Ethics complement to SRE project

Kate Lark

This article was published in Living Ethics: issue 80 winter 2010

Kate Lark volunteered for the ethics complement to scripture pilot project because she wanted to contribute to her son’s school. Living Ethics sought her views.

LE: What motivated you to volunteer?

I work full-time. I’m a single-parent and my time is restricted. I would love to help out in the school canteen etc, but it’s difficult for me to devote lengthy stretches of time. The ethics classes are a half-hour slot and I felt that I could incorporate this commitment within my working schedule.

I also believe that school-age children should be taught religious tolerance and undertake comparative religious studies. This is incorporated in the primary school curriculum. I don’t personally see a place for special religious education (SRE) at public schools. Rather, I believe that parents should send their children to religious or spiritual instruction outside of school hours. My son and I have elected that he not attend classes in SRE. As such, my son receives no formal tuition during his half hour of non-scripture. As a concerned parent, I would like an alternative and useful activity for students who do not attend scripture classes.

LE: How has it been presenting the ethics compliment to scripture sessions so far?

At Randwick Public School, we are half-way through the curriculum covering the ten-week pilot program. Professor Philip Cam, who wrote the course, has designed a very user-friendly teaching guide which we were taken through over two days of training. Transferred to my classroom of seventeen year five and six children, the program is so far receiving positive feedback from the students. I do feel both the children and I are enjoying it greatly.

Unlike a usual class lesson, there is no formal ‘instruction’: students sit not at desks but in a circle of chairs, and as teachers we facilitate discussion along the line of ethical enquiry. The children are made aware that they should not look to me for right or wrong answers; they are encouraged to debate and express ideas through a round-circle approach using a speaker’s ball. They are encouraged to respect other speaker’s opinions and build on what people say. There is no writing nor homework.

LE: How are students responding? Have there been any surprises?

The students at Randwick Public School are overwhelmingly enthusiastic. They are bright, articulate and they have much to say. They have very open minds and are not afraid to express their initial ‘gut-reactions’ to a given ethical problem. What I find especially delightful is their seeming collective empathy for the underdog.

In one of the first lessons on ‘fairness’, students were asked to consider a black or white judgment on whether it is fair that a boy receive poor marks for his maths test despite his working very hard.

Overwhelmingly, the students agreed that it was unfair: “maybe the teacher didn’t like him”, “practice makes perfect but maybe he studied the wrong notes”, “he should be rewarded for his effort”.

LE: What are you able to bring to the school where you are volunteering?

I am a teacher with twenty years’ experience teaching foreign language and, currently, English as a second language (ESL) to adult migrants. One of a language teacher’s strengths is the ability to facilitate discussion among the group. I am very happy to volunteer my teaching skills in this pilot program.

With children, this is a new experience for me. Children are lively, enthusiastic, energetic and brimming with opinions and ideas that they are keen to express.

At eleven and twelve years of age, many of them have ants in their pants and have yet to learn how to curb that enthusiasm, allowing for one speaker at a time. A not insubstantial challenge for me has been how to focus the children’s attention on the discussion rules.

Teaching children is 50% teaching and 55% classroom management. Ethics, SRE and the debate over the pilot project aside, I have really come to respect what a fantastic job primary teachers engage in day in, day out. Hats off to them for their devotion and energy.