Could you be an ethics teacher?

By Kate Holden, writer, parent and volunteer ethics teacher

Every Tuesday morning in term time I go into, first, one classroom for half an hour, then another, and volunteer to teach ethics at my son’s school as part of the state’s Primary Ethics program. It’s not always a straightforward hour, but it’s definitely one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of my week.

Along with fellow parents, grandparents of students and generous members of the public, I am one of countless volunteers who, since 2011, have turned up in more than 500 New South Wales schools to engage in deep, thoughtful and useful discussion of ethical issues with kids from kindergarten to year 12.

‘Scripture’ has long been part of the school week, but for decades students who don’t attend the special religious instruction classes that are included in the weekly school schedule were required to wait out the period, doing ‘nonscripture’, which usually means colouring-in.

They were not allowed to learn anything related to the curriculum, as that was considered unfair to the students who were in religious instruction classes. After much lobbying from P&C associations, parents and The Ethics Centre, the state government allowed Primary Ethics, a non-profit organisation, to establish a program to give non-religious students an equivalent experience and the opportunity to get stuck into big and essential questions.

“If someone’s mean to you should you still be friends with them?”; “When is it okay to stare?”; “Is it fair to keep animals in captivity?” are some of the dilemmas we work through. Even the very young kindies get a chance, through lessons full of songs, stories and animal noises, to learn intelligent questioning and, even more important, the ability to listen, agree and disagree respectfully, and to sometimes change or defend their opinion.

NSW Justices Association Wollongong Branch provides free JP services at Community Desks at Thirroul, Corrimal, Wollongong and Dapto libraries.

All services given by JPs are free of charge. They cannot give legal advice and there are certain forms and documents that they are unable to sign or witness, but they can assist you in finding where these can be dealt with.

For more info contact Ray Vaughan on 0419 293 524.

If this sounds solemn, it’s not! And volunteers are thoroughly trained through Primary Ethics: I got several sessions of online instruction and coaching, exercises to practise with, and now, every week, a script of the lesson to follow. It’s very prepared and easy to follow. And, wow, it’s fun.

There are rules about how to engage responsibly with students, but we always have a big laugh and I’m frequently excited by how thoughtful and curious kids can be when they have a good question to think about.

If you’d like to learn more, questions are answered and training organised at www.primaryethics.com.au. Adults of any age are welcome, as long as you’re cleared to work with children. Ethics teachers are always needed, so please consider spending half an hour a week on this worthwhile endeavour!

Visit www.primaryethics.com.au