Victoria
Mr Gary Shaw
Mr Gary Shaw
Senior Project Officer
Targeted Programs Branch
Department of Education
GPO Box 4367
MELBOURNE VIC 3001
Tel: (03) 9637 2031
Fax: (03) 9637 2170
Email: shaw.gary.r@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/program/valuesed/index.htm
Victoria – news – 24/07/09
Victoria – news – archive
Values education in Victorian schools
In the last few years the national values education activity has been driven by the National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools. Commissioned by the Australian Government , this framework contains nine core values for Australian schools. It was unanimously supported by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs and based on a study conducted in sixty-nine schools in 2003.
National values and associated principles are not mandated but framed as a way of more effectively engaging school communities in a values dialogue.
In Victoria values education is not new. The Victorian Essential Learning Standards are underpinned by a set of educational purposes and principles which relate to broader community understanding of shared personal values (VCCA P-10 Bulletin, April 2007). The importance of providing students with opportunities to develop their understanding of values within the context of everyday learning is imbedded in the Principles of Learning and Teaching.
It is therefore acknowledged that values, their meanings and their application, should be discussed and reviewed as part of a robust learning community.
School forum snapshots
Point Lonsdale Primary School (PDF), Victoria
Values education forums allow school communities to consider what place values education plays in schools policies and practices. Point Lonsdale Primary School has a long and established history of explicitly placing values at the forefront of school practice. They are a long way down the track of values education. In fact, they are so confident in their whole school approach and practice that the students at this primary school organised the whole values education school forum themselves.
The values education school forum at Undera Primary School complemented the school’s Garden Science Project and helped forge stronger bonds between the school and the community at a time of need.