LVE Association in Poland organized many activities from January through June 2011. These included a number of trainings, presenting LVE at conferences, holding a national artistic and poetic contest and making a documentary film.

 

 

I.Trainings

1. On the 24th of January, of January, 23 teachers were trained in Ciechanów, at Mazowieckie Samorządowe Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli (Provincial Devlepment Center for Teachers). All teachers showed great interest in the program.
   
   
2. On the 16th of May, Shelagh Moore gave a lecture at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan. Seventy students and teachers of Institute of Philosophy and Ethics participated in the event.
   
   
3. Thirty-seven students participated in a workshop conducted by Shelagh Moore at the Poznan University, on the 16th of May.
   The atmosphere was very dynamic and warm.
   
   
4. On the 17th of May, in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, there was a training organized for teachers from all primary schools and kindergartens in the municipality of Grodzisku Wlkp. The training was organized by the Town Council of Grodzisk Wielkopolski and conducted by Shelagh Moore. Fifteen people participated In the event.
   
   
5. Twenty-eight people participated in training organized at
   Pedagogical University in Cracow on the 18th of May.
   
   
6. On the 19th of May, about 20 students and teachers of the Humanistic and Natural Science University in Kielce participated in a training conducted by Shelagh Moore.
   
   
7. On the 20th of May, at the Busko Zdroj district development
   center for teachers (PODiDN ) 36 teachers who already
   implement the LVE program took part
   in a workshop conducted by Shelagh Moore.
   
   
8. On the 24th of June, in Płońsk, a training for 24 kindergarten teachers was organized by Mazowieckie Samorządowe Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli (Provincial Devlepment Center for Teachers).

II. National Artistic & Poetic Contest

In May 2011, the 2nd National Artistic & Poetic Contest was concluded. It began in 2010 and was announced on the internet website www.wartosci-zycia.org. A number of educational institutions took part. All rewarded works are published on the website. A few examples of rewarded artwork are below.

III. Conference Presentations

Within the first half of 2011, the LVE Association of Poland participated in three conferences:

1. International Scientific Conference on Early Education in the Context of Changes, Cracow, 28 March 2011
   Topic: The role of school in axiological as part of children’s education – The realization of the Living Value Education Program.

2. The lecture included considerations about the essence and conditions of axiological training in integrated education. Assumptions of the LVE Program and reflections on the realization of the program in various institutions in Poland were presented.

3. The 6th National Educational Forum, Cracow 6 -- 8 April, 2011
   Topic: “Children’s joy of discovering and realizing values – The implementation of the LVE Program”.

4. Provincial Conference organized by District Center of Consultations and Training for Teachers in Busko Zdroj (Powiatowy Ośrodek Doradztwa i Doskonalenia Nauczycieli w Busku-Zdroju), Humanistic and Natural Science University in Kielce, Institute of School Education and LVE Association, Poland. Topic: “The Role of Values in School Education”.

IV. Documentary Film

At the end of April 2011, a documentary film was made in Primary School No 5 in Malbork. In the first part of the film, the School director and LVE trainers talk about values and LVE program. The second part includes children participating in values activities on responsibility. This film will be used during training sessions.

Activities Planned for the Latter Half of 2011

In the second half of 2011, the LVE Association of Poland will continue its cooperation with Universities and Mazowieckie Samorządowe Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli (Provincial Devlepment Center for Teachers) in Ciechanów.

We have also started to work with the national magazine “Bliżej Przedszkola” (“Closer Kindergarten”), Beginning in September 2011, they will publish a series of articles about LVEP and related activities.

There is a plan for further trainings in Szczecin, Bialystok, Ciechanow and Cracow.

Another plan is related to expanding the scope of LVEP with additional values, creating a booklet about those values and the methodology of its realization in kindergartens and schools.

The Living Values Education Program began to be used in Poland in 2002 by Jola Cyraniak, a secondary school teacher, who later became the Focal Point for LVE in Poland in 2007. LVE was presented in training centers for teachers, in schools, kindergartens, and teachers’ conferences; about 400 people connected with education took part in these meetings.

In 2005, four of the Living Values Education books were translated into Polish and published by the Polish Governmental Publishinhe g House, Wydawnictwa Szkolne I Pedagogiczne.g House, Wydawnictwa Szkolne I Pedagogiczne.

In May 2008, a Polish Living Values Association was established and in 2009 the Association obtained a status of Public Profit Organization and is entitled to obtain the donation of the 1 % of the money that people would otherwise pay in taxes.

From 2006 through 2009, the LVE team organized LVE courses and workshops for teachers and trainers conducted by LVE and ALIVE trainers: Ed Wondolowski, Helen Sayers, Ann Stirzaker and Peter Williams. Shelagh Moore came in November 2010 to facilitate workshops and courses for teachers and trainers in Gdańsk, Malbork and Ciechanów.

At this time, 650 teachers, educators, psychologists have been trained in Warsaw, Katowice, Gdańsk, Łódź, Kielce, Malbork, and in the smaller towns of Lębork, Grąblewo, Busko-Zdrój, Ciechanów and Gołotczyzna.

Living Values Education is implemented in three entire Primary Schools: Nr 5 in Malbork and Nr 5 in Ciechanów and also in Municipal Kindergarten Nr 89 in Łódź. In some schools the LVE Program is partially implemented, by teachers in their classes.

In 2010, the Association organized a drawing and painting contest for children from 5 to 12 years of age and many children from kindergartens and primary schools took part in it. Their paintings can be found on our website www.wartosci-zycia.org.

Now we have announced a literary contest.

We are making preparations to apply to become an ALIVE Associate Member, and will hopefully become that in 2011.

Shelagh Moore will be visiting again in May 2010 to give presentations at Posnan and Kielce Universities, and workshops to students and teachers.

For further information about LVE in Poland, please contact poland@livingvalues.net, or the following individuals:

Jolanta Cyraniak, President, e-mail: jolantacyraniak@wp.pl

Małgorzata Obrębska, e-mail: mobrebska@gmail.com

Barbara Woytowicz, e-mail: barbara.woytowicz@gazeta.pl

Living Values Education has been growing quietly in Poland for several years, and is now beginning to bloom. This process is happening through the new availability of the Living Values: An Educational Program books in Polish. One of the major educational publishers in Poland, Wydawnictwa Szkilne i Pedagogiczne (WSiP), will be publishing the three Living Values Activities books as well as the LVEP Educator Training Guide. The songs in the Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7 book were created with a special Polish flavor. 

WSiP is the biggest national Publishing House for school and pedagogical books. All textbooks printed by them have the approval of the Ministry of Education. The first two books are printed already; and next two are going to be published later on this year. 

Recently, an LVEP Educator Training at a secondary school, Gimnazjum Nr 3, was held in Katowice. The information about LVEP was presented and the workshop on the theme honesty was conducted. The training lasted two afternoons with 40 teachers. Participants enjoyed it very much and the Director expressed his gratitude with a huge bouquet of roses and written letter of thanks.

On the 13th of March in Warsaw, there was a program conducted for children ages 10 to 12 on the theme Respect. This was part of a happening organized by the children's magazine, Witch, by Egmond Publishing House, for its readers. A photograph from the program is below.

We are currently planning to register Living Values Education in Poland.