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A. The CEPNZ was founded by Stuart (CEO and Resource Development Manager) and Elizabeth Macmillan (General Manager - Operations), a husband and wife team (pictured right) in May 2000.
Stuart Macmillan
Elizabeth MacmillanIn the beginning of 2003 the "Character Education Programme of New Zealand" was officially launched and the first resource for schools, the Character Education Starter Pack was made available. Since then Stuart and Elizabeth have co-authored 32 educational books and resources for schools and the general public.
Today, the entire staff of the CEPNZ, under the direction of Co-Director, co-author and Marketing and Sales Manager, Amanda Crawford, are passionate and committed to providing an increasing number of quality educational resources and support for schools, businesses and the community worldwide and work together as a close knit team.
For example, the CEPNZ has been chosen by more New Zealand schools than any other private supplier of anti-truancy and anti-bullying resources.
For a complete list of resources that can help your school, click here.
Q. What is Character?
A. Let this be explained by Samuel Smiles in the opening line of his book, "Character":
"Character is one of the greatest motive powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest forms, for it exhibits man at his best."
Also, in the words of Emerson:
"Character is moral order seen through the medium, of an individual nature.... Men of character are the conscience of the society to which they belong."
Character is that which defines who a person really is - how they think and act and their motive behind their actions.
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SmokeAlarm.co.nzQ. What are Values?
A. Values are any ideals, goals or standards upon which actions or beliefs are based. But...a person may value poetry, but never read any. A person may value honesty in others but remain dishonest themselves.
Values, as you can see can be sometimes pointless or selfish and at times can hurt other people when they value the rights of one group over another. It is only when a persons values are built upon the foundation of virtues that true, strong and good character can be developed.
This is why the CEPNZ's Character Education Programme concentrates on virtues as the universal principles to be nurtured and established into an individual's Character as the highest ideals to be striven for, expected and upon which, all decisions are made.
Q. What are Virtues?
A. Virtues are qualities of moral goodness or excellence. Virtues go beyond the limits of religion, culture, nationality or sex - they are universally accepted principles.
They include responsibility, honesty, reliability, respect for others, compassion and empathy.
These are the qualities that are emphasised in this programme. These are the qualities to nurture until they are upheld as a matter of habit - the foundations upon which to build one's life, values system and character. "We are what we repeatedly do." - Aristotle.
Q. What is the purpose of the CEPNZ?
A. Our foundational purpose is provide graduated methods and co-ordination by which Character Education based on virtue (universally accepted principles such as honesty, responsibility, integrity, compassion, empathy, courage, respect, etc.) may be adopted by schools and parents in a concerted effort to give our children the best and most complete education possible and to therefore give them the best chance of success in life as responsible members of a caring community.
Q. How is this attained?
A. We recognise that parents are the primary moral educators of their children and that schools, as the teachers of information and skills provide the secondary setting from which children develop their own set of values.
If neither environment is favourable to the development of good character and virtue, the end result will be a continuation of the decline in our society.
On the other hand, with CEPNZ's guidance, when schools become miniature communities in which virtue is celebrated, expected and practiced and the parents are encouraged to take closer interest and involvement in what is happening in their school and their child's intellectual and ethical development, it will be reflected in the improvement of our social statistics, increase in retention and exam pass rates and recognition of the importance of the educator - both parent and teacher.
We provide guidelines for schools and teachers on how to make character education an integral part of their school and how to create the right environment to help virtues grow (see the "Character for schools" link).
The CEPNZ also provides guides for parents, students and individuals on how to make the development of good character a part of daily life.
It must always be remembered that the development of good character can not be done overnight or even in one year. It is a life long process but it needs to begin somewhere. It is our vision to have character education installed from Early Childhood centres right through to the end of high school.
For this reason, if you are a primary school that has started with the CEPNZ "Starter Pack", encourage your local Intermediate and High schools to do the same. This applies to all levels of teaching institutions.
In this manner it will be ensured that a child who continues their education in one locality will be able to receive the same support through each level. In the same way, a high school that begins with the programme should encourage the Intermediate and Primary schools that fill most of their role to also take it up. This way, new students coming into the school will already be accustomed to the basics of character education and the standard that the school will expect.
Q. How is the CEPNZ different from other "values based" systems?
A. There are various groups around NZ that are centered around "values" education. They should be commended for their effort and their ability to recognise problems existing in our society but emphasizing "values" can create more problems in the long run.
Values may be self-centered or culturally specific and can be either good or bad but they evoke neither a moral commitment nor the promise of leading a good life.
True Character Education which we emphasise, places its emphasis on virtues (universal principles such as Responsibility, Honesty, Respect, Empathy, Courage, etc) that are cultivated from within.
It is the effort to help students (our children) mature into persons of integrity, intelligence and moral character by providing the right guidance and environment in which virtues can grow - both in the home and the school.
Q. Is the CEPNZ a religious organization or a subsidiary of one?
A. No. The CEPNZ is a privately operated educational service providing learning modules and guides to help in the development of good character in the individual based on the universal principles called virtues. Although many religions may also teach these principles (as Mahatma Gandhi said, "Fundamental ethics are common to all religions"), it is not the intention nor the goal of the CEPNZ to promote religious ideology.
If by religion, a person means a particular philosophy, then religion is already being taught in all our schools as teachers tend to express their own view points on matters and current affairs in class and are therefore promoting a personal philosophy (or 'religion' if you like) to the class.
Virtues are fundamental character traits that, when nurtured by an individuals into their life, can form the type of person we would all like to know – someone who is honest, caring, patient, unselfish, courteous, responsible, compassionate, respectful of authority, the law and the rights and property of others.
Neither is the Character Education Programme of New Zealand (CEPNZ) connected in any way to the NZ versions of overseas developed programmes like the Living Values project (no longer operating) or Cornerstones Values or any similar organisations operating in NZ or overseas (especially not the 'Destiny' movement - the CEPNZ teaches respect for ALL people, NOT discrimination or oppression of personal free-will choices).
Q. Why is the CEPNZ operated as a business and not provided through the Government or a community group?
A. We can not rely on the Government to solve all our problems for us. Although we have lobbied the NZ Government since 2001 to fund Character Education for schools, the community and our society as a whole has as much of a role to play in bringing about the changes we need.
As in the words of Mahatma Gandi: "Be the change you wish to see in the world", we started with ourselves (as we all need to) and have developed a programme that is suitable to fit in with the school curriculum (not as another subject to be taught but to encompass the entire schools' ethos) and we provide guidelines for the individual and the family to help our community in personal character building and the strengthening of caring ties between groups within local communities.
The NZ Ministry of Education is now attempting to create their own 'values' based curriculum by defining the values to be taught and how to teach them but it is the opinion of CEPNZ management that this will only lead to greater confusion.
Q. Why does the CEPNZ ask for payment before delivery of the order?
A. Some schools have suggested that this is not normal business practice or that it is not in accordance with their BoT payment policy. On some of these past occasions, we have bent our terms and conditions to accommodate these schools and supplied on credit or a trial basis, only to find that the account has remained unpaid for up to three and a half months!
We stand by our products as quality educational resources. This is reflected in the number of schools that have initially purchased one resource and then another and have kept renewing their membership subscription with the CEPNZ each year.
Compare our policy with the fact that most purchases over the Internet require payment immediately through credit card and that delivery would be within 30 days (We dispatch our resources as soon as we receive payment). As an example of payment before delivery, please see the Dell website which states: "For other payment methods (cheque), we will wait for your payment before your order goes into production."
We are NOT a credit or finance company and we do not want to be put in the position of having to use a debt collector on an educational establishment. At the CEPNZ, we believe that we are fair traders.
Q. Does the CEPNZ supply copies of its resources "on approval"?
A. No. Complete descriptions of the contents of all CEPNZ resources are given on their specific resource web pages. All CEPNZ resources are easily copied and it is not our practice to provide the opportunity for these resources to be copied without authorisation.
You will find that other software companies or retail outlets follow the same practice. In the same stance, retailers will not provide refunds on any purchases of software, CD-ROMs or music CDs but they will allow replacements on faulty goods. CEPNZ Terms and Conditions are the same.
Q. Why does the CEPNZ apply a fee to cancelled orders?
A. This is for the same reason as why we do not supply goods on invoice. When a school places an order with the CEPNZ, a number of processes are followed. First, the order is recorded and the invoice is generated. As we trust that the majority of orders are fulfilled, the order is then picked and packed ready for postage for when the payment is received. All this takes time and resources.
If after one to three months the original order has not been paid for, a reminder has to be sent out that the order is ready for dispatch and our accounts department is still awaiting payment so that the order can be released. After such time if the order is not paid for and subsequently cancelled, we enforce that cancellation fee that is clearly stated on our terms and conditions on our online order forms. There is a box on the order form that must be checked to say that the person placing the order has agreed to our terms and conditions. Unless this box is checked, the order can not be placed.
Therefore, please ensure that you have the authority to place the order and to agree to these terms to avoid unnecessary embarrassment.
If you have any further questions, please ask
Copyright©2002-2010 Character Education Programme of New Zealand
CEPNZ, PO Box 20-616, Glen Eden, Waitakere 0641, New Zealand
(www.cepnz.co.nz)
