SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

EXERCISE 1: Talking about a story from the school desks

Stories have a special power. They attract listening and appeal without moralising. Whether fairy tales or true stories, stories speak of values.

Target group: Children 9+

Purpose: Children compare the story with the reality of respect and trust in their own classroom and look for solutions to advance this value.

Story: In a Slovenian primary school classroom, the pupils wanted to improve the atmosphere because they often quarrelled. The teacher suggested they make a pact: everyone would respect each other's opinions and trust that their classmates would share their ideas honestly.

For example, when Nejc suggested a topic for a class project, his classmates listened to him, even though they had different ideas, and trusted him to take their suggestions on board. Kaja also trusted her classmates to respect her quieter nature and bravely joined the discussion. Respect meant recognising everyone's dignity, and trust meant believing that everyone would act fairly. The class created a successful project and the pupils felt connected and valued. However, once a group ignored the agreement and ridiculed a classmate's ideas, it led to arguments and mistrust, which broke the harmony. Trust and respect brought togetherness and joy, while lack of it brought conflict and fragmentation.

Questions to discuss alongside the story:

• What was the key to building trust and respect in the classroom described in the story?
• What is your class level of mutual trust and respect? Think of a concrete example that shows the state of trust and respect in your classroom.
• Give some concrete suggestions to improve trust and respect in your classroom. Write all suggestions on a poster. Choose two or three suggestions to implement in your classroom.

Value: Trust and respect are an inseparable pair that builds relationships. A relationship cannot exist without both. Trust allows me to open up to others and believe in their good intentions, while respect ensures that I treat others as equals and worthy. Without trust there is no respect, without respect there is no trust.

EXERCISE 2: Trust games

Trust is something most fundamental to life. Without basic trust, we cannot live at all. Trust is built and grows within an individual, both towards a person and towards an institution. In the first days or weeks after birth, a baby needs its mother's response immediately. Slowly, however, that baby realises that its mother is somewhere close by and will come after a while. So trust is built gradually - step by step.

There is always some risk in trust. A child trusts that his father will catch him again and again when he throws him in the air. But this father has to start with low throws, which he gradually increases. And the father must also judge what is still safe and what still gives the child a sense of security.

Target group: students 6+, teachers

Purpose: Trust games give children the experience of taking a risk by going into the unknown, and then the experience of ending that leap into the unknown in a safe embrace. Because to build trust, we must always go into the unknown. Trust must always be ahead of the curve. We always go a little bit into the unknown at the beginning. The child therefore needs an experience of risk that has a 'happy' ending. And by playing in a safe environment, we can give him that experience.

Flow: We make it clear to children that, while these are games, they must be played responsibly and strictly according to the rules. There is a risk involved in these games and each player must be sure that their teammates will play very responsibly. 

Individual games: 

1. Living wall: one player is blindfolded. Teammates stand 5-10 m away from him and form a wall. The blindfolded player runs towards the wall, knowing that the wall will catch or stop him.
2. Circle of trust: blindfold one player. The teammates position themselves around him so that they are close enough to each other. The blindfolded player in the centre falls and the players in the circle catch him and push him towards the opposite player in the circle. 
3. Leading the blind: participants are divided into pairs. In each pair, one person is blindfolded. The game leader goes forward and the pairs follow him. The leader chooses a sufficiently difficult and challenging route. The sighted person in the pair guides his/her "blind" partner safely along the path. He can only help him by guiding him with the hand he is led by, but he can also help him by saying a word.
4. After all the willing participants have been lined up in the role of "blind", we do an evaluation where each one says how it felt to have to trust and to have to justify that trust. What was harder?

Important: The adult or teacher is the guardian of trust. He or she warns and ensures that all players play responsibly. He/she also sets the parameters of the game according to the age of the participants.

EXERCISE 3: Maps of (dis)respect

"Two generals ask Napoleon who should salute first when they meet. Napoleon replies that the one who is more polite."

Respect and disrespect are manifested in a variety of very simple and obvious actions and gestures, as well as in very complex or hidden actions. Respect is imagined differently and different people need different gestures of respect.

Target group: Students 6+

Purpose: Children illustrate how they imagine different forms of respect and disrespect and evaluate and discuss these forms. In this way, they broaden their understanding of respect.

Flow: On the cards, write 10 forms of respect and 10 forms of disrespect

• The family sits together at the table, listening to each other.
• A child listens when a friend speaks.
• The pupil listens to the teacher and raises his hand when he wants to say something.
• Children read quietly in the library so as not to disturb others.
• A student raises his hand in class before speaking.
• When a girl drops a piece of paper on the floor, she picks it up.
• A boy on a bus gives up his seat to an elderly lady.
• Children follow the rules of the game and don't change them to suit themselves.
• The pupil borrows the crayons, but asks permission beforehand.
• The child turns away and does not listen when a friend is talking.
• A boy shouts at a classmate.
• Two girls exclude a third girl from the game.
• A child at the family table looking at his phone and ignoring others.
• A student refuses to lend a textbook to a classmate.
• A group of children taunts a classmate about his clothes.
• Someone throws a friend's notebook on the floor.
• The boy pushes the girl away from the swing.
• The child pretends to be bored and yawns as they talk.
• A group of children whisper and carry out another classmate.

Each student gets one card, a sheet of paper and access to colouring pencils. On one side of the card, the pupil draws a particular form of (dis)respect and on the other side adds text. Each pupil in turn shows his/her drawing and the others try to identify which form of (dis)respect it is. If after a few attempts they cannot figure it out, the student with the card helps them with an association or additional description. Once they have figured out what it is, they draw the opposite of the description on the card and discuss how to perform the given act of respect.

EXERCISE 4: Kindness is the language of respect

"Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Christian Nestell Bovee

Respect is not an emotion that arises spontaneously. It is a willing and conscious set of activities, but it can to some extent become a habit. Respect manifests itself at different levels. The most basic and understandable level of respect is shown through kindness. In most cases, acting with kindness never misses the mark.

Target group: Students 6+

Purpose: Children explore and practice kindness as a universal language of respect.

Flow: We identify and practice several areas of kindness (listed below).

Praise:

1. Ask the children what they liked about other people yesterday or today (family members, teachers, friends, classmates, acquaintances, neighbours, etc.). Direct them to think about the clothes these people wear, the different objects and gadgets they use, the way they act and behave, their achievements (a good game of sport, a nice product they have made, etc.), their attitude towards others (kindness, helpfulness, etc.).
2. Children are asked to identify and choose one person and one characteristic - an attribute - that they like.
3. We talk to the children about how to say the compliment and they think of a compliment for that person. They can say it if they want, and we can guide them to improve it if necessary. 
4. Agree with the children when and how they will give this praise to a particular person.

Acknowledgements:

1. In the classroom, we start a discussion about what different people have done for each child today or yesterday. Encourage the children to recall such events and, if necessary, help them with a few examples (perhaps the parents prepared breakfast, told them a story; the bus driver took them to school; the cook cooked lunch...).
2. We tell them that what others do for us is not a given. We might not have done it, or we might not have done it as well, as tastefully, as kindly. 
3. People who do something for us deserve thanks. Thanking them also tells them that their work is noticed and appreciated. Invite the children to think of a simple thank you for one of these people. Often a kind word is enough Thank you. But we can also add a reason to say thank you: 'Thank you for cooking a good lunch'.
4. Encourage the children to say a few thank-yous during the following week.
5. After a week, the children tell us how the thank-you session went, what was difficult, what made it easier and how the person who thanked them reacted.

Small touches - we notice and we do:

Someone holds the door for us or lets us in at the checkout. Maybe they offer us a candy or a cookie, pick up something we dropped on the floor. We know how to notice such attentions, to say thank you for them and to do a little something ourselves.

1. Children list some of the attention they have noticed in the last few days, whether it was directed at themselves or others.
2. Tell us which attention they particularly liked.
3. Encourage them to think of and say some possible attention-grabbing things they could do themselves.
4. Encourage them to do some of these things.

EXERCISE 5: Respect covers school

The messages that reach us through posters, billboards and other advertising media have a very high impact. They consciously and unconsciously guide our actions. The impact may not be felt until days, weeks or even months later. 

Target group: Children 6+

Purpose: Through co-creating message posters that are then distributed around the school to pupils and staff, we spark reflection, conversation and action around respect.

Flow:

• Prepare a set of thoughts, quotes and sayings about respect.
• Each class chooses one or two thoughts, so that each thought is chosen only once.
• They write a thought legibly on a large poster and illustrate it if they wish. It is important that the writing is easy to read and that the design of the letters does not interfere with reading.
• We discuss with students what this idea means and how we can live it and put it into practice in the classroom, among friends, at home, etc.
• All posters are displayed on the walls and notice boards of the school, especially where they can be seen by the most students, teachers and visitors.

A collection of thoughts and quotes, that can be used, but of course you can add your own:

• Thank you, please and smile are the laws of respectful communication.
• Everyone deserves respect.
• Monkeys, chickens and pigs are animals that do not exist in our school. There are pupils, teachers and other staff at the school with first and last names. 
• "Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Christian Nestell Bovee
• No one should mock another's misfortune or difficulty.
• What someone confides in me, I can only pass on with their permission.
• Think about what you say. A word can hurt more than a punch.
• Don't do to another what you don't want them to do to you.
• A sincere apology, made as soon as we realise we have made a mistake, is a sign of respect. 
• If you want the other person to greet you, you greet them first.
• "Respect yourself and others will respect you." Confucius
• Mistakes are part of learning and should not be a cause for offence.
• "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou
• We resolve disagreements through conversation, not insults.
• Small acts of kindness say more than big, strong words.
• We never make fun of another person's appearance, the way they talk and move, or the way they dress.

Content by Danilo Kozoderc