PSHE has the College Virtues and British Values woven throughout all modules. The Virtues, developed from Virtue Ethics within the teachings of the Catholic Church, are an essential moral philosophy promoted by St Thomas Aquinas. Virtue theory provides a systematic way of shaping and developing character. The Virtues seek to celebrate the dignity of the human person. As a Catholic College we recognise that human dignity originates from God – every person has an inherent dignity because we are made in God’s own image and likeness, Imago Dei.
The College virtues are in four pairs:
- Justice and Compassion
- Respect and Responsibility
- Honest and Self-Belief
- Confidence and Resilience
Carmel recognises the worth of every individual and wants to support the social, personal, and academic development of our students.
If we are to live in a Christ centered community, that respects all people we must challenge injustice, our PSHE modules aim to support the protected characteristics encouraging social responsibility.
RSE is inter woven throughout, using Life to the Full resources from Ten:Ten, challenging students to question who they are? Reiterating the Catholic Church’s teaching that we are unique, created and loved by God.
Assessment
Personal attributes, so central to PSHE education, are arguably the hardest aspects of learning to assess. It is difficult for teachers to accurately assess a pupil’s self-confidence or sense of their own identity and values. However, pupils themselves will be able to judge, for instance, whether they feel more confident, or have a firmer sense of their own beliefs and opinions than they did before a particular series of lessons.
Such personal reflection in PSHE education lessons is essential, so ensuring pupils have time and space within the lessons to reflect on this, either privately or through discussion, is a vital part of the assessment process.
Assessing learning in PSHE education must therefore use a combination of teacher assessment and pupil self- and peer assessment.
Ipsative assessment compares where a student is at the end of a lesson or series of lessons against where they were before the lesson(s). So the benchmark against which progress is measured is the student’s own starting point, not the performance of others or the requirements of an exam syllabus.
Each module also encourages the development and evaluation of the student skill set, by completing the developing me skills builders.
