Is there an interest in ethics? teachers' and pupils' perspectives in a Swedish assessment era

• The aim of this RE paper of the EthiCo-project is to present ethical competences that a sample of Swedish teachers regard as important for their pupils to develop, in relation to what a sample of pupils express as their needs of ethical competences. These perspectives, similarities and differences, are examined in relation to other EthiCo findings involving e.g. policy perspectives and theoretical perspectives (Benhabib, Løgstrup, Nussbaum and Singer). In particular, the findings are studied from the perspectives of Swedish governmental assessment interest in ethics education expressed by curriculum requirements and National Tests. The empirical data has been produced through fourteen group interviews with teachers of 12- and 16-yearolds, and through 16 group interviews with pupils of 12 and 16 years old. All in all, the participants were from eleven schools in eight municipalities (eight different schools and municipalities), and the analyses of the interviews were informed by grounded theory procedures. The findings show that both teachers and pupils stress practical competences, related to everyday life, such as identifying ethical challenges, interpreting them and responding to them in relation to values understood as central. The Swedish curriculum and the assessment instructions of the tests stress a more limited ethical competence where analytical and argumentative capacities are central. The EthiCo project has as its overarching aim to critically analyse and discuss varieties of conceptions of ethical competence as potential educational content in ethics education in compulsory school. The result categories, expressing the perspectives of the teachers and the pupils, are contributions in this process.

Ämnesord

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

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

Nyckelord

ethics

didactics

students

teachers

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)