Published: 2016-11-16

Discontinuity as a Lens for Analysing Students’ Thinking around Moral Dilemmas – A Qualitative Study of ETiK-International-Edinburgh

Andrea English
Pedagogical Forum
Section: Topic
https://doi.org/10.21697/10.21697/fp.2016.2.05

Abstract

The Project ETiK, which began at Humboldt University Berlin, created a test to differentiate students’ moral competency into three sub-areas of competency, ‘basic knowledge’, ‘judgment’ and ‘ability to create plans for action’ and also determines different levels of competency a person can have within these three subareas. ETiK-Edinburg plans to extend the ETiK-International competency test in two ways. It will use the current Scottish curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence, to test ETiK’s hypothesis and will add a qualitative study focused on understanding the role played by experiences of discontinuity in students’ thinking as they move from one level of competency to the next higher level. Discontinuity refers to the moments in experience when we are challenged by a new idea, perspective, or object that we do not immediately know how to respond to. In this chapter, I first provide some background on the role of ethical-moral education in the UK more broadly, and identify the unique role of ethical-moral education in Scotland. In the second section, I show the alignment between the specified criteria for the highest levels of ‘achievement’ in the subject area of ‘Religious and Moral Education’ in Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, and the criteria for the highest levels of ‘competency’ in ETiK’s moral competency levels. In the final section, I discuss my design for a qualitative study, which will serve to help further our understanding of the role played by discontinuity in students’ thinking when they are responding to moral dilemmas. In the conclusion, I highlight how the results of the quantitative and qualitative studies will inform the design of a professional development course for primary and secondary ‘Religious and Moral Education’ teachers.

Keywords:

ethical-moral education, moral competency, discontinuity, ETiK-Internation

Download files

Citation rules

English, A. (2016). Discontinuity as a Lens for Analysing Students’ Thinking around Moral Dilemmas – A Qualitative Study of ETiK-International-Edinburgh. Pedagogical Forum, 6(2/1), 71–94. https://doi.org/10.21697/10.21697/fp.2016.2.05

Cited by / Share


This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.