Students at Hastings Public School in Port Macquarie currently have the option of attending Ethics classes. The Ethics program is rapidly expanding and as a result, the Primary Ethics coordinator at the school, Ute Morris is seeking some more volunteers from the community interested in teaching Ethics classes.

Ute is keen to talk to any volunteers who might be interested in taking on a teaching role in 2015/16. All volunteer teachers must participate in a two-day training course and satisfactorily complete some on-line modules. Volunteers are also required to undergo a police check before they can commence teaching.

Primary Ethics has been running for almost four years in NSW. It now has more than 1400 volunteers who are teaching or organising ethics classes for 18,000 children in 320 public primary schools across NSW. The curriculum covers 78 topics from Kindergarten to Year 6.

Greg Robinson, the Primary Ethics regional manager for the Mid-North Coast, says there are schools across the region, where parents are keen for Primary Ethics to start classes, so that their children can engage in ethical discussion while their classmates are attending Scripture classes.

"Most of our volunteers have no teaching experience. The curriculum has been written in a way that non-teachers and non-philosophers can deliver it. But volunteers must be interested in helping kids think about ethical issues and be able to keep their own opinions out of the classroom," says Mr Robinson.

Anyone interested in volunteering to be a local Primary Ethics teacher should visit the Primary Ethics website at http://www.primaryethics.com.au to fill in an online application.

Enquiries about ethics classes at Hastings Public School should be directed to Ute Morris at hastingsethics@gmail.com or for other schools to Greg Robinson at mid-north-coast-region@primaryethics.com.au