Being and becoming: Challenging dichotomous conceptions of ethical competence within democratic education in compulsory school International conference on existential questions in research and education, Sigtunastiftelsen 27-29 oktober 2016

• What abilities are to be developed within ethics education? Such abilities are sometimes described in terms of ethical competence. The concept of ethical competence is not unproblematic, but it can be used instrumentally to identify abilities that in the framework of the teaching of ethics is thought to be developed. This presentation focuses on dichotomous conceptions of ethical competence according to which subjects either have or lack relevant abilities, and where “ethically competent grown-ups” are distinguished from “ethically not competent”, or “ignorant, children”. With reference to Jacques Rancière's philosophical approach where teachers and students, as collaborative equals, engage in teaching-learning processes, and John Wall's critical "childist approach" in which hierarchic ageist relations are highlighted, a dichotomous, developmentalist conception of ethical competence is analyzed. An examination of conceptions of ethical competence in Nordic RE syllabuses, and an interpretative analysis of interviews with pupils in grade six, performed within a research project financed by the Swedish Research Council, are used as bases for the analysis. Finally, a non-dichotomous conception of ethical competence is elaborated with regard to teachers´ contribution to the transmission of democratic values, and with reference to conceptions of children as moral subjects, being and becoming ethically competent practitioners.

Ämnesord

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

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

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Etik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Ethics (hsv//eng)

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

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

Nyckelord

ethical competence

values education

the child as a moral subject

democracy education

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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