Implement: School life
- A school's ethos and culture is most clearly seen and felt in the experiences of the school community. It is made up of the innumerable day-to-day, term-to-term, year-to-year experiences of people within the school. Amid the constantly shifting flow of this daily activity, a quality of school life can be discerned and described. It is seen, heard and felt in the 'socio-facts' of the school, such as:
- The rituals, symbols, celebrations and stories
- The nature and patterns of relationships and interactions
- The language of the school
- Partnerships and collaborations
- The teaching and learning practices
- The curriculum and co-curriculum
- The health and wellbeing of students and staff
- The communications within and beyond the school community
- The common shared values of the school community will be expressed explicitly and implicitly in these facets of school life. The values are therefore not only taught about in classrooms but are lived in all these myriad forms. They are seen publicly and experienced personally in school assemblies, dress codes, forms of greeting, formal and informal ways of resolving disputes, the order and repair of things, the level of activity and energy, the sounds and noise, the quiet and peace, levels of participation, notices and signage, the sense of comfort, safety and security. The list is long. It makes up what is called the 'ambience' of the school and determines whether people are happy to be, belong, learn and work in this place.
- The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools advocates that 'schools provide a positive climate within and beyond the classroom to help develop students' social and civic skills and build student resilience and responsibility and to ensure a safe and supportive environment for values education'.
- A key finding from the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project – Stage 2 was:
The principle of explicitness applies more broadly and pervasively than has been previously recognised. It means that values-based schools live and breathe a values consciousness. They become schools where values are thought about, talked about, taught about, reflected upon and enacted across the whole school in all school activities. Values are explicitly taught across all key learning areas and articulated in all co-curricular activities. They are also explicitly present in the physical school environment, its signage, ceremonies and rituals as well as policies, administration and key documents. The explicit values become ubiquitous, and values 'teaching' and values 'learning' become part of the embedded consciousness within every school activity.
Principle 4, VEGPSP Report– Stage 2