News - May 2004
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News and Success Stories from Around the World
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Welcome to the twenty-third issue of Living Values e-News, the electronic newsletter of Living Values Education. This issue marks the introduction of a fresh format. In response to reader comments and suggestions, summary information on trainings is available at a glance while full details of the trainings will be provided on request; country reports are more focused on news, while lengthier stories from around the world will continue to appear on the Living Values website. The overall effect, following the completion of our focus on each of LVEP?s twelve values, is a shorter newsletter which will continue to appear quarterly; the website however will be updated with new trainings, events and news on a more regular basis as information comes in so do please check the site from time to time for the latest situation.
One of the defining, and more admirable, qualities of humanity appears to be our enduring quest for a better future. Insofar as a better future represents a change from the present, education and learning are fundamental paths to pursue in such quest, as education almost inevitably involves new knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities. The challenge that faces educationists more acutely than ever before is to define, in the context of shifting contemporary realities, what sort of education is most conducive to a better future.
Much can of course be said about what such better future might look like but suffice it to say that it must take account of the totality of the human experience and address the material, mental, emotional and spiritual fulfilment or well-being of the individual and society. If education is to lead humanity away from the countless wrongs, abuses and perils that blight the lives of so many people, and towards the broad goals, but elusive achievements, of personal, economic and social development, it must therefore help every human being make the most of all his or her talents and potential. There is a clear need for taking an integrated or holistic approach to education: a perspective that recognises and addresses the totality of the human being and the need for a clear focus on the underlying values that are the very fabric of the individual and the better future we aspire to.
With the rapid changes in the world bringing both tremendous potential for good and grave cause for concern, one undeniable need is for us to see more clearly the link between quality of education and quality of life, both for the individual and society. While education must prepare learners for the world of work, it also has a broader and higher purpose: to cater to the full development of the student as an individual, a member of society and a citizen of the world community. If this purpose is to be fulfilled, there is every reason to work for a renaissance of values and qualities that define us as human beings ? values of the human spirit such as honesty, peace, cooperation, love and tolerance; values that are part of our common heritage worldwide.
Aware of the need to strengthen the two pillars of learning to be and learning to live together, Living Values Education seeks to support educationists in mainstreaming a values-based approach to education. It does not see values education as an add-on to the curriculum so much as an integral part of every aspect of the overall learning experience and environment and is delighted to see the positive impact that this approach is having in schools around the world.
The LVEP Web site - at http://www.livingvalues.net - warmly welcomes hearing from educators with one or two success stories (or even not-so-successful stories!) of values activitivities that they've tried in their classroom. So read on ... and, as ever, we hope that you'll do more than just read: please also send us your news - and go out and make some news!
With warmest wishes,
The Editor
| News
and Success Stories From Around the World |
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ARGENTINA
Puppets
Bring Values to Life |
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Gladys Gloria D?z de L?ez Arias, a LVEP teacher at Escuela Normal Superior N? 4, ?Estanislao S. Zeballos?, in Buenos Aires, sent us a report on the successful use of puppets in Language and Literature classes with her secondary school students, aged 13 to 16, to show how relationships can improve through applying values
?While dealing with literary works the students focus on different patterns of behaviour so as to show how relationships improve when values are expressed and how they deteriorate when this is not the case. Groups of students are formed with names such as 'the loving ones' or 'the responsible ones' and the appropriate group is then asked to comment when there is an incident in the classroom in relation to a particular specific value. This type of group reflection is illuminating. With a half-joking and half-serious manner, the students help each other remember harmonious attitudes. While working on the book Lazarillo de Tormes (an early picaresque novel), we looked at the effect of a lack of values and compared that with real situations and their probable consequences. This context brings to light the impact of a courageous attitude when dealing with daily situations so that one can look back and say: 'I would have done such-and-such but I remembered the values and so?..'. In conclusion, puppets are a very good and life-like tool to work with and express things in action."
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CHINA 100
Schools Use LVE in Beijing |
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china@livingvalues.net
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Living Values Education has been going from strength to strength in China and is now in use at about 100 schools in Beijing, from where Ms Zhao Yu-ru of the Beijing Institute of Education (BIE) reported with a recent update: ?In January 2004, Professor Yuan Chang-huan and Wang Yuan-mei of the BIE went to the nearby city of Tianjin and conducted a LVE workshop for over 100 English teachers from both elementary and secondary schools. Wang Yuan-mei and I also went to Ping-gu county in February and presented LVE to 150 teachers and their leaders from four elementary schools attended.
Meanwhile, Ding-xiang primary school, in Beijing, is making great progress; the Principal attaches much importance to values education. They make use of their website and also have their values classes broadcast on TV; their teachers wrote two articles on values which were published in the magazine ?Head teachers?. BIE lecturers paid a follow-up visit in January, watched and videotaped the lessons and then discussed them with the teachers there. They also visited Long Zhua-shu Primary school which has completed a school-based curriculum textbook on values that makes extensive use of LVEP
In Mentougou district, many teachers are getting involved in values education thanks to the inspiration of and training given by Chen Ju-xin, an active LVEP supporter and the leader of the District Moral Education Committee. On 18th March she organized a teachers? training day for about seventy teachers and some deans of moral education. She wants to build up a network and offer to teachers supporting tools, materials and a platform for exchanging ideas.?
The China National Children?s Centre hosted a training in 2002 and one of the teachers who attended from the Yon-ding-men Railway Kindergarten, Li Shu-fang, reported that she has been making good use of what she learned: ?We have combined Values Education and practical life skills with our regular teaching and games.
As soon as children enter the Kindergarten they are shown not to throw rubbish away carelessly and we explain to them about respecting other people?s work and keeping their surroundings clean and beautiful. Our teachers lead all 5-6 year-old children to observe how the school chef washes vegetables, carefully cuts them, cooks everything and then puts the food on children?s table. After observing everything, teachers ask the children about how they should appreciate and respect others? work. Guidance is also given on learning to say thanks to others, not wasting food and learning to respect others. We have also developed games ? including one on laying a railway track and making the train run properly ? during which we teach children how to cooperate with others and let them experience how happy they are while doing so; older children let the younger ones wash hands first and show initiative in talking to new children. Once, when a child was ill, nearly all the other children in the class brought their favourite food from home for this child, which touched many parents and teachers. After implementing Living Values Education, our children have many changes in their life and games. They start to know how to respect, consider, collaborate with others and treat people honestly.?
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FRANCE
Reflection Time
Helps Improve Student Behaviour |
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france@livingvalues.net
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A successful Living Values seminar was held on the French island of la Reunion in the Indian Ocean on 27th 28th September 2003. Attracting over 30 teachers and head-teachers the training was conducted by Monique Liger from Paris with C?ile Leconte and Monique Raudrant co-facilitating.
Participants? comments included the following:
With regard to the activity on Respect: ?At the beginning, we think we will not succeed in miming our values. Then one person starts suggesting a gesture, then, still shy, we make some vague movements? As they take a more definite form, we can hear ourselves saying: ?Yes, that?s it! And why not that too? and that, and that??. It seems that the feeling of respect comes to be expressed naturally that each one of us finds his/her own place and gesture ? the right gesture that comes from deep within. It is becoming a dance, reflecting our experience of that value that we can demonstrate this before all the participants. This dance was made possible by the spirit of togetherness in our group, in which everyone was observed, appreciated and listened to; a group that has taken something from everyone in order to create something global, different and yet the same. At that moment, we feel that, yes, this is it, living the values.?
?The session on Conflict Resolution awakened in me the desire for peace and respect.?
Most participants attended two follow-up sessions that took place in November and showed great interest in pilot programmes run by C?ile at two different colleges on the Island and that continue to prove a great success. For example, one of the colleges initiated a ?Silent Space?, or Time Out area, which, located in a library with an adult permanently present nearby, sees children queuing to sit there during their free time or on being sent there by their teachers. More than 400 students have benefited from it in the six months since it was inaugurated. A survey involving 111 of these students showed encouraging results: Children say they come out of this space being more attentive and more focused on their study; it helps them reflect (about what they will do next) and improves their listening ability; they feel valued because they look at themselves and their sense of responsibility instead of only following a school system that they hardly understand. Teachers also report improvements in the behaviour of the students ? that they are more motivated, attentive and calm, and get better school results ? and in the classroom atmosphere. There are plans for more training for educators and parents.
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HUNGARY Teachers
Are inspired by LVEP Training |
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hungary@livingvalues.net
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A four-day training was held in January for teachers from several schools and their comments on the training included:
?For me, the pedagogy is complete only with LVEP.?
?I started to think about my values and how important values are in our life. The trainers gave me a confirmation that every person is important and everyone is needed.?
?I will be much more determined to stand up for values-based education.?
?The training was like a warning for me. It drew our attention very much to our inner values, which are forgotten in this fast-moving world, empower us to esteem ourselves and pay attention to others.?
?I?ve got many practical ideas which I can use and improve.?
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INDONESIA
LVEP Books
Launched in Seminar at British Council |
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indonesia@livingvalues.net
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Several trainings have been held over the past few months, including at the Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Psychology, Highscope Indonesia, Madania School and at Gunung Putri for teachers and youth leaders from Vincentio Putri?s Orphanage in Jakarta Timur. Teachers have been applying the skills and approaches learned in their classes and this will now be much easier for them following the successful launch of the Bahasa Indonesia edition of the Living Values books on 21st February. Published by Grasindo, Gramedia, Indonesia?s largest publisher, the launch was held at the British Council in Jakarta. Taking the form of a seminar, the event attracted around 150 educators who heard an inspiring address by Komarudin Hidayat and also had the chance to experience a few activities conducted by trainers from the local LVEP team!
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MEXICO Educators
Report Enhanced Creativity and Self-respect in Youth |
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mexico@livingvalues.net
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Working with state governments and national organizations for values education, Living Values (or Valores para Vivir) has taken a very promising reach into the educational community in Mexico. With support and encouragement from the Secretaries of Education in the state of Morelos and Guerrero, and the municipal government in the northern city of Tijuana, the Programme has a broad reach. For instance, nearly 1,000 Morelos high school teachers received LVEP training in November 2003 while more than 1,500 LVEP guides and manuals were distributed to Guerrero educators; they commented not only on the positive change evident in the students, and the happy and enthusiastic classroom atmosphere, but also on the improvement in their own attitudes toward pupils and themselves. Overall, results are revealing enhanced creativity and strengthened self-respect in youth exposed to LVEP.
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PAKISTAN
AND UNITED KINGDOM Living
Values Links Two Primary Schools |
| britishisles@livingvalues.net
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In the first-ever link between Pakistani and English Primary Schools, the young students from the Shaheen Modern Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan have teamed up with the young pupils at the 45-first-language Lea Junior School in Slough, England, to write a values-based book for the children of the world.
The first practical step was for Lea Junior School?s Uzma Zaffar to visit Peshawar during October 2003 and conduct some of LVEP?s Peace activities at Shaheen School. As was the case at Lea School, the Peace visualisations created a shared atmosphere of friendship, understanding, calmness, quiet and co-operation and both sets of children talked of similar values.
Live webcam and team teaching between the two schools is being established to help develop a values-based approach to learning, character development and international understanding. A strength of the exchange is that it is based on familiar ground while also reawakening participants to the fact that it is our character that helps to create the world around us.
The Shaheen Modern Public School was established in 1966 by Dr Sajid Aslam and a visit to Slough by Dr Aslam and a return visit to Peshawar by Peter Williams from Lea Junior School, representing Living Values Education, has helped to create additional opportunities for interested partners to join the Programme. They include Mr Amjad Shahid Afrida, the Secretary of Education in Peshawar, and the Directors of Education and Health. Both schools are very grateful to the British Council in Edinburgh and Islamabad, the Slough Education Action Zone and the Slough Local Education Authority for actively supporting this unique venture, a report on which is being prepared by the BBC along with a film by Piero Musini.
Following his visit to Peshawar in February 2004, Peter Williams stated: ?The children, staff and people of Peshawar have so much to contribute to a greater understanding of how we can live our lives in friendship, dignity and respect. To western eyes it was humbling to witness the lives of these extraordinary children who placed love and friendship at the forefront of their thinking and living."
This ground-breaking work is a delightful complement to the launch of Living Values activities last year in 8 districts of Punjab under the ?Education for All? project of the Literacy department of the government of Punjab under which Living Values materials were introduced for the first time in Urdu by the College of Home Economics in Lahore.
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USA
LVE Cooperates
with TEN to Help Youth Communicate About Values |
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usa@livingvalues.net
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LVE is cooperating with ?TEN?, an organization working to open up a global dialogue about values. The cooperation aims to help students in different countries communicate about values though videoconferencing and art. TEN?s new Living Values Education Curriculum is based on activities from the Living Values Activities for Young Adults book along with special activities to help students develop paintings in relation to their view of the world, in its current state, and what they would like it to be. The project is centred around youth in ten countries creating two sets of ten paintings that reflect their collaborative exploration of values and fit together to form one, hence the name TEN. In addition to videoconferencing, the work of students will be displayed on the TEN website and, in the future, digitally displayed in museums. LVEP educators are currently piloting the curriculum. Secondary students from Brazil and South Africa will partner to videoconference, as will students from Israel and Mexico, and Egypt and Russia.
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