Secondary	This project will focus on creating curriculum-based and non-curriculum-based activities that celebrate the uniqueness and richness of the main cultures from which the students are drawn – Polynesian, Indigenous, Caucasian and African – to broaden students’ existing knowledge and appreciation of the values and beliefs of their own culture as well as those of others.
Happy Valley State School – Primary	This project focuses on developing skills in the students and teachers to plan and deliver an effective long-term values education program within the Mt Isa District which will further develop skills to enable students to function successfully in their present and future worlds. There will be a focus on issues around behaviour management, bullying and absenteeism, and on modelling social skills which are socially acceptable.
Sunnybank State High School – Secondary	This project will focus on developing strong sustainable student leadership based on common understandings of the values within the National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools.
Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre	This project is a continuation of the Storythread Values Project (VEGPS Stage 1 and 2). The values work will continue at two levels: Personal Pedagogy (which involves a workshop, unit planning, interviews, deep reflection, case writing and presentations to peers); and School Wide Pedagogy (where Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre assists schools in setting up ‘Teacher Leadership Values Teams’ to facilitate focus groups, meetings and school-wide pedagogy planning sessions in order to develop a whole school approach to citizenship, values education and learning for sustainability).