The five values are conveyed through a number of related values which are summarised below for illustration, although many more can be added under each main value. Respect for parents, Respect for teachers, Honesty, Good manners, Regard for duty. Concern for environment, Unity; Harmony, Social awareness, Respect for all religions. Theme for the week. This is the focus of the whole lesson and may be represented by a quotation, prayer or poem.
This component is a powerful tool that can be used in assembly and can help to counterbalance the negative images transmitted to children through TV, VCR, etc. Children are asked to discuss the theme or quotation as appropriate. There was an owl lived in an oak. The more he heard, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why aren't men like that wise old bird? It encourages positive thinking; helps develop self-confidence, introspection, humility.
It is by no means obvious how in our educational practices, we educate the 'inner self'. It seems to me that this will be a crucial area for our attention in the twenty first century in Britain and a great deal of thought needs to go into thinking about it. Children are encouraged to sit quietly for a few minutes every day. It is a very powerful tool because with constant practice children become more receptive and intuitive.
It is recommended that every class should start, if possible, with a couple of minutes of this exercise. The regular use of this tool will reduce the class noise and improve concentration. Silent sitting can be introduced in various ways. The teacher has an important role to play as the guidance given through the voice has an impact on the children. The speed and tone of delivery are important to its success.
The benefits of silent sitting are: Silent sitting is a very effective tool for young children especially in the age group years and helps them to be in touch with their 'inner-self'. The need for this is widely recognised. Story telling is an ancient art. Long before the introduction of writing, information was passed down in the form of stories. Most religious and world leaders have used story telling to explain and illustrate their teachings.
Stories have a deep effect on children. Something told in the form of stories will be remembered and treasured, which otherwise might soon have been forgotten. Story telling is a very good vehicle to convey values, stimulate imagination and create fun and participation in the lesson.
At the end of the story, the teacher acts as a facilitator and motivates the children to participate in a general discussion around the issues arising from the story. Children are invited to share their feelings, express their views and relate their own life experiences. To summarise, story telling helps to develop listening skills, generates interest, develops creativity, imparts knowledge and provides inspiration. Johnson, for example, lists a number of activities that can stimulate children intellectually.
Read a lot of books to your children especially ones without lots of pictures and tell your children lots of stories Telling your children a story helps to stimulate their internal picture making possibilities. In the education of the future, music for every person will be deemed as necessary as reading and writing is at present, for it will be clearly seen that it is a most powerful means for bringing life, health and strength.
Prentice Mulfors 'Thought forces'. Most children like to sing, but may be shy to sing on their own. Singing creates a joyful atmosphere and is a good way of creating unity, harmony and self-confidence in children. The effect of song remains with the person long after the class is finished and the values that are in the lyrics will remain in the child's consciousness for a long time.
Recent research has confirmed the positive effect of music in a variety of situations including class work.
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Benefits of group singing include: Group activities consist of two words: These words convey their meaning and importance. All round development of children requires them to grow up and get on well with others. Children learn to communicate, co-operate and share with one another. They need to be effective listeners too. One of the main purposes of group activities is for the children to learn how to work and play in a harmonious way. Johnson points out that all activities in which children use their hands, feet and whole body in performing purposeful physical activities, help develop children's gross motor skills and myelinate pathways in the higher brain.
Activities such as knitting, woodworking, origami, string games, finger games, circle games, painting, drawing and colouring help develop fine motor skills and also myelinate pathways to the higher brain. The benefits of group activities in addition to the above include: A typical EHV hour can take various forms. We can take one of the five values as the theme and use a particular related value. We can then use all the five teaching components. Although only one related value is made explicit, the story or song may contain other values too which children will be encouraged to explore in discussion.
The lesson need not use all the five components in one hour although use of silent sitting and positive thought or prayer is recommended. It should be noted that a number of related values are labelled under each main values but in many ways they can be interchanged. Ultimately, all the five values have their origin in Love. Thus there is considerable scope for the development of the teaching approach.
The crucial role is assigned to the teacher. The impact of the lesson plan does not necessarily lie in any one of the methods or even in the specific value itself, but it is the combination of the values and the components which provides its uniqueness. Furthermore, over time, the purpose is to develop the "inner connectedness" of the child. The subjects are taught in each country according to the national curriculum requirements. However, it is still possible to integrate the teaching of values in all the subject areas which include arts subjects such as History, Geography and Languages and also science subjects.
As one value is taken as the theme of the week, it is possible for other teachers to integrate values as far as possible in their own subject areas. Subjects such as History and Geography lend more easily to the teaching of values. The lives of great persons can be very illustrative of values conveyed. Jumsai provides a demonstration of how values can be integrated into Sciences and Mathematics. Burrows discusses and illustrates the integration of human values in Arts subjects and Extra-Curricular activities. In Home Economics, the teacher may decide to offer an open choice to students from a range of related values.
Activities can then be constructed around this theme. Students can be asked to make pizzas starting from costing budgeting and not wasting ; buying ingredients working co-operatively; good manners to sales staff ; baking the pizzas awareness, cleanliness and care and then sharing the pizzas between themselves and with others, eating them with thanks and gratitude, then clearing up afterwards with friendship - all involving group activities.
Different reactions and responses can be expected in terms of willingness to share, clear up, etc. This can become the focal point of the EHV hour in terms of final discussion analysing how they felt and what feelings were present. Both positive and negative feelings should be identified and accepted. They can then be discussed without criticism. Currently, the Sathya Sai Monthly Newsletter which is available through the Sathya Sai website gives suggestions on how to integrate values in curriculum subjects.
Taplin makes some practical suggestions on addressing contemporary problems in schools through the use of the five values. Being more truthful in dealing with pupils or colleagues does not mean that one has to be blunt or hurt somebody else's feelings by telling them something unkind. But it does mean telling in a thoughtful way. One way that teachers can model right action is by taking advantage of every incidental opportunity to talk to the children about behaviours that are acceptable and those that are not.
Constantly reinforcing positive behaviour is another way to encourage right action. Teachers can contribute significantly to a quality classroom environment and hence model appropriate values to pupils by finding ways to be able to feel a constant state of peace themselves Speaking to them in an appropriate tone will help them to recognise the importance of remaining in a constant peace Responding to pupils with gentleness provides a model that helps them in the development of their own inner peace.
When dealing with an angry child it can be helpful to use a "time-out" place where a child can "cool down" to a state where it is feasible to reason with her. When the child has settled down, the teacher is able to discuss the reason for conflict and the consequences of being angry. Make pupils aware of the physical damage to health that can be caused by excessive anger and by suppressing it - teach them to see that conflict, if properly managed, can be a constructive way to grow and learn.
Interact with colleagues and pupils from heart to heart rather than head to head. Teachers who consciously practise acting and reacting to their pupils and their colleagues with compassion and acceptance find that their interactions are more positive because they are able to respond to the situations around them with a different attitude and they are able to be more accepting of others' faults and weaknesses. Modelling non-violence can incorporate values such as making sure that actions and words do not harm another person, showing genuine pleasure when somebody does well in some venture and showing concern for conservation and the environment.
Non-violence also means showing respect and understanding of the diversity of people's faiths and cultures around us. To summarise, the three approaches used in the SSEHV programme provide a powerful system to elevate the development of the whole child nurtured in a value-oriented environment paying full attention at the same time to the requirements of the national curriculum. The most comprehensive study is the evidence from the schools in Zambia the first of which was started in Kanu referring to the transformation power of human values reported on the independent research conducted by Dr Peter Chomba Manchishi, of the School of Education, University of Zambia.
Most of the pupils before joining the Sathya Sai School at Ndola were undisciplined, poor academically and also spiritually and morally.
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Today most of them have changed for the better. Although, the impact of the programme in terms of changes in behaviour and the academic results is visible in most cases, the SSEHV programme has a lasting long term effect on the child which may not be easily measurable. Kanu has given a lead in the practical application of the Human Values approach to Water Management in Africa.
With rapid globalization and urbanization, our societies are increasingly becoming multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual. Widening income disparity is a fact of life in most African societies. For stability and prosperity amid such wide diversity, our society must draw upon, as never before, its reserve of values such as humanism, sharing and caring and respect for the dignity of the individual.
The five human values: Love, Peace, Truth, Right Conduct and Non-violence, which are inherent in every human being, are the perennial streams which alone can provide sustenance to the nurturing of these societal values in young minds. Water education provides a practical and useful context to inculcate these Human Values through formal as well as non-formal channels of education. The VEC was established in to promote and develop values education and values in education, to help individuals develop as responsible and caring persons and live as participating members of a pluralist society.
Dialogue is seen as a particularly effective way to learn because it engages us emotionally as well as stimulates thinking. VEC shares the vision of a multicultural state 'based on a shared commitment to diversity and dialogue within the framework of a broadly agreed body of common values'.
We are all too aware of the heavy responsibilities of the teachers with multiple duties in addition to delivering the curriculum requirements. We are also aware that the stress level of teachers, as indeed of many other public service workers, is very high. It is in this context that this project aims to create a positive dialogue within the teaching communities.
The human values approach emphasises that teachers have to live the values to be able to convey them to the class. The teachers need to have positive approaches. Some practical ways of creating a positive classroom environment using the human values approach were suggested earlier. The second project complements this by aiming to encourage teachers and schools to be 'listening communities' to meet the diverse needs of the pupils. It reiterated that every society needs to be cohesive as well as respectful of diversity and must find ways of nurturing diversity while fostering a common sense of belonging and shared identity among its members.
The Macpherson Report The Report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, identified institutional racism as a major cause of social exclusion in Britain. The existence of racism extends in all areas of public life including education. The Report made specific recommendations on:. Last summer's disturbances in a number of the North of England towns has led to a number of reports:. All these reports have recommendations on wide ranging issues to include citizenship and shared values, community cohesion, immigration, diversity, and education.
The Cantle Team, for example, has called for a national debate to help develop shared principles of citizenship. Despite the number of such Reports, the strengthening of legal provisions under the Race Relations Act , and the Citizenship curriculum, there is a great need to have a positive understanding of what is involved in terms of the delivery of education.
Unless teachers are comfortable with their feelings on these issues, providing them with a curriculum structure alone will not yield the desired results. To illustrate in a broader context, for example, in the ensuing debate at the publication of Parekh Report which stirred up a lot of debate on the concept of 'Britishness', Stuart Hall one of the members of the Commission on Parekh Report made an important observation:.
How do you change the culture so that when people say 'Britain's finest hour' they see, as well as the young English and British people who you know kept Germans at Bay, they also see the West Indian and Indian pilots who volunteered to come and do something for Britain in ? In a recent House of Lords Debate on Multi-ethnicity and Multi-culturalism 20 March , Lord Parekh leading the debate, put the question to the Government as follows:.
It is in this wider context that the project proposal has emerged. The national curriculum has rightly stated that education influences and reflects the kind of society we want to be. However, we must also accept that education practices which reflect and celebrate multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity and have structures and policies in place, which are directed to racial equality and are inclusive in all areas of school life, are yet to be realised for most schools in Britain.
We believe that work of voluntary organisations is important in creating a dialogue locally and through this process help schools to develop their own approaches and practices. We are inviting schools from the Gateshead and Newcastle area to participate in Dialogue workshops in the next academic year.
The programme will take the form of three one-day workshops initially. The timings and venue are under planning, but provisionally they are likely to be between November and May This will be followed by school centred work. The first phase of the project will offer mentors and learners an opportunity to reflect on the dialogic strategies available in their own contexts.
There will be a need to explore networks of expertise in the local area, reflect on strengths and weaknesses and the potential partnerships with the education community. This is the first step in creating the dialogical relations necessary to the project. Member organisations of VEC have particular expertise to respond to different levels of the dialogical task. We describe this as the intrapersonal, interpersonal and group levels of learning. At this level we are concerned with the inner dialogue.
We explore counselling and psychotherapeutic strategies which respond to personal needs. We rehearse the inner dialogue associated with cognitive development, examine its association with philosophical inquiry and relate it to the personal search of religious and moral education. The emphasis for teachers is on understanding the process and strategies for developing awareness, insight, empathy and moral development. We provide opportunities for paired work and group work, but the learning focus is personal.
It is the I which is important. At this level, we are focused on the I-We interface. Dialogical relations mean that what I can do alone may not be what we can do together. How do we understand and react to the tensions in interaction? In an ethnic minority context the inner dialogue may be thought to be sound in terms of knowing what is right, but how the individual behaves in interpersonal relationships under group pressure may challenge personal ethics.
Interpersonal-perspective taking can break down under stress. Working on assertiveness, ethical dilemmas, discussion strategies in the classroom, developing group work and exploring the capacity for deliberative competence within the interpersonal context, helps to increase understanding awareness and skill in addressing these challenges. In a similar way we can observe that the intra-personal and interpersonal dialogues rehearsed in school may break down in stressful situations in the community.
Civil society consists of public spheres where questions of belief and faith, morality, world view and philosophy of education are played out. Members of VEC have contributed to the development of dialogue in different contexts so that these questions can be reflected on and the dynamics of power, decision-making and decision-taking can be understood.
We ask all teachers to develop an understanding of the connections between these strategies. We do not expect all teachers to become skilled exponents of the strategies, but rather to have experienced them. We are interested in teachers' understanding of the different levels of the task, so that it might inform the development of their own communication style in the classroom. Strategies are not to be acquired to be put on as teachers walk into the classroom - they have to be lived.
VEC believes that it is by putting a dialogical metaphor, rather than a curriculum delivery metaphor, at the heart of education that schools can achieve their educational potential. Connecting with multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity; listening, communicating and interrelating with focus primary school years. We hope to use the insights gained through the Value of Dialogue project applying these to our concerns on multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity.
It is based on the principles of schools becoming listening communities and developing as communities of inquiry around the notion of being a citizen in multi-ethnic Britain. We also hope to use the Sathya Sai EHV framework in the context of the issues relating to multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity and offer personal and social development programmes that incorporate these and the curriculum aspects.
The report by Blair and Bourne et al DfEE, investigated school practices in over 20 multi-ethnic schools, to examine how these schools were attempting to raise the achievements of all students while taking into account the diverse needs of ethnic group students. They identified various features of an effective school. The authors conclude that in addition to these known indicators of effectiveness, to be successful, multi-ethnic schools need to add a particular slant: The Creative Teaching of Religious Education:. Did God Become Man?
Praying with Our Hands. Faith in the neighborhood: Faith in the Neighborhood: South Cardiff Interfaith Network. Primary School Assemblies for Religious Festivals. A Beginner's Guide to God. A Pluralistic Portrait of God. Pass Your Class Study Guides. Unit 2 Religion and Ethical Themes Welsh-language edition. A Way Beyond Religion. Unit 1 Religion and Philosophical Themes.
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