Announcing the inaugural Kinghorn Award for ethics volunteers
kinghorn award

Primary Ethics is delighted to announce the inaugural Kinghorn Award for Primary Ethics volunteers, which brings substantial prize money to go to the recipient’s chosen school and public recognition and appreciation for the often-unsung efforts of our wonderful ethics volunteers.

The Award

This award will honour an ethics volunteer who is an inspirational role model for other volunteers – and for their school and community. We want to acknowledge someone who has contributed substantially to Primary Ethics’ mission: someone without whom the local – or regional – ethics program would not be where it is today.

The award is open to all ethics teachers, coordinators, regional managers and members of the Classroom Support Team. Every volunteer can nominate other volunteers for this award – there is no limit on numbers of nominations. Only volunteers who have been active in 2022 are eligible to be nominated.

We are looking for someone who:

  • has made a significant contribution to our mission to support children to develop skills in ethical reasoning, critical thinking and respectful discussion
  • has taken great effort to progress our goal to grow our program so that all parents have the option of choosing ethics for their child
  • has conducted themselves in a manner true to our values of respect, integrity, independence, excellence and teamwork
  • and without whom our program would not have developed to where it is today.

The prize

The winner has the privilege of directing $4000 towards the library service in the school or schools of their choosing. They will be awarded an engraved trophy and their school library will be given a hardcopy copy of Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, containing a bookplate with details of this inaugural volunteer award winner.

We will present the award to the winner at a ceremony in December 2022.

Make your nomination here >>

Nominations close at midnight on 31 August, 2022.

The winner will be announced in November 2022.

Why the Kinghorn Award?

The Chair of the Primary Ethics Board, Bruce Hogan, through his Hogan Family Foundation, is funding this award in order to recognise the fantastic contribution of the Kinghorn Family Foundation to Primary Ethics.

Primary Ethics would not be where it is today without the Kinghorns. From 2013 to 2022, John and Jill Kinghorn’s Foundation provided significant funding to Primary Ethics. This generous funding directly resulted in the employment of urgently needed staff to manage and develop ethics programs and provide teacher training.

This new Kinghorn Award recognises both the pivotal role the Foundation has played and the significant role of the winner in bringing our ethics program to more children in our state.

The judging panel

The judging panel will be comprised of:

  • The Chair of the Primary Ethics Board, Bruce Hogan
  • Jill Kinghorn of the Kinghorn Family Foundation
  • Two randomly selected volunteers – you can express interest in being on the panel on the nomination form
  • CEO of Primary Ethics, Evan Hannah

We hope all our volunteers will be as excited as we are about this new award. Now is the time to think, reason and if necessary discuss your reasons for choosing your nominee – and then go ahead and nominate them!

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‘That was the best lesson ever!’
Diana Dagg

Diana Dagg’s journey into ethics.

“I have the great pleasure of volunteering as an ethics teacher with my granddaughter’s class at her local primary school in southern Sydney for 30 minutes each week.”

I’m one of thousands of volunteers from all walks of life and all ages who teach ethics in schools across NSW during term time. I initially had some anxiety about taking part, since I hadn’t taught before. Hearing that Primary Ethics offers free training, full lesson materials and ongoing support encouraged me to take that first step to apply. My confidence was boosted during the excellent and thorough training (you can do in-person workshops or online sessions). The ethics curriculum is prepared by experts and reviewed by the Department of Education for age appropriateness.

After passing the assessment and completing Working with Children and Police checks, off I went, with a clear curriculum to follow – but still some nerves. I found, though, that following the advice included with the lesson scripts helped me enormously. And the Primary Ethics team as well as the school made it clear they were always there to help – and they have! A school classroom teacher sits in on my lessons should I need support or advice.

It’s important to me that my grandchildren and their friends have the tools to listen and think carefully about the information and opinions bombarding them from every direction in today’s digital world. These are essential skills as they grow up in our complex and pressurised world. I expect that the skills they’re learning in ethical reasoning will help set them up for life.

My role as the ethics teacher is not to make judgements or give my own opinions, but to encourage questions and reflection by the children themselves. It’s so heartening to watch my Year 5/6 class sharing, thinking, reflecting and listening respectfully to each other on issues such as:

  • Should we always respect the beliefs of others?
  • What’s the difference between harmless and harmful teasing?
  • The nature of knowledge – how do you know what you know?
  • Are there some things all humans need in order to live a good and satisfying life?

I’m proud to contribute to my young students’ commitment to consider some huge issues seriously, to listen and accept the range of views held by their peers. The great surprise for me has been that I get as much out of ethics lessons as the children clearly do. I’m constantly learning, as I prepare for my class by reading the background notes and reflecting on my own approach to these issues.

For example, at present I’m taking my class through four lessons on Authority. It’s all about encouraging students to consider whether it’s okay to question a rule or advice or opinion given by someone who is seen as an authority. The students are devouring this topic with great enthusiasm. And I’m proud to announce that it’s helped me to be more analytic and assertive in my everyday life as well.

Another unexpected delight is that the other ethics volunteers at the school and I meet regularly for coffee or after lessons to share and consult and have a laugh. I love feeling part of this team.

More recently I joined another Primary Ethics group, the Classroom Support Team, whose role is to provide support, advice and encouragement to the many ethics teachers. We’re always looking for new Classroom Support Team members. We’d be very happy to talk through this volunteer coaching role with anyone who’s interested.

Both positions are immensely rewarding for me. It’s heartening to know that by encouraging respectful discussion in the classroom, I’m contributing to the ethical growth of the next generation, thus leaving a legacy for the future.

Best of all, it’s simply fantastic when students come up to me after the class and say things like: ‘That was the best lesson ever’ or ‘Can we talk again about this next week?’

Makes me a proud nanny!”

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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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Teaching my first ethics class
ZoeWright-feature

New Primary Ethics volunteer Zoe Wright’s first lesson went swimmingly.

I walked out of my first class already in love with ‘my’ kids and excited about the rest of the year. Although I was nervous beforehand, everything went swimmingly. I was very lucky to have a great classroom teacher present, who unobtrusively lifted an eyebrow at the right kids at the right moment to support me. Before the class I had an opportunity to speak to the teacher and made sure I asked about the classroom rules and behaviour management and how he normally got the kids’ attention. During the think-pair-share activity I used the same signal and it worked a treat – the class was already very used to it so I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Now that the introduction is done, I’m looking forward to getting stuck in to the topics!

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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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