SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

EXERCISE 1: Talking through a story

"An honest man is no less honest if stray dogs bark at him." German proverb

Target group: Children 6+

Purpose: By talking about the story, children connect the elements of fairness to their everyday lives.

Honesty in terms of sincerity: Pupils build towers with blocks in the school playground. During a lively game, Andrej accidentally knocked down his classmate Vesna's tower, which saddened her. At first, Andrej was afraid to admit what he had done, as he was ashamed and pretended that nothing was wrong. But he knew inside that he had to be honest - first with himself, because he felt guilty, and then with Vesna. He summoned his courage and said, "Vesna, I'm sorry, I knocked down your tower. I didn't mean to." Vesna forgave him, together they built a new tower and their friendship grew stronger. Andrej felt pride because he had overcome his shame and was honest. If he had lied or kept silent, the guilt would have grown and Vesna would have lost confidence in the class. Honesty brought relief, joy and closer relationships, while lying would have caused rifts and mistrust.

VALUE: HONESTY from the perspective of honesty is telling the truth and avoiding lying or deceiving, both to oneself (admitting one's own feelings, faults, motives) and to others (honesty in relationships).

Questions for discussion:

• When do you find it difficult to be honest? What do you do then?
• What is the last time someone was not honest with you? How did it make you feel?

Fairness in terms of justice: In the school tournament, the students played a team game where the captain divided the roles. Captain Miha wanted the distribution to be fair, so he assigned roles based on ability, not popularity. He gave Jake, who was less popular but excellent at strategy, a key role, even though his friends expected him to have the advantage. Micha's fair decision led to the team's victory, as everyone contributed their best. The class appreciated Miha's fairness and relationships were strengthened. If Miha had favoured his friends, the unfairness would have led to fights, Jaka would have felt excluded and the team would have lost the game. Fairness brought respect and unity, but unfairness would have led to fragmentation and mistrust.

Questions for discussion:

• Why did all the team members receive Micah's righteousness well?
• When do we say a decision or a person is just?
• When was the last time you were just or unjust? How did this manifest itself externally and how did it feel to you?
• What experiences of fairness or unfairness do you have at school? Give a concrete example.

VALUE: FAIRNESS in terms of fairness is treating people equally, seeking the truth and avoiding unfair acts such as bias or theft. 

Integrity in terms of reliability: The pupils have agreed to organise a school event for parents. Zoja promised to organise the stage and Lovro promised to take care of the posters. Despite their busy schedules, they were keen to keep their promises: Zoja organised the stage on time and Lovro printed the eye-catching posters. Their reliability inspired their classmates, who also completed their tasks. The event was a success, the students were proud and parents and teachers praised their responsibility. If Zoja and Lovro had broken their promise, the event would have failed, causing disappointment and distress in the classroom. Reliability brought reputation, trust and joy, but failure to keep agreements would have led to failure and discord.

Questions for discussion:

• How do you think Zoja and Lovro had to act in order to keep their promises and appear reliable on the outside? We are guessing here, but try to list as many elements as possible that made them reliable.
• How do you rate yourself; as reliable or unreliable? Give some examples that support your claim.
• Together, identify and write down some guidelines to help reliability.

VALUE: HONESTY in terms of trustworthiness is the keeping of agreements and promises, which shows honesty and trustworthy behaviour. 

Fairness in terms of accountability: Pupils were playing football in the school yard when Niko accidentally smashed a classroom window with a ball. At first he wanted to run away for fear of punishment, but he knew he had to take responsibility. He reported to the teacher and said: "I broke the window, I'm sorry. I'll help you fix it." Together with his father, he paid for a new window and the class organised a collection of old bottles to cover part of the cost. Niko also cleaned up the glass so that no one would get hurt. His responsibility prevented harm to others and showed that honesty means righting wrongs. The teacher and classmates appreciated Niko's action and the class became more cohesive. If Niko had denied guilt or left a broken window, it would have caused mistrust and danger. Responsibility brought respect and security, while irresponsibility would have led to distress and fragmentation.

Questions for discussion:

• What choices did Niko have after he broke the window? Guess or predict how the story might have gone with different possible choices.
• Give an example of a time when you yourself acted responsibly in a similar situation. How did it make you feel? How did other people react?
• What are you responsible for? How do you exercise this responsibility?

Let's introduce some proverbs and discuss their meaning:

• "Fairness doesn't need rules." Albert Camus
• "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." Thomas Jefferson
• "Honesty is the way to achieve the most." Slovenian proverb

Talk to the children:

• What is the advantage of being honest?
• What can the results of your honest actions do for you, your family?
• Who do you know who is really honest?
• How does this person live and work?

VALUE: HONESTY in terms of accountability is accepting responsibility for one's actions, correcting mistakes and avoiding harming others. 

Honesty in terms of courage for truth and justice: Her classmates spread rumours that Nada had stolen money for a class trip, which embarrassed and isolated her. Vid knew the rumours were not true because he saw the money fall out of the bag and was found by the teacher. He was afraid to speak out because he might be ostracised by his popular classmates, but he plucked up the courage to tell the teacher the truth: "Nada didn't steal anything, the money was lost." Nada was acquitted and the class apologised to her. Vida's courage was not for personal glory, but to help Nada and bring justice. His action strengthened the unity of the class, and Vid felt stronger. If he had remained silent, the injustice would have caused distress and mistrust. The courage to speak the truth brought justice and inner strength, but silence would have left guilt and division.

VALUE: HUMILITY, in terms of courage for truth and justice, is overcoming the fear of revealing the truth or righting a wrong, especially when it helps others.

EXERCISE 2: The honesty I expect

"Honesty is a fine jewel, but it's pretty much out of fashion." English proverb

We take many things for granted. We take it for granted that they are what they are and that we will get what we expect. It is only when something does not live up to our expectations that we think that maybe it was not fair.

We perceive something as fair when it is in line with promises made or rules written down - in short, when it meets our expectations.

Others also see us and our actions as fair if we keep our promises and act in line with the general expectations of the environment.

Target group: Children 6+

Purpose: Sometimes we say, "That's not fair." Children have also adopted this expression. Most often, it expresses how we feel when something does not go as we expect or when something goes differently than predicted, than expected according to the rules and regulations. Something we relied on did not turn out as we expected. Through this activity, children experience (in)fairness and, through this, the meaning of fairness.

Flow:

1. Prepare two bags (boxes) of sweets that the children know and like. Leave one in the original packaging. For the second pack, replace the sweets with stones, acorns, crumpled paper.
2. Bring both packages to the children and start a conversation: 'When you buy a bag of sweets like this in a shop, what do you expect to find? What will it look like? What will it taste like?"
3. Allow enough time for the children to speak and describe their expectations. 
4. Offer the children a bag with stones wrapped in it, something that is not candy. When they have unwrapped the candy and have had time to express surprise, disappointment ... ask them: "Are you surprised? Why are you surprised?"
5. Then open a bag of real sweets and hand them out to the children. We ask them: 'Is this bag what you expected, what it should be? Is what is inside what the outside shows?"
6. It's only fair if the inside of the bag is what the outside promises. Honest people are those who do what they promise, who say what they mean, and whose outward behaviour and speech is the same as their inward behaviour and speech.
7. Ask the children, "Do you know anyone who is honest? Who says what he means, who does what he promises? When are you honest?"

EXERCISE 3: Found purse or wallet

Honesty shows up in the simple, everyday things that come our way. Big words about honesty carry no weight if they are not accompanied by concrete acts of honesty when the need or opportunity arises.

Target group: Children 4+

Purpose: Every now and then, we find an object that someone has forgotten or lost. Children who have never had the experience of finding an object themselves do not know what to do or how to do it. In this activity we create an experience that allows reflection, conversation and a concrete act of integrity.

Flow:

1. The teacher/carer arranges with another teacher/carer to lend her a bag, which should contain some money, an interesting object (jewellery, cosmetics, phone, etc.) and a sweet or other snack that has already been opened. Set the bag (slightly hidden) in the school playground or yard.
2. The group goes to the playground and starts playing hide-and-seek. They play until one of the children finds the bag. 
3. The teacher gathers the children around the find and guides the conversation:
   1. What is it?
   2. Why was the purse out here? How did it get here?
   3. Are we allowed to look into it?
   4. Surely there's something interesting inside? Can we take that one for ourselves?
   5. Whose is it? How do we find out? (We need to search it to find a document that tells us who owns it.)
   6. When we find a document after browsing, we discuss whether we know the person. Since it is from the kindergarten/school, the children are likely to recognise it.
   7. What will we do now? 
   8. Here's more candy. Can we help ourselves? 
4. Together, we take the bag to the owner. The owner shows his joy and gratitude and gives the children the sweets that were in the bag.
5. After returning, we continue the conversation:
   1. How did the owner feel when he realised he had lost the bag?
   2. How did he feel when we brought it back to him?
   3. How did it feel for you, the children?
   4. What would you do if you couldn't find out whose it was, or if you didn't (too) know the person on the document?
      1. You could ask someone.
      2. We would try to find a contact for that person.
      3. The wallet would be taken to the police station.
   5. Have you ever found something that wasn't yours?
   6. What have you done?
   7. Why should found items be returned to their owner?
   8. What do we call the quality of always returning things that are not ours? Honesty. Perhaps the children can think of another appropriate name.

EXERCISE 4: The lie and the truth

"Honesty is often the boldest form of courage." William Somerset Maugham

The media's image of the world, which includes marketing and political marketing, is often distorted. This image shows ideal things that cannot be achieved in real life, or unreal things that cannot exist. Children and adults are misled by this media image and often they too start to imagine ideal or unreal things as if they were real and as if they were happening to them.

Target group: Children 5+

Purpose: Children learn about examples of lies and truths and deepen their understanding of these concepts by looking for them in everyday life.

Flow: 

1. Let's make a simple table and start talking and adding simple examples.
   

With every advert, we discuss with the children whether what the advert is offering is true or false. How can we tell the difference between truth and falsehood in advertisements? Why are many advertisements today bordering on the false or simply crossing the line?

Ask the children to continue listing the lies and truths.

When the table is full, ask them what the difference is between a lie and the truth and discuss the answers.

We can continue the activity by watching some of the adverts that are running on TV. It makes sense for the teacher to choose a few adverts that promise the impossible or show things that are too nice and good, and a few adverts that are quite realistic. 

EXERCISE 5: I say - I do

Knowing that a word must carry weight is something children have yet to master. Of course, many adults also have problems with keeping their word. Keeping the word is about the whole cycle. Before I say I am going to do something, I think about whether I can really do it and whether I am committed to doing it. If I cannot do it, or if it does not seem important to me, then I do not say or promise at all. But once I make a promise, it is a commitment that I have to keep. For adults this should be the case, but children need reminding and support.

Target group: Children 4+

Purpose: Children say they will do many things. Some they forget, some they try but find too difficult or demand too much effort, others they simply change their mind. In this activity, the teacher monitors at least part of the children's promises and their fulfilment, and encourages and motivates them to do some of them.

It is a combination of planned activities and attention to spontaneous opportunities when the child says he or she is going to do something.

Flow: When the deadline for a promise expires, we check what has been done. If the promise has been fulfilled, celebrate it in some simple way (singing, playing a game, eating cookies, etc.). If the promise has not been fulfilled, talk to the child about how we can help him/her to fulfil the promise and set a new deadline.

We start the activity with a planned event, which could be called 'It's nice in our playroom/classroom/school'.

We talk to the children about what is nice in the playroom/classroom/school, what all contributes to our well-being.

Encourage children to discover what else they can do to feel better. Where appropriate, we can focus on the following areas:

• the cleanliness of the space,
• interesting activities,
• being kind and helpful to each other.

We ask them who can do these things, who can contribute to their well-being. In conversation, we come to the point that only we can do it. 

Encourage children to suggest something concrete they will do to feel better in the classroom or at school. We help them to choose activities so that they are:

• easy enough for them (within reach),
• time-bound (by when it will be done),
• relevant (they really contribute to the well-being of the group).

We write the child's name on the poster, next to their activity and the deadline. We tell the children that these are their promises and they have to keep them. Encourage them appropriately to keep their promises. 

We pay attention to the child's spontaneous promises to other children in the classroom or playroom and to the time spent in kindergarten. When we hear such a promise, we ask the child: 'Is this your promise? Do I write it on a poster?" If necessary, check the promise and discuss it with the child. Remind them, "I only promise what I can keep."

Content by Danilo Kozoderc