Current Status  -  July 2007

In Hungary in 1997, the Living Values Education Programme (LVEP) started with two teachers who experimented with values activities with their students with the translation of the first booklet of Living Values Activities in Hungarian.

ASSOCIATION

In December 2004, the National Association of LivingValues (Association to Develop Our Inner Values) was registred officialy. The acronym for the association, B.É.K.E., means PEACE in Hungarian. From that time all the activities, events of Living Values in Hungary have been organized in the framework of „B.É.K.E.”. Our first step was to renewed our permission (accreditation) of refresher course for educators, which was given by the Ministry of Education in June 2005.

REFRESHER (POSTGRADUATE TRAINING) COURSE FOR TEACHERS

In April 1998, we applied to the Ministry of Education for an authorization for a course for teachers (30 hours/4 days) with the title, “Our Inner Values – International Educational Program”. The course is for teachers teaching children from 6- to 18-years old at schools. At the end of 1999 we received permission from the Ministry for Education to start the refresher course. In Hungary, every seven years all the teachers have to take courses accredited by the Ministry of Education – up to 120 hours. With the authorization of the Ministry of Education this course became an accredited one.

The first officially accepted refresher course (postgraduate training) was held in Szob at a primary school (Fekete István Általános Iskola) with 30 participants from 23 to 26 June 2000. Sue Emery, the LVE Coordinator in Greece and one of the international trainers, was invited as a trainer. Up until 2007 more than 100 educators (teachers and kindergarten teachers) finished the course.

Many of them started to implement LVE in different ways. Some of them have used the method of integrating LVE into their subjects in the classroom, others have used LVE after school, in special study circles for relaxation, for special values events or in different events of the schools. Some of them have organized summer-camps with values activities with the aim of creating deeper relationships between the teachers and students, and between students.

Till now eight teachers have finished the LVEP TTT (Train The Trainers) in Oxford.

PARENT GROUPS

After some demonstrations in different schools in October 2004 by the initiative of teachers of the primary school Érdi Bolyai János, we started a Parent Group facilitated by Sue Emery. This meeting (with more than 50 parents) was so successful and useful, than we continued the group meetings every month for the whole school year. Two teachers who had finished the refresher course from this school have been the facilitators of this group.

During the years we have started with parent groups at different schools, usually where one or more teachers finished the refresher course and felt it significance to involve parents in the education of the children in an unusual, but very effective way with the help of the LVE. In addition, we have a very special parent group in a Public Library, one of the branches of the Central Public Library of the capital (Budapest). Here are some words from the Director of the Library, Horváth Istvánné, which you could read in the Newsletter of the Central Public Library. You can find some pictures about the activities of the parent group in their website. (www.fszek.hu)

Do I need the Living Values?

The parents responded:

“…we really have to stop, seek and experience our inner values, which strengthen and give us a base of comparison, especially in our daily life full of tensions, expectations and uncertainty.”

“These words might be the best to invite young and older parents and grandparents to the paren group lead by Sophie Fried, where our being together means a real recharging (filling up) ourselves, rethinking our opinions and beliefs, which seemed firm and bringing to light many small ideas and making experiments.”

“I, who organized these meetings every month since April 2006 and brought up two children with a balanced family background, never thought that I could get some newness from these workshops. But all my doubts disappeared. What has happened? About ten people after their daily work, tried a different means to become themselves. The recipe seems very simple – from the 12 values we have choosen one and analized its meaning. The communcation of those values in our everyday life have given us many challenges, but during the workshops we have known more and more not only about the values and how to use them, but about ourselves, our old habits which could be melt. To think, to "work", to play together as well as the soft music has created such an atmosphere. We have been able to liberate and open ourselves while remianing focused. The real benefit for me is what I have gotten from the others in the group – the joy of sharing, giving a smile or a kind word to each other – and seeing how many different ways we could understand, approach, and look at the same value and the same situation.”

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Over the years we have given lectures about LVE, hosted lectures by LVE Trainers from abroad, participated in exhibitions and educational fairs in Hungary and published articles in different newspapers and magazins.

This year we have started with a Newsletter for all the teachers and people who are interested in implementation of LVE at the field of education or in their life to have a forum to share and learn from each other’s experiencies.

In the framework in the National Association (B.É.K.E.) we have developed methods and ways to make LVEP more known in Hungary.

One of our last demonstrations was an LVE Peace English lesson in a framework of a pedagogical professional day (on 26 October 2006) in a town called Érd where 26 teachers from different schools and the representative of the local municipality participated. The aim of the lesson was to show how you can create a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere with the help of soft, relaxing music, visualization exercises, brainstorming and mind map techniques. The teacher, Kaderjákné Bartkó Éva, finished the refresher course in 2004, and she has used and developed the methods of LVE in many different ways since that time.

The last demontration was a workshop for a parent group in the framework of The Week of Birth in May 2007, which is a series of events all over the country every year. Their slogan is To give and have a worthwhile birth. The B.É.K.E. was invited, because with the help of the LVE you can learn how to have a worthwhile life.

Number of Sites Using Living Values Education 

Total number of sites  6

Four primary schools, one kindergarten and one library

 
Impact