Category: News

‘Bump’ does ethics

A number of Primary Ethics volunteers and staff noticed during the New Year break that Bump, a popular Australian series which began streaming its third season on Stan on Boxing Day 2022, has incorporated an ethics lesson into its storyline.

So I tuned in.

By Susan Ardill, Communications Manager

Bump is a satirical comedy about two young people from very different families who have a baby together. In season 3, the parents, mother Oly and dad Santi, have separated but continue to co-parent. Their daughter is now in kindy at school and Oly is unhappy to discover she is being sent to scripture under the influence of Santi’s family. So when she bumps into another mother who is about to teach ethics, Oly asks if she can sit in and watch.

The Bump ethics lesson is situated firmly in comedic territory and serves the purpose of the episode’s overarching storyline, to highlight the differences in parenting style and family culture between Oly and Santi. The ethics volunteer is immediately set up as a ditzy caricature, confessing to being badly hungover and then not knowing how to respond when the children raise some difficult questions. So Oly responds to them instead – and in doing so, Oly (who does indeed become an ethics volunteer in a later episode) comes to some of her own realisations.

The appeal of the series, which bills itself as a comedy-drama, is in the way it addresses contemporary social life in Sydney, but with tongue in cheek.

Oly, on right, is unsure about the ethics teacher's approach.
Oly, on right, is unsure about the ethics teacher's approach.

Indeed, this scene held my attention – and not just because I’m an ethics volunteer.

Yet I am an ethics volunteer (and Primary Ethics staff member), so I immediately noticed what was unrealistic about this scene, as did everyone who mentioned it to us.

Unreal!

  • The unreality begins with Oly inviting herself along to the lesson! Our volunteers are all fully screened, trained and authorised by Primary Ethics, which is the sole approved provider to the Department of Education to teach ethics in schools. No other parent can come along on the spur of the moment – and then contribute to the lesson!
  • In a real ethics lesson, the teacher isn’t at the front of the class and the children don’t sit in rows. Instead, the children and teacher sit in a circle and build a community of inquiry together. Everyone can see everyone else and this helps with paying attention to whoever is speaking.
  • Teachers don’t ad lib or give their own answers to questions, as both the parents do in this scene. Our lessons – not just the stories that are told, but the questions that are asked – are fully scripted. When children ask questions in a real ethics lesson, they aren’t answered by the teacher, who keeps their views to themselves. Instead, the students are guided with further questions to respond to each other, build on each other’s ideas and answer each other’s questions. Of course, Bump is a tv show, so when the flummoxed teacher turns to Oly and lets her respond to the children, it’s a plot hook, but it’s important to state that this would never happen in a real ethics class.
  • One of the Primary Ethics discussion rules is ‘no putdowns’. When one of the children in this scene says to another “You’re an idiot”, the hapless teacher weakly says “Respectful discussion” – and nothing more. Ethics teachers are trained to manage situations exactly like this and have robust class management strategies to help students discuss and disagree respectfully. We also have a Classroom Support Team to help our volunteers with managing just this kind of classroom retort.
Oly sits in on the ethics class
Oly sits in on the ethics class

I like Bump and found this episode as a whole amusing. It’s good to see an Australian series which seems true to life for contemporary families – even though, as I’ve outlined, it’s not at all true to life when it comes to the Primary Ethics program in schools. I wouldn’t want parents – either those whose children already attend ethics or those who are contemplating choosing the ethics option – to come away from this episode with the impression that ethics lessons are really like this.

I hope it’s clear to the audience that in this scene, the emphasis is very much on entertainment.

To see a real ethics class in action, take a look here: https://primaryethics.com.au/about-ethics-classes/

By Susan Ardill, Primary Ethics Communications Manager

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Former student turns ethics teacher
Alexa-Stuart-feature

Alexa Stuart loved her ethics lessons when she was in primary school. A decade on, the 18-year-old is back at her former school teaching a new generation of ethics students.

In April, I taught my first ever ethics lesson! I had a gorgeous bunch of Year 2 kids at Lambton Public School, and – despite my nerves – it went really well. But actually it wasn’t my first ever ethics lesson. My first was in that very same school, in 2012 when I was just eight years old.
Our school was one of the earliest schools in Newcastle to start teaching ethics so for the latter part of my primary school years I was able to attend ethics classes. I remember loving it so much, I think I used to annoy my friends because after class I would just want to keep talking about the ethical dilemmas. I had so much to say and there was never enough time in ethics, so I just kept talking as we went out into the playground. And then when I got home, sometimes I would keep talking about it to my family over dinner.

One of my most vivid memories of ethics was in Year 5 or 6 when our ethics teacher stepped out of the circle and allowed us to moderate the discussion ourselves. She watched us as we tried to navigate how to take it in turns without putting up our hands. We were forced to talk to each other rather than just the teacher. I remember feeling so mature and that our teacher really respected us and trusted us.

Ethics lessons were a highlight of primary school for me. Last year I graduated from high school, and this year I’m taking a gap year, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to volunteer and become an ethics teacher!

When I started doing my ethics teacher training, I started remembering a lot of the topics and scenarios that we did when I was younger. I remembered talking about palm oil and the orangutans, about performance-enhancing drugs and whether it’s OK to hunt sharks after they have hurt humans. Back then, I thought that if I just thought about it hard enough, I could figure out the “correct” answer to all these tricky questions. Now I realise that the whole purpose of ethics is to learn the skills of
critical thinking and ethical problem-solving that help you to come to your answer, not the answer itself. It’s about the journey not the destination.

When I went back to my old school for my first lesson, I spoke to some of my old teachers. It was lovely to see them again and chat to them about what I’d been doing over the past few years. It felt so strange and nostalgic to be back at my primary school and I was very nervous, but once in the classroom I was surprised at how well the students listened to me. I was a bit worried that because I’m so young I would lack some authority and I was worried that the kids wouldn’t be fully engaged. But I needn’t have worried because they all seemed to have a great time. A lot of hands went up whenever I asked a question and despite them being a bit wriggly at times, they gave some very thoughtful (and cute!) answers.

It’s been strange to experience the other side of ethics classes, this time as the teacher. Having to remain neutral and lead the discussion rather than contributing my own thoughts can be a challenge. I feel very lucky to have experienced ethics as both the student and the teacher, and now I’m trying to convince some of my friends to volunteer, it’s such a great experience for young people!

Next year I’ll probably go to university, I think I will do development studies as I’m interested in social justice, development and inequality. Hopefully I’ll still have enough time to keep teaching ethics!

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My first lessons as an ethics teacher
Jan Mottram Ethics Teacher

New Primary Ethics volunteer Jan Mottram found teaching her first lesson a rocky experience – but by the second week she was able to go with the flow and enjoy herself.

My first day of ethics teaching was quite overwhelming for me.  I had learnt so much during the training, but once faced with a class of 22 eager kids from years 1 and 2, that all seemed to go out the window. I was a bit anxious, very hot and the mask didn’t help. [NB From 7 March, mask-wearing is no longer mandatory, though you will be supported to wear one if you choose to.

Watch our video for the top 5 tips on teach Ethics in a mask.

Lesson 1: The first session had an estimated 10-minute time frame. I think I did it in two. The questions that weren’t supposed to take much time seemed to go on for a while. The discussion about how many bones are in a hand took on a life of its own and I suggested they research it and let me know next week.  Pairing the children just seemed to be an excuse for some of the kids to talk about anything but the topic.  I was so keen to stay on script that I spent too much time reading my notes rather than watching what the class was doing.  When the general consensus of the class was that it is okay to break rules because they are usually stupid, I found it hard to get them to listen to the kids who had a different view.

Leaving the Primary Ethics rules till the end of the lesson was not a good move for this class, but by the time I realised that I had run out of time. I left the lesson feeling disappointed in myself and as the afternoon wore on I found myself thinking of so many things I could have done better.

Lesson 2: I was determined to do better next time and my second lesson was a lot less stressful for me.  I took it slower and went with the flow. I started by asking them if they had found out how many bones are in a hand. Unfortunately there were various answers even though they had all googled it or counted them. We went through the class rules again and I was able to refer to them when needed. Some of the children were very engaged in the lesson but some were obviously not interested at all. I later found out that they had not been outside at all during the day due to the rain. Being the last class of the day, I was lucky I had any interest at all. I had intended to have a break at some time to play a quick game of ‘Simon Says’ but when I checked my watch, we only had five minutes to go.

Despite my rocky start, I find I’m already enjoying the experience and am confident that lessons will continue to improve. Next week I plan to start the lesson with a game. I can only try.

Thanks to Dana for her encouraging words and the advice, ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself’.  Very wise words.

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New year, new school, new class
Rob-Forsyth

Rob Forsyth is an experienced ethics teacher who this year moved to a new school. His thoughts on starting afresh will be helpful to completely new teachers and those starting the year with a new class.

We all know that the first day at school can be a stressful experience for children, but of course, it can also be stressful for new Ethics teachers.  The items I’ve found that disturb my sleep the night before include, but are not limited to:

  • Can I be sure that I have all the appropriate material after extracting it from Evie [the Primary Ethics volunteer portal]?
  • What will the classroom set-up be like?
  • What will professionally trained teachers think of my amateur delivery of the lesson?
  • Even simple things like, if I need to use a bathroom, which bathroom should I use?
  • Will the children enjoy Ethics?

I’m sure we all have these butterflies.

Sign-in at schools always takes time, so be early. I have always found teachers (and principals) very helpful and keen to offer assistance in set-up and disruptive class behaviour. The teachers know the children well and are familiar with specific ‘enthusiastic’ individuals and will be there to assist if required. A semicircle of chairs works best for me, with sufficient space but not too far away, as children speak softly and we want everyone to be heard.

Before you start, perhaps engage in a conversation with a few students and that will assist in breaking the ice, this will allow you to start a roll call in a casual manner.

Remember to breathe, the children will be keen to listen, so speak slowly. As you get into the substance of the lesson, check the time as you will discover that the period will fly by.

At the conclusion, I find it good to ask the class teacher if they wish to say anything and this will allow the lesson to be completed in a way that is familiar to the students.  In some classes, you may be asked to nominate a student who has been a good contributor, I generally congratulate the whole class in the first lesson – so everyone’s a winner, including you!

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Food for thought

New bite-sized ethical dilemmas for children at home

April 2020: The not-for-profit organisation that runs ethics classes in NSW schools has developed a selection of ethics exercises, called Bites, for children to participate in at home. Each week in term 2 Primary Ethics will upload two new Bites for children; one designed for students from kindergarten to year 2, and another for those in years 3–6.

Primary Ethics CEO Evan Hannah says the lessons will help provide continuity for students who take ethics classes.

“Around 45,000 students in NSW have to miss out on their usual ethics classes for some weeks yet, so we’ve put together these lessons to help children to keep exercising their questioning skills until their usual volunteer teacher can join them in classes at school,” he said.

“These activities to help children with their thinking and reasoning have a role to play in helping them to process the current changes that we are all experiencing due to the impact of COVID 19,” Evan added.

They will also introduce a number of new students to the practical study of philosophical ethics.

“Primary Ethics Bites will be available for every child and their family, and like our school-based program, it will be free of charge. We hope the Bites provoke some deep thinking around the dinner table.”

Each Bite provides an ethical dilemma presented in audio or audio visual format along with a written version. Children are encouraged to read, watch or listen to the stories which provide a context for the dilemma, and ponder the questions provided. Siblings and others in the household are encouraged to participate, too.

“These fun Bites use engaging stories to encourage the use of questions and considering alternative views to help build skills in critical thinking and ethical reasoning. At schools we use a ‘community of inquiry’ approach and Bites are written to extend that into home-based lessons.”

“We’re grateful for the assistance of Primary Ethics Volunteers who, along with their children, have offered to voice the various parts in our stories and provide a range of diverse views for the discussion aspect of the recordings,” Evan said.

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Ethics lessons finish early for term 1

Ethics volunteers and schools have been working together to end their Term 1 ethics lessons by 20 March – if they haven’t already – to allow schools to establish best-practice social distancing and to protect our volunteers.

We look forward to seeing our volunteers return to classrooms at the start of Term 2.

Primary Ethics and its volunteers wish to support the wider community effort to ‘flatten the curve’ – the term used to describe social distancing techniques that will lower demand on critical health services during the pandemic.

Other organisation-wide measures Primary Ethics has established include:

Postponing all upcoming training sessions

Work is underway to have our courses available for volunteers to complete virtually. Further information will be provided for training participants and their support teams.

Social distancing measures

Our regional managers and ethics coordinators are encouraged to complete interviews by phone or Zoom/Skype, and to host virtual get-togethers or delay regular catch-ups.

Phone-based classroom support

Our classroom support team members continue to mentor ethics teachers by phone but are postponing in-class visits until classes resume in Term 2

Staff to work remotely

Our team of full and part time staff are now working almost entirely remotely, with skeleton staffing of the office by team members who live close-by and commute on foot or by bike.

Contacting Primary Ethics

Our phone cover will be more limited at times than usual, but if you leave a message or send an email, we’ll get back to you shortly.

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The courage to think differently

School libraries to loan Lenny’s lesson

When you look at a squishy, black banana, do you see it as something destined for the compost bin or the basis of a delicious meal? In OzHarvest’s book Lenny and the Ants, we follow Lenny the Kangaroo as he rediscovers food through the perspective of a resourceful team of Harvest Ants.

Miranda 2

Primary Ethics volunteers Jessica Hicks and Naziah Gargan present Lenny and the Ants to Miranda Public School principal Narelle Chaplin.

Thanks to the generosity of philanthropist Rob Keldoulis, not-for-profit education provider Primary Ethics was able to distribute a copy of Lenny and the Ants to the libraries of 500 NSW public primary schools.

“Ethics classes help children to understand that there are often different perspectives on an issue, and by engaging with others we’ll often come up with new ways to solve a dilemma,” said Evan Hannah, CEO of Primary Ethics.

“We’re great supporters of the work OzHarvest do to reduce waste and help make nutritious food more accessible, and it’s exciting to open up this thinking to the thousands of children who’ll have access to this fantastic book,” Mr Hannah said.

Primary Ethics volunteers distributed the books in their local schools.

OzHarvest Founder and CEO, Ronni Kahn said the book is a first step in engaging children and their families on the fun ways we can save food from being wasted and the rewards of being resourceful together.

“Lenny and the Ants helps children understand the precious nature of food in a way that is joyous and fun. Whether a child or an adult reads this book, I believe the message resonates with everyone – wasting food makes no sense. It also reinforces the fact that there is a way to live in harmony with what we have, with awareness and resourcefulness. Food is about sharing, caring and love and Lenny and the Ants completely embraces that notion!”

Some copies are still available for donation to school libraries.

“If you’re a staff member, parent or carer who’d like to have a copy for your school library, please get in touch,” Mr Hannah said.

Lenny and the Ants is also available to buy from the OzHarvest Soul Shop.

Lenny_Stills_012

Ronni with her grandson and author of the book Jessica Chapnik Kahn

 

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Conference 2019: Reflecting on past challenges, planning for the future

As the world grapples with major economic, political and environmental change, our hope for the future lay in the ability of our emerging leaders to make well-reasoned decisions on issues with far-reaching consequences. This was the message Dr Simon Longstaff of the Ethics Centre had for the 160 attendees at Primary Ethics State Conference held on Saturday October 26.

On a personal level, we all benefit from the ability to think critically and to reason. Education in ethics is crucial in helping us, regardless of our age or stage in life, be better equipped to tackle the various challenges we face.

Not-for-profit group Primary Ethics’ second state conference was generously hosted by Western Sydney University in Parramatta. Ethics volunteers from around the state converged to participate in a day of ideas about the work they are engaged in and the path that lay ahead.

Keynote speaker Verity Firth, head of UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and former Minister for Education, revisited the challenges leading up to achieving legislative change in 2010 that permitted ethics classes to be delivered in NSW public schools alongside special religious education classes. Almost 10 years later, Primary Ethics represents the largest ethics education movement in Australia.

So where to now? Renee Bilston from Farmhouse Montessori spoke about the benefits of ethics classes to her school under the recent partnership with Primary Ethics. Primary Ethics’ Elizabeth Allen spoke of the workplace volunteering project that has seen 14 UNSW staff trained and supported to deliver ethics classes in schools near the university’s Randwick campus, not simply to engage and contribute to local community, but as a mechanism for staff wellbeing and meaning.

Meaning was a theme developed by Mitra Gusheh, Executive Manager, Social Impact at UTS in her presentation of the study by Dr Gianni Zappalà on the outcomes of volunteering in the lives of Primary Ethics volunteers.

Curriculum author Dr Sue Knight and philosopher Kelby Mason discussed the philosophical framework behind the Primary Ethics curriculum, with Classroom Support Manager Coral Sturgess and Trainer Sophie Patterson exploring implementation of the program in the classroom and its underpinning of 21st century skills.

The value of applied ethics was reflected upon in a lunchtime screening of The Final Quarter and a talk by 13-year-old Belle, who explained how ethics classes had helped her to have conversations with people with differing views on complex topics such as climate change.

In 2019, 45,000 children participated in weekly ethics classes in 500 schools across the state thanks to the contributions by donors and a team of 2800 trained volunteers.

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Complaint demonstrates overall success of ethics

It takes a village to raise a child – and many of those who enrich our children’s lives do so as volunteers.

P&C committees, canteen, reading groups, garden club, uniform shop, sport coaches, Scouts, Guides, playgroups – volunteers make a huge contribution to children’s lives and are being celebrated in Volunteer of the Year Award ceremonies held this month around the state.

“Yes we are volunteers, but we take this role very seriously,” said Suzan Fayle, who has facilitated ethics classes for the past six years at Orange Grove Public School.

Ms Fayle is one of 2800 Primary Ethics volunteers who help 45,000 students each week to think for themselves and develop the skills to disagree respectfully with others. Lessons based on philosophical ethics give children skills in critical thinking and ethical reasoning.

The children who complained about the teacher at Dulwich Hill Public School (“Ethics teacher stood down for saying Stolen Generations due to bad parents”, Sydney Morning Herald, September 9) used just those skills and should be commended.

“I’ve taught all levels and cannot recall a time where the script has allowed me to voice my own opinion. Our training is very strong on the point that the lessons are written by highly experienced educators and the lesson works without any extraneous input – or leaving anything out – by teachers,” said Ms Fayle.

Primary Ethics emphasises in all aspects of our training for ethics volunteers that their role is to facilitate discussion using the approved curriculum without omission or addition. Our shorthand for this is ‘follow the script’.

Two weeks ago we immediately stood down the ethics teacher when we were notified he had breached our policy that ethics teachers must not introduce their own opinion into discussions in ethics classes.

The requirement for volunteers to not voice their own opinion is clearly and consistently communicated in:

  • candidate interviews
  • initial online training
  • two-day face-to-face training.
  • signing the terms of engagement and agreeing to the volunteer code of conduct
    continuing professional development
  • supporting resources such as the Ethics Teacher Handbook and Guidelines for Volunteers
  • our classroom support team services which routinely observe ethics classes and provide mentoring

Many of our volunteers are retired Department of Education teachers or those in part time positions (full time employees are not permitted by the DoE to volunteer) or have experience in early childhood, tertiary or workplace education. But as the role is to facilitate discussion among the students, it differs from that of a traditional teacher who is seen by students as the main source of knowledge in the classroom. Objectivity is a key criteria when determining suitability of candidates for the ethics teacher role and volunteers from a range of backgrounds are a good fit.

This incident is a rare occurrence among the 8300 volunteers who have been trained by Primary Ethics since the program’s inception in 2011, and Primary Ethics has acted quickly and in accordance with our publicly available complaints policy.

The benefit of ethics classes, and the efforts of our many terrific volunteers, should not be reduced to this flawed example by those who see ethics classes as an inconvenience to their efforts to remove Special Religious Education from schools.

The fact that these students were able to identify and challenge the comment of their ethics teacher is a sign that the program is working.

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