5 tips for teaching ethics in a mask
Ethics Teachers Ben and Dana go through their top 5 tips for teaching Ethics in a mask
Watch the video for tips on teaching a class, while wearing a mask.
‘My small way to make a big difference’
Thousands of volunteers teach Ethics every week – they get as much out of it as the children do.
Hear from six of them about why they do it and how you can become an volunteer ethics teacher too.
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New year, new school, new class
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!
The joy and lessons in living an ethical life
Living an ethical life: Kirsten Downey writes about her experience as an ethics teacher in The Hills Independent magazine, January 2022.
Giving back: Lessons in living an ethical life
Published in GOALL magazine (Growing Older and Loving Life) by Central Coast Council, December 2021
By Coral Sturgess
I exchanged the shores of Botany Bay for those of Tuggerah Lakes back in the sixties and have lived in various parts of the Central Coast ever since – always near the water. I enjoy a cooling swim at the beach, a leisurely boat trip on the river, water-skiing with the grandkids or throwing sticks into the lake for the dog to retrieve… The water is a constant and will always be an important counter-balance to our work lives.
Another big part of my life on the Central Coast has been giving back to my local community. I volunteer as an ethics teacher at my local primary school, for a not-for-profit organisation called Primary Ethics. How can I express in mere words what this means to me? I’ve been teaching ethics for six years now and cannot imagine life without it.
When I retired from full time work, I had the chance to include volunteering in my life. I think the coming together of me and Primary Ethics was simply a ‘right time right place’ event that I took full advantage of – my granddaughter [seen in the photo with Coral] starting at her local school where ethics classes were offered and the need for people like me to step up and take on an ethics teacher role.
Volunteering as an ethics teacher connects me to my community – the place, the people and, in particular, the children, along with their teachers and the school community. Being able to engage with children is a privilege. It’s fun – I get to use my story-telling voice, to witness their reactions and observe their development over time. And yes, it comes with responsibilities – like keeping the lesson on track and making sure they’re safe in their learning. Some lessons definitely go better than others! We discuss topics like how to be a good friend, how we should treat other living things and how to disagree respectfully.
Volunteering with Primary Ethics also connects me with others I share common interests with – the other Primary Ethics volunteers who, like me, enjoy thinking and learning, care about children and care about the future. Volunteering as an ethics teacher provides the opportunity to support children to think deeply and well about ethical issues. Down the track, these very same children will be making decisions that will shape their world and ours. Do I think that’s important? Hell yes!
Will I continue with my mid-week 30-minute ethics lesson with a class of 11-year-olds? You bet! It’s my time in the week to slow down, listen well, think deeply and leave more hopeful about the world.
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.
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.
- General enquiries: [email protected]
- Training: [email protected]
- Classroom support: [email protected]
- Communications & media: [email protected]
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.
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.
Ronni with her grandson and author of the book Jessica Chapnik Kahn
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.