The Don College (Tasmania) – Enacting our values
This story is from one of the project schools of the Values Education Study (2002–03). It first appeared in Values Education in Action: Case Studies from 12 Values Education Schools (2004). The full report is available as a PDF on the Resources page.
Context
The Don College is a coeducational secondary college for students in Years 11, 12 and 13. The school has always had a strong values base, both in the curricular and extracurricular areas. However, it was considered timely to make sure that the values of the school were both explicit and agreed across the school community. This was especially important in an environment where many parents were finding it difficult to teach values to their teenagers. Teenagers told to think for themselves found that when they did, they clashed with parents who wanted them to comply with family beliefs. As a result, some teachers felt caught in the middle and were therefore often hesitant about dealing with values issues.
Strategy
The first task was to map the values that are implicitly practised through curricular and extracurricular programmes and develop an agreed Beliefs and Values Statement. The findings would enable the school to formulate and implement a values education framework to ensure enacted values were congruent with espoused values.
Outcomes and advice
On the basis of the mapping exercise, the school developed its Beliefs and Values Statement:
Life at college is different from high school. One of the main reasons is that we deal with an older age group. There are few rules and students are guided towards self-discipline. An attendance check is taken every lesson, although students are free to organise their own programme when not in class. The college community enjoys many rights, including the right to learn, be respected, be heard, be safe, have personal freedom and responsibility and to have personal property be respected. No-one, however, can enjoy rights without due responsibility and at college we mutually encourage and support responsible behaviour as a means of enjoying our rights.
Our Code of Behaviour emphasises respect for ourselves and others and focuses on:
- expectations – class attendance, explanation of absence, completion of assignments;
- communication – which shows respectful behaviour for each other;
- learning – ways of showing respect for the right to learn;
- movement – the right to move around the college comfortably and safely;
- safety – showing we are responsible for our own safety and the safety of others;
- settling disputes – in a manner which makes the college a peaceful place; and
- care of the environment – respect for the college environment and others’ property.
The following are a few of the many valuable lessons learned:
- teaching and learning is primarily a matter of values;
- curriculum content decisions are values laden;
- values education is society’s means of achieving cultural preservation;
- values education needs to be developed through all aspects of the formal and informal curriculum; and
- students need values to enable them to interact, to set goals and to self-assess.