Vail Mountain School Adopts Ethical Literacy® To Enhance Dialogue on Ethical Behavior

ROCKPORT, Maine - May 9, 2013 - PRLog -- ROCKPORT, Maine – Colorado’s Vail Mountain School (VMS) is enhancing its ability to build an institution-wide culture of integrity using the Ethical Literacy approach developed by the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE).

“We believe that learning through dialogue is a significant way to deliver curriculum,” said Julie Schlossinger, fourth grade teacher and VMS ethics team co-leader. “The format for discussion of ethical topics, as presented by IGE, is easily adapted to our homebase model where everyone begins their day with meaningful and uplifting conversations. IGE provides training and opportunities for teachers to take an established skill, namely dialogue with students, to a new facet of children’s learning or what IGE calls Ethical Literacy.”

VMS (http://www.vms.edu) launched a three-year Ethical Literacy process this past December after searching for an ethics training resource that would be an ideal fit for the K-12 independent school. “After looking at a number of possible choices, we felt that IGE offered more substantive resources for teachers as they implemented ethics dialogue in their homebases,” said Ms. Schlossinger. “What we liked about it was that it’s not a ‘cookbook’ approach. Instead, it’s fluid, dynamic and thought provoking. The IGE approach allows us to use ethical models in the context of student lives and experiences, weaving ethical language and concepts into all aspects of students’ days: in the classroom, on the sports field, at after-school activities. Ethical Literacy brings us closer to one of our school’s main objectives, which is for students to know that the test of their character is to make the ‘right’ decisions when there is no audience.”

VMS’ Ethical Literacy team has twelve members including teachers from the lower, middle and upper schools, department chairs, a school psychologist, an athletic director, an outdoor education director and a director of community service. The team engages faculty and staff in the Ethical Literacy process, who in turn, engage students in the vocabulary and analytical skills necessary to address right-versus-right dilemmas using IGE’s conceptual framework. VMS plans to include students and parents in ethics leadership roles in the coming year.

In just the few months since the Ethical Literacy approach has been implemented at VMS, there are already subtle changes among the faculty, according to Kate Drescher, staff psychologist and ethics team co-leader: “They have demonstrated a willingness to use the language and paradigms of Ethical Literacy when working with their students,” noted Drescher. “Even the lower school is using IGE’s customized curriculum for grades K-2 and 3-5 to help younger children understand and apply ethical models.

“Our overall commitment is to maintain a culture of integrity at VMS and Ethical Literacy is helping us do just that. This fits right in with our mission to prepare students intellectually, emotionally and ethically to thrive in a collegiate setting and beyond with the life-long purpose of active participation in global citizenship.”

About the IGE

Founded in 1990, with offices in Rockport, Maine, and New York City, the Institute for Global Ethics (http://www.globalethics.org) is an independent, nonsectarian, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting ethical action in a global context. IGE’s mission is to provide practical tools to build ethical fitness and cultures of integrity at home, at school, in the workplace, and in society.