Advocacy on Education

This project is based on the network established during previous projects coordinated by the Arrupe Center and is an answer to the need for advocating Christian values in education as well as to the Christian parents’ request for more influence to shape school programs, school mission, and social commitment of the school.

Our activities will consist of research and study of current hot issues concerning Christian values, dissemination of the results of the study through media, conferences, panel discussions, and teachers’ training. People responsible for making decisions in educational policy and key teachers in both Catholic and public schools are crucial target of all project activities.

Through the project activities we expect to:

• Build a coalition of experts, teachers, parents, school leaders, education policy makers, journalists, and politicians who are committed to value education and social justice.

• Elaborate a common position on the importance of value education and on some current issues regarding the future of education. • Involve a public opinion into discussion about those issues which are crucial to be solved in education.

• Build awareness about social justice and motivate teachers to include evangelical values into the subject curriculum and extracurricular activities.

• Train teachers in social skills and give them support in becoming professional and insightful witnesses of faith and justice in their schools.

Process of advocacy will consist of:

1/ Research and study with the participation of experts. We plan to study four different topics a year concerning Christian values in order to promote them in school curriculum, school climate, school leadership, school projects and school handbooks. At the same time we will examine threats and weaknesses present in the school education, looking for the alternatives, presenting good practices in the ministry of teaching, advising actions for social justice, and promoting those teachers who are witnesses of good news. In order to collect data for our research and study we will use such methods like press monitoring, interviews, questionnaires.

2/ Preparation and dissemination of the articles on studied topics. On each studied topic we will write articles and publish them in our quarterly “Be for Others” and in other Catholic magazines, Internet sites, newspapers. We expect also to be welcomed in some non Catholic newspapers and weeklies. Our quarterly magazine is more and more known among teachers in Poland and we will continue to distribute it among participants of the conferences and workshops.

3/ Conferences and panel discussions on studied topics for the audience of 100-200 participants. We will organize at least four conferences or panel discussions a year inviting well known experts and recognized Christian leaders. The main audience will consist of teachers, parents, university students, and leaders of educational organizations. The venue of all events will be the main aula of our Jesuit High School in Gdynia.

4/ Preparation and dissemination of the materials from the conferences and panel discussions through Internet and other publications. All the conferences will be filmed and documented and information about the conference message will be passed to local media and local authorities, and published on our Jesuit web sites.

5/ Meetings with the people being in position to decide about or influence the issue. In this way we expect to create a coalition around the proposed solution using the network created among educational leaders, journalists, politicians, experts, teachers, and parents. Every meeting or event which can make more visible those values we want to promote will be advertised by Jesuit media and possible organized in the presence of public media. Project coordinators will be participating regularly in the press conferences organized in Gdynia each month by the local authorities.

6/ Workshops for teachers in order to help them in developing social skills and awareness towards importance of value education and need of social teaching based on Christian tradition. The main topics addressed in workshops: justice in school, ethics in the ministry of teaching, value education in different subject matters, personal educational creed, profile of the alumni, pillars of education, personal care for students, reflection and evaluation in teacher’s ministry, teachers involvement in local community.