ASIA PACIFIC NETWORK FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND VALUES EDUCATION
#3/07 Quarterly Newsletter: Winter 2007
www.unesco-apnieve.edu.au
UNESCO APNIEVE promotes values education for peace, human rights, democracy and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region, through professional development for educators, consulting services and production of education resources
To create a peaceful, just and sustainable world, by values-based whole person development, for personal, community and global transformation.
Joy deLeo OAM, was one of four graduates of Adelaide University who received a United Nations award from Lord Mayor Michael Harbison for her work with UNESCO at the UNESCO Club launch at the Adelaide Town Hall on July 10th.
The event also marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of UNESCO in Australia.
Joy de Leo has been a member of nine Australian delegations to international UNESCO events since 1999 and a delegate and speaker on a range of topics including human rights education at 20 UNESCO conferences. Her award is in recognition of her services to UNESCO, in particular as Regional Vice President and as Australian Founding President of UNESCO-APNIEVE.
Helen Rice, who is an APNIEVE member, is the inaugural coordinator of the Adelaide chapter of UNESCO CLUBS. With the support of a dedicated team of helpers she organised the launch and will lead the extension of UNESCO work in South Australia through the Adelaide Club.
APNIEVE celebrates 7th anniversary
APNIEVE recently celebrated its 7th birthday and also welcomed new members at the Annual General Meeting.
An amended constitution that reflected the changing nature of APNIEVE’s mission towards a sustainable world through values education was accepted.
APNIEVE is pleased to announce the following positions for the next 12 months.
President Joy de Leo
Vice President Lina Scalfino
Meetings Secretary Alla Marchuk
General Secretary Susan O'Reilly
Treasurer Olga Tikhomirova /
Membership
Volunteer Coordinator Maria Savant and Dave Huppatz
Marketing Samantha Paterson (with Lisa Thomas, Jodie Bambridge)
Sponsorship Lisa Thomas (with Samantha, Jodie and others)
Programs Suzanne Lyons (Research), Annabel
Price (T&D program) with others
General committee
members - Wendy Jeffery, Lorna Kennedy- Andrews
Co-opted committee members
Sue Coad and
Owen Secombe - Education for Sustainability programs
Owen Secombe Newsletter Editor
Jodie Bambridge Media, Sponsorships, Sustainability Education programs
Michele Grace Friend and supporter for APNIEVE events, programs, media etc
Erica Womersley APNIEVE northern regional areas representative
Helen Rice UNESCO Club representative
Kate Linton Web site support
Lidia Moretti UNAA representative
Jo Bishop DEH Representative - Sustainability education
Inside this issue:
v UNESCO award for Joy deLeo
v 7TH birthday celebration
v APNIEVE officers for 2007-8
v Restorative justice
v Choose Respect
v Building Classrooms from Cupcakes-UNESCO style
v RAINBOW-Michelle Grace
v Education for Sustainability Workshops
v Workshop series Semester 2 - 2007
v Valuing our Students-Michele Grace
v Do schools kill creativity?-Sir Ken Robinson
v UNESCO-APNIEVE Consulting
v Learning styles-
v Do I make a difference?
v Contributions to this newsletter / Pg
1
2
3
4
5
Next edition includes:
v Update on eco-mapping for your site
v Sustainable schools/lifestyle. Where to now?
1.
Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice values the feelings of all people affected by injustice..
“Restorative justice programmes are based on the belief that parties to a conflict ought to be actively involved in resolving it and mitigating its negative consequences. They are also based, in some instances, on a will to return to local decision-making and community building. These approaches are also seen as means to encourage the peaceful expression of conflict, to promote tolerance and inclusiveness, build respect for diversity and promote responsible community practices” (p.5)*.
‘Restorative justice programmes are based on the fundamental principle that criminal behaviour not only violates the law, but also injures victims and the community.’
‘Restorative justice refers to a process for resolving crime by focusing on redressing the harm done to the victims, holding offenders accountable for their actions and, often also, engaging the community in the resolution of that conflict’ (p.6)*.
‘A restorative process is any process in which the victim and the offenders and, where appropriate any other individuals or community members affected by a crime participate together actively in the resolution of matters arising from the crime generally with the help of a facilitator.’ (P.7)*.
*Hand book on Restorative Justice Programmes –United Nations New York 2006 which can be downloaded from:
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/06-56290_Ebook.pdf
Restorative Justice has its origins in Australia through Terry O’Connell, an ex police officer in Wagga Wagga who wanted to make a difference.
Terry has now received an OAM and is the Australian Director of ‘Real Justice’
http://www.realjustice.org/index.htm
The following link outlines his story:
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/marketing/graduation/2003/bathurst-address-friday.htm
This approach has been successfully used in many communities with great results in schools.
Lonsdale Heights Primary School, in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, has been using this programme as one part of a suite of approaches to behaviour ‘enhancement’
The principal, Denise Lane presented in Spain 2005 a paper titled ‘Building Positive Relationships Through Restorative Practices.’ This paper describes how Lonsdale Heights has embraced this philosophy and its journey using this model. A copy can be found at:
http://www.sappa.sa.edu.au/documents/articles/The%20Paper%20-%20Building%20Positive%20Relationships%20through%20Restorative%20Practices.pdf
l
The following questions are structured to help the perpetrator to move through a process that acknowledges their own feelings, the effects of their behaviour on others and ways to restore a just environment.
Restorative Questions
What happened?
What were you thinking at the time?
What have you thought about since?
Who has been affected by what you have done?
In what way?
What do you think you need to do to make things right?
Supplementary Questions
What did you think when you realised what had happened?
What impact has this incident had on you and others?
What has been the hardest thing for you?
What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
[
Choose Respect
Respect is a value that can be argued as an umbrella for many of our behaviours.
· Respect for self
· Respect for others
· Respect for our physical environment.
‘Respect is to treat with Care and Consideration
Show proper respect to everyone
You deserve to be treated with respect’
These are the tenets of a program designed by Gary Butcher, School Chaplain at Armidale in Western Australia. Gary noticed that students who were referred to him for bullying would show little remorse for their behaviour. and often re-offend.
He has now devised an effective program that has also been used successfully beyond the school with dysfunctional groups.
Gary’s program has a code of behaviour that operates with the belief that you should show respect no matter how you are being treated.
Many incidents escalate into violence whether it is in the school setting or between different cultures and countries because of a lack of respect.
Gary has an excellent website with a powerpoint that very simply and effectively details how Choose Respect operates.
http://www.chooserespect.com/ [
2.
“Building Classrooms from Cupcakes UNESCO style”
The Bunjosi School Kenya and
St. Andrew’s School South Australia Story.
Jellies, fancy iced cupcakes, biscuits chocolate crackles, hedgehog -slice, rocky road and marshmallows were displayed in neat rows on tables around the quadrangle at St. Andrew’s School, Walkerville in South Australia as the 600 students queued excitedly to spend a gold coin on a selection of treats.
The year 7 students had worked hard the previous evening baking and mixing, inspired by the knowledge that all money raised was profit and would be sent to Bunjosi Primary school in Western Kenya Webuye Division, Africa to be used to build classrooms.
How did this begin?
The Bunjosi- St. Andrew’s story began when the UNESCO –APNIEVE International Conference on Shared Values for Intercultural and Interfaith Understanding was held at the University of Adelaide South Australia in November 2004 with hundreds of overseas delegates. It was co-ordinated by Joy de Leo and her team and they achieved having every conference recommendation unanimously endorsed by member states at UNESCO’s General Conference in Paris in October 2005.
Establishing a Link
A wonderful spin-off .from the Adelaide Conference occurred when a group of these visitors went on a tour of St, Andrew’s School, which is an UNESCO Associated School, to see the children’s work on Human Rights, the Rights of the Child, Social Justice and the Environment.
The delegate from Kenya, Africa spoke to the students informally about the desire for a link with an Australian School and the next week the St. Andrew’s year 7 students wrote to him seeking such a connection,
In April 2005, after much hard work by the teachers of both schools, St Andrew’s School and Bunjosi; Primary School were linked. By writing letters the students learned about each other, and the Adelaide children came to an understanding of how, although students at both schools were receiving a wonderful education, St. Andrew’s students were privileged in the resources and school buildings they had. This made them want to help in some way. After attempting to send textbooks and other resources it was decided that money would be the most useful and convenient resource to send, particularly as there was a great need for buildings.
Building the future
Bunjosi has 1100 pupils and 11 teachers at 8 levels of Primary Education. There were only 3 semi permanent buildings and a few semi- permanent toilets. The school is renowned for good outcomes and this has caused more enrolment pressure, so there are 4 pupils per desk and per text-book.
When in May 2006 Bunjosi; received the $700 raised from the first cake stall the money was immediately spent on cement, stones, bricks sand and labour and the whole school community, parents grand-parents, teachers and students became involved in the building of the school room for year 7 students. The money order had reached the right people, and receipts and photos were sent from Kenya back to South Australia.
From little Things BIG Things Grow
Spurred on by this, more Year 7 cake stalls have been held and several thousand dollars raised. Bunjosi is using this money to build more classrooms and for more text-books and science equipment.
Facilitated by the teaching staff of both schools, this link is an example of students on different continents, who, on learning about UNESCO and on being involved with UNESCO were able to gain an understanding of the values and ideals which they shared, and who were able to enrich each other’s lives with shared knowledge and resources. Students from both schools are very keen to see the connection maintained and assiduously write letters.
Helen Rice
Co-ordinator, UNESCO Clubs, Adelaide Chapter. [
RAINBOW
Peace is like a rainbow
where all our different colours
shine in their true light,
thriving side by side,
free to be fully alive.
Peace is like a rainbow
where all our different colours
touch without imposing,
dancing over our heads
and around and within
to make a harmony
that satisfies all our senses.
Michele Grace [
Education for Sustainability Workshops
Having presented workshops around Australia on Education for Sustainability with an emphasis on Values Education we have been most impressed with the variety of programs and the depth of passion and commitment from educators in all states. As an example, we can all relate to story telling and a good story teller is popular in any setting whether it be as an after dinner speech, a workshop or at the local club or pub.
Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre in Queensland has been entrancing students for 25 years with their captivating units of discovery that revolve around a story thread that provides an exciting context for bringing history alive and encouraging the imagination and creativity of students of all ages.
3.
A visit to their website at http://www.pullenvaeec.eq.edu.au/
will certainly give you ideas for engaging students both young and old.
Owen Secombe and Sue Coad [
Workshop series Semester 2 - 2007
Enroll on line at: www.unesco-apnieve.edu.au
EDC = Education Development Centre
Values and Sustainability:
Learning heroes!
Wednesday August 8th from 4.30 to 7.00pm.
E D C, Milner St, Hindmarsh
In these times of great change, who are our leaders and motivators to achieve sustainability? These leaders are inspiring to others in many areas at both the local and global level.
What are the values that they live by and aspire to?
What can we learn from them to apply to our lives?
Who inspires you?
Featuring: Mia Handshin
Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1978, Mia Handshin has always had a sense of the wisdom in the encouraging words of author Marianne Williamson,
Build Community, Nurture those less fortunate, Become yourself.”
In 2000 Mia graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Law (with hons) and a Bachelor of Arts. Since 1997, Mia has contributed a weekly column to the opinion section for The Advertiser newspaper in South Australia. Initially asked to provide a “youth perspective”, Mia’s columns have evolved to incorporate a wide range of issues such as life, relationship, social awareness, social justice, human rights, current affairs, environmental sustainability. She is now a contributor of a “blog” on the newspaper’s website Adelaide Now and runs a successful business, Mana of Speaking, offering facilitation and speaking services. She has won many awards for her social activism and endeavours to ‘make a difference.’
Contact: Sue Coad or Owen Secombe by email:
Mobile: 0432 972 596 or 0431 988 148
$30 non-members, $25 members
Membership fees to access discounted rates are: Individual $ 40 Institutions $ 220 [
VALUING OUR STUDENTS
Michele Grace
Years ago, I participated in a training session about working with gifted and talented students. I was pleasantly surprised that the trainers believed, as I did, that all students are gifted and talented, though in different ways. They suggested using a classroom approach that could draw out and build on the different gifts of the students.
Studies in the United States have been done with classes of students of different attainment levels – the advanced ability classes and the underachieving classes. The under achieving students were all told at the beginning of the school year that they would all get A’s for their work.