Tag: ethics classes

New ethics classes in the Hunter

Students at Morpeth and Hinton Public Schools are attending ethics classes for the first time due to the efforts of parents and community members and the support of the school.

The Primary Ethics program has been running at other Maitland area schools such as Dungog and Tenambit since 2015.

Designed for primary school aged children, the classes give children a chance to develop skills in critical thinking and in making well-reasoned decisions. Volunteers are trained as ethics teachers and they facilitate the discussion using the Primary Ethics curriculum. The next two day training workshop will be held in Newcastle on April 7 and 8.

“My kids really enjoyed their first ethics class at Hinton,” said Holly Moore, mother of Violet, 9 and Banjo, 11 who were among those to take the classes for the first time this term.
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Parents need all options at once

Media Release Friday 10 March 2017 

Creating a level playing field for Ethics and Special Religious Education in NSW Schools.

Department of Education policy instructs NSW public primary schools to make available a weekly Special Religious Education (SRE) and Special Education in Ethics (SEE) timeslot.

Last December the Department of Education released its new guide for schools instructing them on how to manage enrolments in SRE and Ethics in the 2017 school year.

Below is the flowchart designed to explain how SRE and SEE enrolments should be managed. This flowchart is part of the support materials the department supplies to assist schools to comply with the Religious Education Policy and Special Education in Ethics Policy.

In 2017 it is not an easy process. Instead of the clear form that parents used to get that clearly showed them what the options were for their child; namely a scripture option, the ethics option or supervised free time, there is now a complicated process that creates confusion, effectively hides the ethics option and adds extra admin for schools.

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