Teaching Ethics in Schools

Teaching Ethics in Schools: A New Approach to Moral Education is an essential handbook for teachers wanting to bring their classroom practice into line with the ethical understanding requirements of the Australian Curriculum.

The book illuminates all kinds of moral dilemmas and contemporary challenges faced by teachers today, such as responsibilities of parents versus schools, and religious versus secular paradigms. It shows how an ethical framework forms a natural fit with recent educational trends that emphasise collaboration and inquiry-based learning.

Teaching Ethics in Schools demonstrates how an ethics-based model can influence habits of mind and underpin teaching practices to stimulate ethical enquiry, to encourage students to think for themselves and develop good moral judgment, and to promote social values and beneficial outcomes both within the classroom and beyond.

Part One provides a clear introduction to the theoretical premise of reflection and collaborative enquiry. It draws on the history of philosophy, and relates this to contemporary school contexts, to support teachers in their conceptual understanding.

In Part Two, an array of activities, exercises and discussion points are provided as stimuli for teachers to adapt and apply across diverse subject areas, throughout all stages of school. The focus lies in preparing students to think reflectively, to question and probe, and ultimately develop their own enhanced capacity for ethical reasoning and considerate behaviour and conduct.