Values Education – A Cluster Snapshot
The Melbourne Eastern Region Cluster’s project will build on the successful Manningham Catholic Primary Schools Cluster which, through stages 1 and 2 of the VEGPS project, identified the need for improvement in teaching practice was necessary to impact on student learning. Our participation in VASP would provide a longitudinal study through VEGPS 1 to VEGPS 2 to VASP. Student learning and its proven outcomes, both academic and social-emotional, will improve if the relationship between teacher and student is strong, respectful and trusting; that is, it is values laden.
Our main focus is the power of relationships on teaching and learning. Our main objective is to implement in all eight schools quality teaching to all students by engaging them in their learning which will result in improved student outcomes. The Melbourne Eastern Region Cluster is an extension of the original cluster of five schools. The schools currently involved in the project are :
- St Charles Borromeo School, Templestowe (Lead School)
- Ss Peter and Paul, East Doncaster
- Our Lady of the Pines, Donvale
- St Gregory the Great, Doncaster
- St Kevin’s School, Lower Templestowe
- St Anne’s School, Park Orchards
- Holy Spirit School, North Ringwood
- Our Lady Help of Christians School, Eltham
Our project is directly focussed on improving academic and social outcomes for young Australians by improving their engagement in their learning through positive and meaningful relationships with their classroom teacher. These positive relationships will improve their social emotional learning. The peer mentoring for classroom teachers is a strategy that will improve the quality of the teaching in the classroom. We aim to prove that this strategy will improve the student’s academic and social emotional outcomes. The three areas of special interest are
- Developing student resilience and positive whole-of-school learning environments;
- Improving learning through fostering student wellbeing; and
- Demonstrable improvement in learning engagement and general academic outcomes.
We will professionally develop our staff at each school with an embedded understanding through professional learning and modelling that academic and social emotional outcomes for our students will improve if they are engaged with their learning. This improved engagement will be driven by trusting, respectful relationships with their classroom teacher which will be based on the explicit and implicit Values Education in all the schools in our cluster.
(Thank you to Sue Cahill, Student Wellbeing Coordinator at St. Charles Borromeo School Templestowe for providing this text)
