Just what values are we talking about?

- The Age 21/2/2004

"The PM sparked debate about values in
state schools. But what exactly did he mean,
asks Ray Willis.

The Prime Minister excited great interest
among educationists, students and parents
when he suggested recently that the lack
of values education in state schools is
encouraging a move by some families to
private schools.

The PM didn't elaborate sufficiently on
his meaning of the term "values" and
therefore left himself exposed to a
chorus of abuse from people who,
quite rightly, argued that state
schools, just as much as private
schools, were well into the business
of teaching universal values such
as tolerance, hard work, ecological
sustainability, equal rights for all etc.

The chorus was loud and irrefutable
- if we are speaking of widely held,
universally accepted values.

But if the PM was so likely to be
howled down, what made him think
the issue of values had any credence
at all in the public arena?
The answer to this question
depends on definition - which of
the following was the PM talking about?

1. Teaching a different set of values.


Apart from universally accepted values,
there are sub-sets of values that
relate to:
Australian traditions and British institutions;
Christian-based and other religion-based ideas;
personal behaviour, manners, societal expectations
and civic responsibilities;
intellectual rigour as opposed to ideas
of "group think" and "political correctness".

The PM did not attempt to specify exactly
what "values" he was talking about.

2. How values are taught effectively.

While individual teachers are great
exponents of values education,
their teaching can be quite
haphazard in terms of whether
individual students gain reasonable
exposure to a reasonable
cross-section of values education.

The approaches and materials that
teachers use - topics, novels,
plays etc - can vary markedly
from one class to another and
thus the effectiveness of values
education can be quite different
from one student to another.

The amount of time taken in class
to discipline disruptive students
rather than teach subject matter
can seriously damage the effectiveness
of values education delivered to the class.

3. The place of values education
in the total ethos of the school.

To teach the whole range of values
effectively, schools must incorporate
values in the entire ethos of
the institution. A school's values
must be stated and reflected in the
entire program and entire structure
of the organisation.

From its publicity to its curriculum,
its co-curricular program and its
whole range of supportive statements
and activities (assemblies, speech nights,
sports days, house competitions,
debating programs, political interests,
music programs, leadership programs,
excursions, discipline policy,
academic expectations, newsletters etc),
the school's value system should be
known and understood by all
students and their families.

Without the whole-school approach,
the effectiveness of an individual
teacher's values teaching will be quite low.

4. The perception of values in
different types of schools.

When parents choose schooling for
their child, they select a package.
A major part of this package,
particularly at secondary schools,
involves provision of a total
"values-based" education as evidenced
in facilities, programs etc.

Selection of primary schooling is
based far more upon the "atmosphere"
in a school and the individual care
and attention given by the school
to nurture the child. State primary
schools have done an excellent job
in maintaining an atmosphere of
care and attention and most parents
are therefore very happy to send
their child to the local state
primary school where such values
are evident.

Parents tend to choose secondary
schooling for a more complex
range of values-related aspects
of education. It is here that
state schools have generally
lost ground to the private schools.
It is here that the values considered
are far more complex than "atmosphere"
and "care" and are far more related to
the provision of facilities and
programs that are often very expensive.

Hence the argument that the move to
private schooling has been an issue
of funding - of course it has - but
only because the use of funds has
been carefully placed by private
schools in the provision of a package
in which "values education" is paramount.

The PM should have been far more
precise in what he was driving at.
He may have avoided the clamour of
abuse to which he has been subject.

On the other hand, those who have
protested about the PM's statement
should have been far more appreciative
of the importance of the debate about
values that needs to take place in an
intellectual atmosphere if state
secondary schools are to maintain
the support of the public.

Ray Willis is the principal of Melbourne High School."

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