Welcome to the spring edition of Inquiring Minds, hoping to lift your spirits after the cold, dark months and with lots of inspiring news. In this edition, you can read about our impressive new academic advisory board, with thoughts on that from our director of education Jarrah Aubourg, who heads the board.
Ima Strkljevic, a dedicated regional manager and volunteer in southern Sydney, is doing her PhD on the health benefits of volunteering. We’re thrilled to hear from Ima about the science that says volunteering – plus being a recipient of volunteering – is very good for us, not just socially and emotionally, but in terms of heart health and other measures. Welcome news for all our volunteers who give their time and their mental and physical energy for our students.
Thanks to the generosity of our ethics community, we had a great end-of-tax-year appeal. Your support from that will help us initiate a range of activities over the coming months, such as our second major program review, currently underway. Inside you’ll find a snapshot of what we’ve achieved in the past year with that generous support – having a real impact for the program and helping us create a better future for children across the state through ethics education. Enjoy reading.
Evan Hannah Chief Executive Officer
Acknowledgment of country
Primary Ethics recognises the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which we work. We pay our respects to Aboriginal elders past and present and celebrate their ongoing connections to the lands and waters of Australia.
Primary Ethics is a Registered Charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), the national regulator of charities.
IN THE NEWS
2024 Kinghorn Award
Our third annual Kinghorn Award is now open for nominations. This award honours an individual volunteer or school team that’s made a strong contribution to the success of the ethics program. We want to acknowledge team players, good communicators, volunteers who are supportive of others, reliable and above all committed to ethics education.
Anyone can nominate an ethics volunteer or team and there’s no limit on the number you can nominate. Check out our website blog post for the nomination form: www.primaryethics.com.au/kinghorn-award-2024/
Academic advisory board
Our ethics education program was originally developed in collaboration with academics in philosophy and education. We’re excited to be building on that foundation with the recent establishment of our academic advisory board. This brings respected interdisciplinary experts in the fields of philosophy for children and educational psychology together with members and leadership from within the Primary Ethics staff, to share insights and guidance, collaborate on special projects and expand our ethics program to reach more students. Read more about the board on page 3.
Two-way sharing: Our new academic advisory board
Our new academic advisory board is headed by Primary Ethics’ own director of education Jarrah Aubourg, who has a Masters in Educational Psychology and an Honours degree in Philosophy.
For this edition of Inquiring Minds we asked Jarrah to share a little about his role bringing the new board together and what it means for Primary Ethics.
Our truly amazing curriculum was developed in collaboration with academics and educators – including Dr Sue Knight and Kelby Mason. They put their considerable expertise into creating a truly world-class ethics education program that now delivers 70,000 lessons every year.
It was this history that inspired me to form our new academic advisory board – to both build on this foundation and foster ongoing connections with academics from a range of different disciplines. The board also reflects the fact that we have one of the largest and most successful ethics education and philosophy-withchildren programs in the world. We have accomplished something quite incredible here, something that is of interest to academics worldwide.
From left top: Jacqueline Ullman, Jarrah Aubourg, Nick Brancasio, Kelby Mason
When forming the board, it was important to me that it was interdisciplinary. Our program is one of philosophy and ethics in action and is delivered in a wide range of classrooms. So it’s valuable to consider the program not just in terms of its philosophical rigour, but also in terms of its teaching practices, its accessibility, inclusivity, equity and so on. So we looked to invite academics from several different disciplines to join the conversation. Our board now boasts experts in philosophy, teaching, educational psychology, sociology of education, gender and sexuality, cognitive science and more.
We have accomplished something quite incredible here, something that is of interest to academics worldwide. Jarrah Aubourg
The board’s expertise will enrich our program and ensure we remain at the cutting edge of developments in education and ethical discourse.
The advisory board is a great forum for these academics to come together and not only share their expertise but learn from ours! Those who have been able to observe an ethics class have spoken highly of the experiencehow cool it is to see a program like ours in action instead of just simply reading about the theory of how it might be done!
Read more about the new board members: www.primaryethics.com.au/our-academic-advisoryboard/
Just one thing: the power of helping others
Volunteers form the backbone of our ethics education program – it just would not exist without them. As we make sure to keep telling them, their efforts make a real difference to the children (and their families) who are the recipients of their commitment.
What’s less well known is what volunteering means for their own health, not just mental but physical too.
Recently on our social media we shared an episode of Just One Thing, the podcast by the late Michael Mosley, about the health benefits of volunteering. As well as being very satisfying, volunteering your time and labour can materially benefit your health. For the podcast, Michael Mosley spoke with Dr Edith Chen from Northwestern University in the US who has been investigating the power of helping others. Her research shows that by boosting your mood and empathy, volunteering can lower chronic inflammation, cholesterol and even help you lose weight. It’s also a great way to meet new people!
Primary Ethics volunteer Ima Strkljevic is also investigating this effect, as a public health researcher and PhD candidate at the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, at the University of Sydney. Part of Ima’s topic of research is promotion of healthy ageing through volunteering.
“I think volunteering is an exceptionally important force and activity.”
“I think volunteering is an exceptionally important force and activity.”
Ima Strkljevic
Volunteering can help alleviate loneliness, social isolation and stress and it can also help people develop a support network in their community.
“Volunteering is excellent for both musculoskeletal and mental health. We know that volunteers are more physically active, they have better cognitive skills, they have better social support and connections and they have better self-perceived health. So they see themselves as very healthy individuals. So it is also very important for older Australians to be involved in volunteering.”
“I’d like to add that there is a volunteering threshold to derive health benefits and it is one to two hours a week or 40-100 hours a year. This is the perfect number for a Primary Ethics volunteer.”
Ima’s research and volunteer work was featured recently on the SBS podcast Change Agents, episode ‘Keeping Australians on the Move’: www.sbs.com.au/news/podcastepisode/keeping-australians-on-the-move-and-staying-fitand-healthy/bjplcehkz
Read more about Ima’s research: www.primaryethics. com.au/healthy-volunteers
Curiosity rules in the ethics classroom
In June we held a very special online evening for supporters with our Primary Ethics Chair Bruce Hogan and two of our highly committed volunteer ethics teachers Edwina Scerri and Bruce Issacs.
Edwina Scerri is a psychologist who teaches her own child in a class of six and seven-year-olds in Wagga. Bruce Isaacs, an Associate Professor in Film Studies at Sydney University, chooses not to teach his own child but instead teaches a Year 6 class at his son’s school in the inner west of Sydney each week.
Edwina and Bruce stepped into the Zoom spotlight to share what they find so mentally invigorating in their ethics classrooms - and what motivates them to keep giving that 30 minutes every week.
The webinar was a great success, giving our supporters valuable insights directly from those who take ethics into classrooms.
Read more from Edwina and Bruce here: www.primaryethics.com.au/edwina-and-bruce/
“I’m a psychologist and I ask people questions for a living, but there’s something different now in the way that I interact around my daughter. Those questions come to me more out of curiosity now. It creates another space to explore and be curious. My daughter and I love talking and ethics is a lovely extension. It’s actually her favourite time of the week.”
Edwina Scerri
“My daughter and I love talking and ethics is a lovely extension. It’s actually her favourite time of the week.”
Edwina Scerri
“I love the fact that the curriculum does not dumb anything down. What I wrestle with in students in year six is precisely what I wrestle with in adults undertaking university education.”
Bruce Isaacs
Brilliant Bangalow
Claire McLisky has been the Primary Ethics program coordinator at Bangalow Public School in the far north of the state since 2019. Recently she spoke to the local Bangalow Herald about the value of ethics.
“I started teaching ethics in 2017, when I signed up in anticipation of my daughter starting kindy. Since then I have taught all four stages and have loved getting to know the school and all the smart, cheeky, funny and thoughtful children who have been in my classes. I’ve been the Bangalow coordinator since 2020 (a difficult year!) and am enjoying building and supporting my team of teachers as they discover the delights and challenges of ethics teaching.
“Ethics at primary school level is important for two reasons. Firstly, it gives students an opportunity to develop skills that are essential in our complex world –such as critical thinking, giving evidence-based reasons for their opinions, being able to discuss and disagree with others respectfully and how to make wellconsidered ethical decisions.
“Secondly, without the Primary Ethics program, the students who opt out of Religious Education would have to spend a half hour of their school time doing ‘meaningful activities’ in non-scripture, which mostly seems to just mean colouring in or chatting to their friends.
“Of course, some parents prefer for their students to do non-scripture, which is their right, but many more
choose to enrol their children in the ethics program. Ethics at Bangalow Public School is very popular! Around 60 percent of all students opt for ethics.
In early stages (Kindy and Years 1 and 2), the classes focus on being curious and asking questions, with our trained facilitators employing storytelling and games to get the students engaged. Topics include the difference between knowing and guessing something, changing your mind, telling the truth. In later stages (Years 3 and above), students explore more complex ethical questions, with stories, contemporary issues and real-life scenarios forming the basis of their discussions on issues such as how we should treat living things, voting and fairness in our society.
“Primary Ethics has done a lot of research which shows that our teaching method - using a ‘community of inquiry’ approach where students sit in a circle and share their ideas with each other - improves children’s general reasoning skills as well as their ethical reasoning capabilities.
“We would love to welcome some new volunteers to our team. There are so many benefits that come from teaching ethics - from the chance to engage with young people in a meaningful way and feel connected to the local community, to the opportunity to give back, to the glow that comes from having a really good discussion and having our own assumptions challenged.
“We think our ethics education program is brilliant!”
Bangalow Public School’s ethics teachers, left to right: Angela Saurine, Jane Barker, Deborah Green and Claire McLisky.
The power of purpose: Boosting engagement through workplace volunteering
We’re witnessing a welcome trend of more employers fostering a culture of giving back by encouraging their staff to volunteer, with many even providing dedicated volunteering leave. At Primary Ethics we’re proud to partner with organisations that recognise the power of volunteering and want to help shape a generation of ethical decision-makers by supporting their employees to become ethics teachers.
Cathy Chase, our recruitment and strategic partnerships manager, highlights how Primary Ethics is positioning itself to leverage this growing trend in workplace volunteering. “Organisations are increasingly recognising the value that volunteering brings to employee engagement and purpose. They are also seeking opportunities that provide meaningful professional development. Our volunteers sharpen their critical thinking and ethical reasoning skills with every lesson
“Teaching ethics and opening up the conversation to many viewpoints reminds me of the importance of keeping an open mind. This is critical in any global role because each day I interact with colleagues from different cultures, market conditions, life experience and personalities.”
Jane Hunter, SFI Health employee and ethics volunteer
they teach - skills that are valuable in any professional setting. Volunteering as ethics teachers helps staff build essential communications and ethical-decision-making skills. These experiences can translate directly into them being more effective leadership within an organisation.”
Flexibility is another key factor for today’s workplaces. “With hybrid work schedules, employees need volunteer opportunities that fit with their availability. We offer a huge range of locations and times, making Primary Ethics a perfect fit for employees who want to volunteer near home on their non-office days,” Cathy adds.
Primary Ethics has already begun working with organisations like Mills Oakley and the Department of Education (Early Childhood Division) to promote these opportunities and we’re continuing to expand our reach. If your company supports volunteering, we invite you to join us. Contact us to learn more about how your organisation can get involved or if you’d like to bring ethics volunteering to your workplace.
Read more here: www.primaryethics.com.au/corporatevolunteering-ethics/
Jane Hunter
Your support makes our work possible
Primary Ethics is the sole provider of ethics education in NSW public schools. While our program is powered by volunteers, the generous support of our philanthropic partners and community donors makes our work possible, enabling us to:
• develop and maintain a rigorous and contemporary curriculum; and
• deliver training and high-touch support to empower 2000+ volunteer teachers across NSW.
Your donation will help us shape the next generation of decision-makers.
“In time, not very much time at all, it will be the decisions of the children we teach today that will shape the world.”
Dr Simon Longstaff, The Ethics Centre CEO and Primary Ethics Board
Donate now: primaryethics.com.au/support-us/ Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.
For more information please contact: Georgie McGrillen Fundraising Manager
