We send a newsletter every four months, to inform you about our worldwide training activities and success stories.
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Veena Davidson Secretary Living Values Association (British Isles) ALIVE Associate Tel: 0845-8337046 |
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The following link will give you access to15 minutes of the LVE International film. It features educators and students engaged in LVE in five countries: Brazil, India, Kenya, Mauritius and the United Kingdom.
Shelagh Moore, the Vice-president of ALIVE and a resident of England, sent in this TESMAGAZINE article. She noted, “I met Gill at an LVE Train-the-Trainer seminar at Oxford. She got into LVE from Neil's old school at West Kidlington Primary School, Oxfordshire, and is a great example of how values can be taken forward. Let's hope they win the TES award.”
What we do
We have working groups, hold weekend seminars and residential training. We train teachers, and those involved with young people, in the use of values in their work.
We go into schools and work with them to develop a values-based school. Values-based schools tend to thrive pastorally; teaching, learning and behaviour improves, where previously there have been difficulties.
Living Values activity books are being used in homes, foster homes, parenting groups, childcare centres, nurseries, primary and secondary schools, colleges, training colleges, universities, education departments, outdoor education centres, young offenders institutions, prisons and by management, health and social workers. There has also been interest from parenting groups and
those working with the early years or with young adults – leading to one-day events where parents practise values with their children.
Our training
Weekend residential seminars are held each November, to support parents, teachers, social workers, psychologists and other professionals working with young people. They provide an opportunity to further personal growth and professional development. The topics are of current interest in the field of education.
Our newsletters help to remind people about the training they have received.
The November 2009 seminar was Leading the self and inspiring others - a values-based approach. Tim Small introduced us to circles of trust and the work of Parker Palmer, Neil Hawkes gave us various values ideas for the classroom and Bridget Knight described how it feels to be a values-based leader, drawing on her experiences in the classroom as a primary school headteacher.
Results of under 7s values activity
Other topics investigated over the years have been:-
2008 Learning and leadership
2007 Emotional well-being
2006 Understanding behaviour
2005 Parenting matters
2004 Values 4 all
2003 Citizenship through values
2002 Building positive behaviour
2001 Reflections
2000 Making a difference (Music, Art and Drama)
1999 Raising self-esteem
1998 SMSC made easy! (spiritual, moral, social and cultural education)
Learning and leadership - tolerance
Our next residential seminar is from the evening of 15 October to after lunch on 17 October 2010 near Oxford. The title is Exploring the inner curriculum – ways of living our values and it will include aspects such as:
- What is going on in my inner curriculum?
- What values and skills do I need for a simple, creative, happy life?
- What values and skills do I need to deal with loss, rejection and failure?
- How can I help young people to develop these values and skills?
International activities
Values Education is a world-wide story. Educators and providers of education have decided to use a values-based approach as it fits in with their ethical, cultural, religious beliefs and has a universal appeal. The training is culturally unbiased and has been developed to allow communities to move forward positively with their lives. From street children to those in private schools, values education allows all to develop living values that become part of their lives and their outlook. The world is a better place where values are developed, respected and upheld.
International Train-the-Trainer workshops for educators from over 50 countries, together with members of LVEP's sponsoring/supporting organisations (UNESCO, UNICEF and the Brahma Kumaris) have been held near Oxford.
Train-the-Trainers (Europe) in July 2008 trained educators from 10 countries (Ghana, Kuwait, Macedonia, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Oman, Senegal, Switzerland, Thailand and the UK) at the Global Retreat Centre. They were from a variety of backgrounds, including arts, children and family support, government, hospital, school, social services and university. Each day included sessions on parenting skills, creative visualisation and values activities, where peer practice gave every participant the opportunity to conduct an activity.
Train-the-Trainers 2008
There are now over 500 locations in the British Isles, where Living Values books are available as a resource. More than 300 educators have attended a Train-the-Trainers course.
Number of Sites using Living Values: an Education Programme
Total number of sites
As many educators are now getting the books from the publisher and from bookstores, all we can say is that there are over 500 sites that have the Living Values activity books.
“We train teachers to identify the values they hold dear and help them to work out ways of introducing them to their children. Our sessions are very interactive and participation leaves the delegates, relaxed and smiling!”
Clehonger Primary School
a. In schools.
A special educational needs teacher in a secondary school, who has just started to use Living Values, says, “I have started to use LVEP in my projects and individual work with the students I teach. I am noticing a more loving, supportive, calmer climate amongst the students. They appreciate discussions about love, honesty, respect etc. and it helps them to focus on their core beings rather than the false selves they get caught up in whilst being dragged along by the tides of negativity in a school environment e.g. fighting, arguing, shouting, swearing etc. These values are imperative to the holistic growth of a child and I hope to co-ordinate them throughout the school once I have had experience of using them first hand with the students. Thank you.”
A teacher at a primary school noted that there had been no miscreants standing outside the head teacher's office when a Living Values team spent 4 days demonstrating values activities in the school!
A head teacher states, "Ofsted noted that because we work on values education, our academic standards were obviously higher."
b. In prisons.
Living Values activities and creative visualisation are also being used in prisons to benefit drug rehabilitation groups and young offenders, men and women. It is helping them to deal with oppressive aspects of prison life, such as bullying, to regain their self-respect and to strengthen their values in preparation for their release.
c. In the community.
“I worked with 18 ladies in a predominantly Islamic community, age range 18 to 50, using LVEP values and art based activities. The content was Confidence building & Understanding your communitywith Day 1 - Peace, Day 2 - Respect. Participants were so empowered that they have gone on to apply for further courses. For some, the 'Confirmation of Attendance' certificate was the first educational recognition they had ever received.”
“Although I haven't been using LVEP overtly this year, one thing I have noticed is that, since I've been using LVEP principles in my own life, students' response is warmer and their achievement is good - they are able to find inspiration in class. Students who came to my Interior Design class considered themselves to be inartistic, but they’re all going on to take creative subjects like watercolour painting next year. So.........”