The Brighton cluster (Victoria) – Integrating values education into the middle years
This story is from the Brighton cluster report in VEGPSP Report – Stage 1. The full VEGPSP report is available as a PDF on the Resources page.
Cluster coordinator: Carmel Burgess, Brighton Primary School
Participating schools:
- Bentleigh West Primary School
- Berendale School
- Brighton Beach Primary School
- Brighton Primary School
- Elsternwick Primary School
- Gardenvale Primary School
- Brighton Secondary College
UAN critical friend: Professor Lorraine Ling, Latrobe University, Victoria
The Brighton cluster comprised seven primary and secondary schools in Melbourne. The project focused on integrating values education into the middle years curriculum through an environmental care project.
The starting point was the development of an understanding of the values in the National Framework and a consideration of their implications for the school community. Students and teachers developed their understanding using such effective techniques as specifying how each of the values can be described, and the sort of behaviour that would demonstrate this value in practice in the school.
Middle years (Years 5–9) teachers in the Brighton cluster of five primary, one secondary and a special school had long been working together to build an effective learning community and safe school environment ‘to strengthen students’ self-esteem, optimism and commitment to personal fulfilment’.
The Brighton cluster had a very strong student focus and developed a Young Leaders’ Group comprising school captains and vice-captains from each of the primary schools meeting with the Student Representative Council (SRC) from the secondary college once a month to develop ideas, activities and programs across the schools and support activities already in place in each school.
In addition, environmental captains and monitors from each school formed another focus group in the cluster to share ideas and develop programs to encourage other students to value the environment. These students, who also meet regularly, have worked with local community representatives from Bayside City Council, City Parks and Gardens, Marine Care and South East Water to support such community activities as planting on the foreshore, planting trees in local parks, cleaning rubbish from local streets and painting stencils on drains to remind people to dispose of rubbish in bins. They helped to develop posters and brochures highlighting water conservation, graffiti, energy usage reduction and waste minimisation. Students wrote stories about their projects.
At the end of the project, the cluster coordinator said:
The most significant outcome (was) … the development of the inquiry learning strategies and the involvement of the students in working towards their completed product. At each school, teachers have reported a ‘real buzz’ from the students as they have worked in groups, researched, organised, created and designed their stories. Students can readily identify the value, discuss the issues, explain the impact and demonstrate the behaviours in their environment.
Key messages from the Brighton cluster to others considering implementing values education
1 The nine Values for Australian Schooling need to be contextualised to your own school environment and explained in language that has meaning to all in your school. This may also mean, as happened with this cluster, that the nine values are boiled down to a much shorter list, eg understanding, acceptance and diversity.
2 Students’ efforts and accomplishments should be recognised and celebrated as part of the process of reinforcing positive student behaviours and generating increased momentum for values education in the school.
3 Schools should not be afraid to build on what exists, such as the middle years Brighton Environmental Action Community Helpers (BEACH) project in this cluster.
4 Teachers need to be invited to join the values education journey rather than forced to engage. Early adopters should be encouraged to share their successes, failures and work to encourage the participation of others in the school.