Philosophy in the Classroom
“The emphasis of this school is to teach the noble qualities of loving-kindness and universal responsibility. We are not trying to change these children, but to awaken and nurture their own deepest qualities – their innate sense of loving-kindness and compassion and their own natural tendency towards positive behaviour.”
Developing Inner Awareness
At the centre of our curriculum is the awareness development program – the Australian Dharma Curriculum. It permeates our school culture and is taught through specific lesson planned topics, supported by daily mindfulness practices, and by our staff modelling compassion and wisdom to encourage and nurture the expression of the positive inner qualities of our students.
This is what sets us aside from other schools in what we teach, the way we teach, and the way we interact with and respond to our students, parents, staff and the wider community.
While awareness is taught explicitly for the first half hour of each day, awareness is also taught across the day through incidental teaching and moments of shared mindfulness. It has many interconnected components.
The human heart is basically very compassionate, but without wisdom, compassion will not work. Wisdom is the openness that lets us see what is essential and most effective.
How are Buddhist principles reflected in our teaching and learning program?
Buddhist principles, as a psychology for living with contentment, are embedded throughout our teaching and learning program and underpin the quality of our student welfare and engagement.
Our focus is on building and revealing the inner qualities of each child – their compassion, kindness, generosity, wisdom and ethical responsibility in how they relate to others and the environment. These qualities and understandings are modelled by our teachers as they teach to the physical, social and academic elements of the Australian Curriculum.
The Five Precepts – our school values & rules
Our values and rules are combined together and expressed in a genuine, non-punitive way to instill self-reflection and growth in our students and our community. We provide students with a vocabulary to describe how they are feeling and set behavioural expectations that enable self-reflection and growth. In this way, language guides the child’s social intelligence to understand what the experience of others might be as they develop their intrinsic wisdom and character. The Precepts are a useful lens through which students can develop their inner resources and examine their community, and our staff practice and uphold these values through daily meditation and mindfulness practices.
What are The Five Mindfulness Trainings?
The Buddha introduced the Five Precepts as an ethical framework to help individuals develop their mind and character while ensuring a harmonious community. Thich Nhat Hanh, the founder of Plum Village Monastery, has renamed the concept of the precepts ‘The Five Mindfulness Trainings’. As explained below:
“The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The first training is to protect life, and to decrease violence in oneself, in the family, and in society. The second training is to practice social justice, and generosity, not stealing and not exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of responsible sexual behavior to protect individuals, couples, families, and children. The fourth is the practice of deep listening and loving speech to restore communication and reconciliation. The fifth is about mindful consumption, to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha to be the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. We arrive at our own unique insight. It is not something imposed on us by an outside authority.
Practicing the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and concentrated, and brings more insight and enlightenment.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village Monastery
To make these precepts more appropriate and translatable to children, the language of the precepts is expressed in a more appropriate way for this young age group.
The Five Precepts
1. Reverence for Life (Consider Not Killing or Harming)
2. Generosity (Not taking what has not been given)
3. Body Responsibility (No sexual misconduct)
4. Deep Listening and Loving Speech (Not telling lies)
5. Mindful Consumption (Not drinking intoxicants)
