Teaching and learning Ethics at intermediate stage in Sweden

• This paper reports findings from two research projects in Religious Education (RE), one ethnographic study in three Swedish school classes in grade six and one textbook study focussing on intermediate stage. Previous research indicates that ethics is one of the areas that attend least attention in RE. The reasons for this we do not know. The character of teaching, teaching tools and pupil responses in ethics at intermediate stage is almost not researched. This paper starts by discussing important ethical competences of tweens. The Swedish syllabus of RE is here related to other European syllabuses and to ethical perspectives and theories. On this base we report findings from the ethnographical study, and its questionnaire with one larger ethical task given to the pupils in the beginning of the academic year as well as in the end of the second term. Skills which seem to be present to lesser and larger degree are accounted. Perspectives that seem to be more present in the end of the academic year - which could have been developed during the academic year - are emphasised. In relation to these findings we pay attention to available and absent perspectives in some textbooks and some lessons in ethics. The paper is ended with an overarching discussion about to which degree the current perspectives of the pupils can be related to offered and absent perspectives of the textbooks and the lessons. What kind of offer of meaning, in the field of ethics, would the pupils need in order to develop such an ethical competence that the questionnaires indicate as present in a lesser degree? This question may also be seen as relevant to research concerning challenges related to an education for sustainable development.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

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ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)