Botswana - Values Education for Children and Young Adults

Current Status - June 2002

Living Values: An Educational Program is currently running in four private primary schools as a school-wide programme and in one pre-school. This participation was the result of the first educator training from the private and government sectors in June 2001.

In September 2001, a one day educator training was organized for teachers at two primary schools - Botlhale Primary School and Legae Primary School. Each school chose to focus on a value for the term. Botlhale chose the value peace and Legae chose love.

In Botswana we began LVE with a presentation organized by the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Education. There were representatives from secondary schools, teacher training colleges and the fields of vocational training, guidance and counselling. Living Values was subsequently presented to the Ministry of Education's Guidance and Counselling Department. As a result, they have taken a copy of LVE's Values Activities for Children Ages 8-14 with a view to possibly incorporating it into their existing programme.

Since January 2000 LVE's local coordinator, Samantha Fraser, and a few of her colleagues, have been using LVE's Living Values Activities for Children Ages 8-14, as well as other resources, to introduce value activities at Northside Primary School in standards two and three. They have covered the values of Peace, Respect, Cooperation and Tolerance. The results have been pleasing. The best feedback has been from parents where they have given examples of their children reminding them of a particular value covered in class. One parent noted that there was a definite improvement in relationships, especially amongst the girls. When compared to previous years, the children have shown more understanding and are beginning to have a lot more tolerance.

Samantha said: "The class that I teach did an assembly on tolerance which really grabbed the attention of the whole school. They shared ways in which a negative response can be transformed into a positive one just through being understanding. The other teachers were able to make reference to the assembly within their own classrooms if they noted intolerant behaviour.

"The colleague I am working with never used to teach RE although it is part of the curriculum: once a week for 30 minutes. We now spend that much time on values as a separate subject although there are also plenty of opportunities within other subject areas. She feels much happier teaching values as she feels that it is more universal, particularly as Northside School has children from a range of cultural and religious backgrounds."

Number of Sites Using Living Values Education

Total number of sites 4

Impact

These are some of the reflections from teachers at Botlhale:

"As an educator the LVEP has helped me look closer at myself and my approach to the pupils."

"I have witnessed a calmer environment in my class. Generally the pupils are taking more responsibility for their actions. Those who seem to have the hardest struggle are those from more demanding family situations in one way or another. However with continual reinforcement a difference will be made."

The Headteacher described the LVEP programme as a gift, which was offering the principal foundation that she needed in a new and developing school.

The Living Values trainers, who also work in the primary sector, were also able to implement the programme at the schools where they are currently teaching.

These schools include Northside Primary and Broadhurst Primary.

The Headteacher at Northside shared the following:

"At Northside School we have come to believe that we need to incorporate values specifically into our termly planning, throughout the school to help us understand each value more deeply and apply it more effectively. This has been good for all of us and I believe we are seeing both an enriched curriculum and a growing thoughtful awareness in children and adults. Values education will always be a vital ingredient of Northside philosophy."

A teacher at Broadhurst, who attended the facilitator's course in Oxford, shared that most teachers have been very enthusiastic about the programme and have shared resources and displayed their work around the school and in their classrooms.

In the government sector, there is currently very good links with the Secondary Department and Teacher Training Department in the Ministry of Education. A lot of the work on values has been focused on giving a 2 - 3 hour presentation of the programme to teachers - incorporating some of the training ideas in the LVEP Educator Training Guide. One of the noticeable things about these presentations is that they have made teachers more aware of their ability to help a child blossom and succeed.

Ms. Gwen Kgabi from the Teacher Training Department of the Ministry of Education shared the following:

"Once exposed to the LVEP, I finally came to the conclusion that any education system was not complete without a deliberate effort to integrate into the mainstream syllabus the LVEP. Several times we have heard complaints that today's breed of graduates seem to have a gap in their education - they do not seem to be able to apply themselves appropriately to situations. Hence, at the workplace money and time is being spent trying to develop people's commitment to their jobs. This, I have concluded, comes as a result of concentrating too much on the teaching of the subject matter without emphasising application in real life situations.

Doing in-service training for teachers, I have found it useful to incorporate into my training sessions, bits of the LVEP. These sessions have evoked discussions, which show that teachers are beginning to think of what it really means to be in this profession. Although we cannot expect massive immediate impact, I have observed change in a few of them. They have reconsidered and reaffirmed their commitment to teaching. We need to keep our hope up that this commitment is contagious, and that in future there would be no need to worry about the teachers parents entrust their children to."

Mr. Morake, a Principal education Officer from the Secondary Education, also stated that LVEP can help to reiterate child-centred methods. He felt that the programme would help prepare children for peace and assist them to be at peace with themselves.

17 educators participated in a 1-day TTT held at Northside Primary School in Gaborone on Saturday 9th June 2001. There were representatives from the Guidance and Counselling division of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Ministry of Education - (Teacher Training and Development and Secondary Education Dept.) from three government secondary schools, one primary school, two private primary schools and one pre school.

The training opened with an introduction to LVE and an icebreaker for participants. On display there were many examples of children's work on respect, peace and tolerance. This gave participants a chance to see the positive effects and the quality of work produced when working with values.

The training generated a lot of question and comments. The general feeling was that a values-based approach was really needed in schools. An educational psychologist from Guidance and Counselling commented that we have to create a culture of values within our schools if we are to effect change. She added that we cannot leave values to the guidance and counselling teachers and moral education teachers - it has to be a whole school commitment.

A primary school teacher said that she felt inspired, motivated and energised by the Programme and decided that she would make time on a regular basis to teach values.

The evaluations completed by participants showed that the programme was well received and appreciated.

It was suggested that another training programme be organised to seed the programme and that a values exhibition be organised for schools so that people are able to see some of the practical work that children can do around key values.

As a result of the training we have been given an hour and half slot by Teacher Training and Development to look at the benefits of values education for Staff Development Coordinators at both primary and secondary levels. They will be having a 4-day workshop on Population, Family Life and Education on 23rd July 2001. On 20th June 2001 Radio Botswana (the educational division) interviewed us about LVE. It was a chance to share the benefits of a value-based approach and also the need for staff development in this area.