Affiliate Dr Mike Downey 

Nurturing and Sustaining The Work Of Your Life

Formation is an ongoing process of intentionally developing the professional practices to nourish and sustain the calling to teach.  It’s a cruel paradox that teaching can be so heart-warming and so heartbreaking, even on good days.  Two recent encounters bear witness to this.

Recently, I purchased a new iPad.  While getting it set up at the Apple Shop, I asked for the Education discount.  A young lady sitting at the opposite side of the table quickly asked me what sort of a teacher I was.  I told her that I was retired from school, but I still did teacher professional development work, with a focus on ongoing formation.  At that moment I inadvertently became her “father confessor” and listened attentively to her story for some time.  Briefly, she loved her work with a passion, but she had come to hate her job.  This became more than she could bear psychologically and physically, so she left teaching.  I got what she was saying.  I was aware of my own physical bodily reactions.  I resonated with her story.

Within a few days I also listened to a man in his early forties also tell me of the anguish of “standing in the tragic gap” between loving his work and hating his job. He was torn.  He wants to quit but he has a family, mortgage etc and feels too exhausted to change careers. 

A couple of days later, at an education leaders dinner, I met the man’s principal.  I asked about a some of teachers I knew on his staff and included that man.  At the mention of his name, the principal became energised and told me how wonderful he was and how much his students loved him.  I kept the conversation with the teacher, confidential. 

Currently, there is a teacher shortage in Australia.  Teacher training is struggling to attract recruits.  Many trainee teachers are not entering teaching and in-service teachers are increasingly looking for the door. 

For about 50 years I have held close an aphorism of Epictetus, the 1st Century Roman philosopher.  He said, “It’s not your problem that is the problem; it’s how you are looking at your problem that is the problem”.  I continue to find Epictetus helpful.

I live on a mountain top. If I walk to the bottom of my street I see the ocean.  If II turn south, I see the mountains.  If I turn again, I see the forest.    It still comes down to how we look at our problems.  It can be overwhelming to see and feel the consequences of many problems that assault the calling to teach.  Formation provides the opportunity and space to look for life affirming perspectives. All that’s needed is the time and space to act on what we should value.

 Formation helps build resilience.  The processes are uncomplicated, non-threatening and non-invasive.   They help protect against burnout, but none of this is simple.  Ongoing formation requires intentionality and a little effort.  It requires the allocation of regular, not necessarily frequent, time and space.  It requires a shift in thinking from, “I don’t have the time” to “I have the responsibility to nourish and sustain my calling, because the consequences are awesome”. 

In the words Antoine de Saint-Exupery gave The Fox and The Little Prince, “Still some grown-ups will not understand why these things are matters of great importance”.

Newsletter updated 13.3.2024

Dear Affiliate

I am working on displaying a list of our esteemed Affiliates on this website.  I wrote to Affiliates last month about this. I hope to have this list ready soon. Above is a wonderful article from Dr Mike Downey.  

Some information about some of our Affiliates:

Professor Mark Williams - (Australia) 

Mark is Professor of Cognitive neuroscience and is based In Australia.  His book The Connected Species, helps us to understand why as a specie human kind will flourish through Values-based Living.  

Danny Mayson Kinder (Australia) 

Danny is Founder of b kinder foundation. See www.bkinderfoundation.org/ 

Richard Schwartz (USA)

Dick, who is the Founder of the Internal Family Systems (IFS), is seeing his transformational psychotherapy becoming a major method for supporting people in the world. It is helping thousands to release their own dynamic Self-energy.  Jane Hawkes (IVET Affiliate and Trustee) has been supporting Dick’s work, as an international program assistant (PA) both in the UK and abroad.  She is supporting an IFS training in the Middle East at this tragic time for that region. See https://ifs-institute.com/about-us/richard-c-schwartz-phd

Ava Shabnum Hasan (UK)

Ava is the Founder of Mentally Well Schools who produces outstanding resources for schools.  She works tirelessly to promote mental health and wellbeing. See https://mentallywellschools.co.uk

Professor Terry Lovat (Australia)

Terry has worked with the publisher Springer to produce the Second International Research Handbook on Values Education and Student Wellbeing.  You can find further info here https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-031-24420-9

I can’t emphasise enough how important this book is, and I would like to acknowledge that some of you, including me, have contributed chapters.

Jason O’Rourke (UK)

Jason is the Headteacher of an outstanding values-based school.  Congratulations Jason on gaining a world profile promoting food education. See  https://www.tasteeducation.com

Floyd Woodrow (UK)

Floyd’s model for personal and organisational transformation, Compass for Life, is having a powerful impact on international businesses and other settings. I’m delighted to join Floyd’s team, when there is a need to take a deep dive into the East cardinal of the compass, which is Ethos.  Floyd has given me a platform to deepen the understanding of the role of ethics in our lives and organisations. See http://staging.compassforlife.co.uk

Marneta Viegas (UK)

Marneta is the Founder of Relax Kids and IVET’s latest Affiliate.  Relax Kids is a highly creative way of helping children to relax and be at one with themselves.  Her work is used in thousands of schools and her praises sung by countless teachers. See https://relaxkids.com

Gayle Avery (Australia)

Gaye is the CEO of the Institute of Sustainable Leadership in Sydney Australia.  See instituteforsustainableleadership.com 

Other News

I was deeply honoured to be invited to speak at the United Nations in Geneva last May.  I talked about the need for the world to embrace ethical leadership, without which the UN will, in my view, not achieve its sustainable goals.  I have just returned from Abu Dhabi where I was honoured to give a keynote on Values-based Education in the context of Islamic Values.

Congratulations to Andrei Stupu who spoke so engagingly at this year’s Values-based Education Conference.  Andrei, who lives in Rumania, has just been given a Fulbright scholarship.  His focus is on ethics, and he is an important contributor to my own thinking about ethical intelligence.

Finally, an important and exciting piece of news. In December 2022, a small group of us talked at a wonderful conference in Australia, set up by Suwanti and Ron Farmer, called Educating the Heart.  We decided that the time was right to form an international umbrella organisation that would be a place that all individuals and organisations involved in Values-based Education could gather and together have more impact on the world.  

This organisation has now been formed and is called GAVE (The Global Alliance for Values-based Education).  Nazreen Dasoo, who is Head of the Education at Johannesburg University is GAVE’s Chair.  She has vast experience and is the current Chair for UNESCO’s Values Education Committee.  

Wow! Such a lot of wonderful news that I am confident will bring hope to a troubled world.

Please keep in touch with me and make suggestions about how we can further strengthen our IVET Foundation. Together we are making a difference, especially by encouraging others to join us.

Warmly.

Neil

Dr Neil Hawkes

Founder of the IVET Foundation and Values-based Education (VbE)

https://www.ivetfoundation.com/home

Trustees: Neil Hawkes, Bridget Knight, Nigel Cohen, Jane Hawkes and Sue Jones