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Moral Education and Australian Values Conference

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When: Friday 27 April 2007, 6.30-8.30pm
Saturday 28 April 2007, 9am-5pm
Venue: Seminar Room 2 & 3,
Monash Conference Centre,
Level 7, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne
Coordinator: Dr. Inna Semetsky

The conference was sponsored by the Culture, Language and Diversity research strength of the Faculty of Education, Monash University.

About the conference

It is often said that moral experience is a puzzle and moral education remains its stumbling interpreter. Is it really so? A Monash conference “Moral Education and Australian Values” held in April 2007 showcased schooling in the larger context of Australia’s multicultural society. The rationale for the conference was motivated by the major national initiative, “The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools’ (Commonwealth of Australia 2005).

The importance of investigating the theoretical foundations for, and the practical implications of, values education was stressed at the 2005 and 2006 National Values Education Forums, sponsored by the Australian Government as part of its $29.7m commitment to its values education program. We believe that the overall educational goals and healthy growth of young Australians are inseparable from their learning to become moral people capable of leading ethical lives in the country where “we are all Australians” (Steve Bracks, The Age March 2, 2006).

Conference program

Friday 27 April 2007

6.30-7.30pm Public lecture: Terry Lovat, University of Newcastle (welcome by Jane Kenway)

“Synergies and Balance between Values Education and Quality Teaching”
7.30-8.30pm Reception

Saturday 28 April 2007

9-10am Panel Discussion: "The value of Australian values", by Terry Lovat (Newcastle), Inna Semetsky (Monash - panel chair), Jane Kenway (Monash), Voula Messimeri-Kianidis (Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia - FECCA ), Phillip Payne (Monash).
10-10.30am Morning tea
10.30 –12pm Philosophical perspective (Darrell Reid, Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools (VAPS), chair/discussant)

John Ozolins (ACU) “Creating public values: Schools as moral habitats”

Andrew Furco (UC Berkeley, USA) “Deepening our Understanding of Values Education: Project Heart, Head, Hands”

Scott Webster (Monash) “Does the Australian National Framework for Values Education stifle an Education for World Peace?”
12-1pm Keynote: Nel Noddings, Stanford University (welcome by Inna Semetsky)

“Critical Thinking and Critical Lessons"
1-2pm Lunch
2-3pm Cultural Studies’ perspective (Vicki Molloy (R.M.I.T.), chair/discussant)

Georgina Tsolidis ( U. of Ballarat ) “Simpson, his donkey and the rest of us – Public pedagogies of Australian values”

Helen O’Shea (Monash) “Cultural pluralism and the ethics of teaching world music in Australia”
3-4.30pm Historical Perspective (Annabel Astbury, History Teachers’ Association of Victoria (HTAV), chair/discussant)

Arran Gare (Swinburne) “Educating for Democracy”

Neil Hawkes (Oxford , UK) “Inculcating values: a case study of West Kidlington School”

Anna Clark (Monash) “Teaching national narratives”
4.30-5pm Drinks and nibbles

Papers presented at the Conference