Ima and Mia Strkljevic are a mother-daughter ethics-teaching duo. Mia is only 18 and was inspired to become an ethics teacher herself having seen her mother in action over the years.
Here are their stories and a photo from the compulsory post-class staff meeting at the local café.
Ima’s story: It all started in early 2017 when a friend posted on Facebook about how rewarding teaching ethics at her children’s school was. I immediately got in touch with her, got informed about the induction process and within several weeks had finished all requirements and was negotiating classes with my children’s school, successfully overcoming the school’s initial inertia. So that is when I introduced ethics to Blakehurst Public School. I also took on the role of ethics coordinator. My daughter had just started high school and I had a younger son in year 4.
Being a health clinician and public health researcher, I’d known the importance and power of critical reasoning and ethical thinking. In the past five years I have enjoyed teaching children of all ages and was able to see what wonderfully inquisitive, imaginative, capable and open-minded people primary school children are.
Although my daughter just missed out on ethics in primary school, she became actively involved in my preparation of teaching materials every week as well as our family discussions following my son’s weekly lessons. She expressed a desire to become involved with Primary Ethics as soon as she could, after realising how wonderful it would be to give back to the community where she’d once achieved so much.
I took on the role of regional manager in 2019 and was also coordinating and teaching in another school to keep their ethics program alive, but then was unable to continue in multiple schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic and family-related issues.
I have dedicated myself to the Primary Ethics program even though I am no longer teaching my own children as my motivation is not to teach my children, but to ensure that my local school continues to offer and provide this invaluable curriculum to new generations. I have also realised the power of volunteering – the multi-faceted benefits for both volunteers and the recipients. I have been inspired by my involvement with Primary Ethics to research and promote volunteering of professional skills by health professionals to develop interventions for healthy ageing and health promotion in older adults.
Mia’s story: When my mother started teaching ethics when I was in high school, I became interested in the content of the lessons and loved the concept of group discussion and building on each other’s ideas as a way of learning. As a successful debater and public speaker and currently a medical science student, I believe inquiry is an integral part of learning and a healthy, argument-based discussion is the only way to progress and develop.
I also admire the volunteering aspect of Primary Ethics. I’ve been involved in multiple projects as a high school student in teaching, community and charitable volunteering activities. I felt the need to support this valuable program and where better to do it but at my own primary school. Blakehurst Public School is my local primary school where my brother and I, together with our friends and neighbours, created lifelong memories and achievements. This is where I will always feel like part of the family, always welcomed and accepted with warmth and gratitude.
I hope that my example will serve as an inspiration to many more young ethics teachers to come.