What's new - July 2007
Welcome to ‘What’s new’ on the Values Education website for July 2007.
Events
17 July-29 August 2007, Dialogue Australasia: Science, Ethics & Religion Seminars
18 July-8 August 2007, Dialogue Australasia: 2007 Senior Students Ethics Seminars
9 August 2007, International Day of the World's Indigenous People: Honouring Indigenous Youth, Languages and Sacred Sites
12 August 2007, International Youth Day: Be seen, Be heard: Youth participation for development
15-21 August 2007, Celebrating Democracy Week: Being a responsible citizen
23-24 August 2007, MindMatters Conference 2007: Leading health and wellbeing, Melbourne
27 August-2 September 2007, Keep Australia Beautiful Week
See links below for workshops and seminars in your State or Territory.
National
National forum 2007
More than 350 delegates attended the 2007 National Values Education Forum : 'Values Education in Practice: Making Connections' at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre on 3 and 4 May 2007. A brief report, student reports and a PowerPoint® of the keynote address by Professor Andy Furco are available on the website.
States and Territories
In the Australian Capital Territory:
- A successful Values Education and Effective Leadership Conference was held on 9 May 2007 with 220 school leaders. Principals, deputies and executives from all sectors attended a one-day conference. Dr Neil Hawkes, Professor Judith Chapman and Ms Louise Bywaters gave workshops, keynote addresses and facilitated discussion about the interrelationship between values and effective school leadership.
- A Values Education Forums Workshop is being held on 24 August 2007 for teachers to gain a greater understanding of the Values Education school forum program. Five schools that have completed their forums will be showcasing their work.
In Queensland:
- School forums: note that in Queensland the application procedures and funding payment arrangements for holding Values Education forums have changed. Catholic and independent schools now need to contact their representatives directly to access their funding. Go to the Queensland page for more information.
- School forum snapshot: Palm Beach Currumbin State High School commenced its values education program in 2005. The Values Education forum held in March 2007 was part of this ongoing process.
- At Mackay West State School the values education program was launched with an attention-grabbing performance. The school has developed rhymes to help students remember the nine values and has set the values challenges for the students.
In South Australia:
- August is ‘Values Month’ in South Australian Schools. Values Month is an opportunity for students to celebrate and promote values education. Student leaders are invited to generate an activity, event or experience involving students and teachers that celebrate and promote values. Values Month was initiated by a group of students, Student Ambassadors for Values Education (SAFVE), from government, Catholic and independent Schools. SAFVE have compiled a simple student-friendly information kit to accompany a letter and application form that has been sent to all South Australian schools. The Department of Education, Science and Training has allocated some funding to support students' participation in Values Month.
- 'How does Values Education Underpin Middle Schooling? Educating for Values Development' is a workshop to be facilitated by Dr Julia Atkin on Monday 27 August at Regency Park.
In Victoria:
- Werribee Secondary College launched its school values program in term 3 2007. It established a Core Values Professional Learning Team, consisting of five teachers from various key learning areas, to lead a number of initiatives in preparation for the launch. These included awareness-raising throughout the learning community, development of laminated posters to be displayed in classrooms and development of the school logo to feature five core values.
Good Practice Schools
Case studies
‘Finding your imagination’ is a sample of teacher case writing from Stage 2 of the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project.
Values Education Good Practice Schools Project – Stage 2 National Briefing Sessions
The second national briefing session for the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project – Stage 2 was held on Tuesday 12 June and Wednesday 13 June 2007 at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales.
Resources
Articles
A new article has been included:
- 'How we treat one another in school', Donna M. San Antonio and Elizabeth A. Salzfass, Educational Leadership, Volume 64, Number 8, May 2007.
Links
New web links for values education resources include: The Learning Federation: ‘I Think …’ series, The Source, Australian Screen Online
School forum resources
A new school forum snapshot has been included:
- Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, Queensland
Survey and data gathering tools
Case writing
A revised version of ‘Case Writing as Evidence of Good Practice in the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project - Stage 2’ by Professor Ron Toomey is now available.
Teaching and learning
Teaching and learning activities
‘Should Australia build nuclear power stations?’ Another KLA-based lesson plan with a values focus for later adolescence students is now available from the website. Each lesson includes teaching and learning strategies with getting started activities to engage students, discovering, and bringing it together activities.