The ISSEA has completed a number of exciting projects. These range from the introduction of SSEHV into an indigenous state primary school in far north Queensland that drew state and national recognition, to a “turn around” programme for teenagers identified as having special needs in south-east Queensland, and the development of resource materials for kindergartens.
ISSEA introduced SSEHV into an indigenous State Primary School in Cherbourg, Queensland.
The report of a National Values Education Forum 2004, organised and managed by the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), highlighted 12 outstanding case studies of schools regarded as exemplars of best practice approaches to Values Education. The Cherbourg State School experience and comments on the introduction of “…. the Human Values in Education programme that is drawn from a framework developed by Sathya Sai schools operating around the world and is anchored in the five core human values of love, peace, right conduct, non-violence and truth” (pages 41-44).
Read the Report of the National Values Education Forum 2004The Principal of Cherbourg School was recognized for the impact of SSEHV program had on the learning, social skills and emotional wellbeing and physical health of the children. He received national recognition with the award of Queenslander of the Year. At the same time the coordinator of the SSEHV program in Cherbourg School was recognized with one of seven Outstanding Teachers of the Year awards.
“The first human value is Truth. Truth lies in the harmony between thought, word and deed. Those whose thoughts, words and deeds are in perfect harmony are noble ones. This is the truth which great and noble souls have been teaching. Truth comes from one’s own heart.” Sathya Sai Baba
The Sathya Sai U-turn Training School was a “not for profit” programme that was totally free to participating students and was operated by volunteers. The programme was supported by the Sathya Sai Organisation of Australia and Papua New Guinea and was coordinated by the participants of Zone A – South East Queensland
The training programme was based on Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Educare programme, manual skills and positive encouragement. The programme was suitable for male and female students aged 12 to 16 years who had been assessed by their schools as having special needs and required additional support.
The programme was underpinned each week by a simple self-examination activity and a discussion session which focused on five basic principles of Watch your Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character, and your Heart (W.A.T.C.H.).
Development of SSEHV program and syllabus for Preschool/Kindergarten children
From 2008 an EHV program for Kindergarten and Pre-primary Schools was developed for the ISSEA by Ms Merle Pevcic and Dr Tehseen Dhall. This has been used in several state and private schools in Western Australia, in the Sathya Sai School in Australia and in several other locations and countries
This presentation, given at the August 2007 National Education Retreat held in Canberra, provides an overview of the project.
