Research Project - Values Education for Children and Young Adults

Please find below an outline of a research study that will begin from Term 1, 2002. The research team from the University of Newcastle are attempting to see if there is any interest from schools in participating in a research study that will seek to evaluate the implementation and effects of Living Values Education (LVE) in primary schools.

If you are working at a school that is considering implementation of LVE during 2002, you may be interested in participating in this study. We are seeking two different groups of Year 5 and Year 6 students to study. We need a control group for the study - that is a group of students who will not be participating in a LVE module and an intervention group, which will be a group of students studying the LVE.

Please read the details below and if you are interested in additional information, please contact before the end of the 2001 school year:

Project Aims
The broad objective of the study is to assess the impact of the LVE on student attitudes, values and behaviour. The two specific goals are:

To implement and evaluate a program of curriculum intervention in Values Education on a large sample of primary-aged students (via a student survey and interviews with student groups)
To determine, by a process of parent and teacher reporting, the impact of the curriculum intervention on specific student behaviours.

Project Description
Teachers in general will have already participated in the Professional Development to facilitate the implementation of Living Values Education (LVE) and thus will be familiar with the curriculum material and will have already made the commitment to implement these lessons into their Year 5 and 6 classrooms. A team from the University of Newcastle will be visiting each school to conduct a study that seeks to assess the effects of this educational program. This assessment is quite separate from the teaching of the program. The study will involve a pre-test and post-test of the students (i.e., a survey) and other forms of data, such as teacher interviews or focus-group student interviews. At all times, the university team will seek to attend the school at times convenient to the school staff. At the end of the study, schools will receive a report of the findings of the study.

DET Approval
The study has received ethics clearance from both the Research Directorate of the Department of Education and Training and the Ethics Committee of the University of Newcastle to conduct the study in two Newcastle schools.

However, all additional schools also require ethic clearance. The university research team will seek this approval for each new school that wishes to participate in the study and the process involves the principal of each school writing a letter of support for the project. A copy of a template letter can be emailed to each school to facilitate this process.

Voluntary Participation
As will be outlined on the all consent forms, participation in the study is entirely voluntary. You (and individual students) may withdraw from the study at any time and do not need to give reasons for your decision.

Data Collection Details
In this study we will be collecting data both from the students and from teachers. Two groups of students will be involved: those who study the LVE module and those that do not. The student intervention group will receive a program of direct curriculum intervention provided by classroom teachers (i.e., the LVE program), while a control group will receive no direct intervention. The intervention will span two school terms (Terms one and two, 2002). The quantitative measures will be complemented by ethnographic research (structured interviews with students, parents and teachers, student focus groups, informal dialogue with teachers and students, collection of anecdotal evidence and participant observation).