Ethical education: a morality tale
Playground takes moral high ground
The role of schools and teachers in imparting a strong sense of right and wrong to their students is at the very core of our social structure, according to Baroness Warnock.
When asked why it is important to give children an ethical education, a look of horror comes over philosopher Mary Warnock’s face.
"Society totally depends on it,” she says emphatically. “If children grow up without a notion of the distinction between moral right and wrong, then we couldn’t have laws or people obeying those laws. One of the most alarming things in the world is people who hold no moral values, who don’t understand what morality is."
The best place to learn, Baroness Warnock believes, is at school – and from an early age.
"I am a great believer in the ‘get them before they’re seven’ school of thought,” she says. “Even very young children can pick up from their teachers that there are good and bad ways to behave. It becomes much more difficult as children get older, because they become more questioning."
In keeping with International Baccalaureate research on ethical education, the baroness doesn’t think ethics classes, as such, are very helpful, unless students are planning to study philosophy. The way to instruct ethical values is through the moral climate and ethos of the school.
"School is a place where the very existence of morals has to be taught from the moment children step foot in the school,” she says. “It is a practice ground, where a child can learn to distinguish good from bad. Small children learn by example, so teachers need to be vigilant to make sure they are always behaving well. This places a great responsibility on staff to be ethical teachers. They must be even-handed, show no favouritism and be open with the children. Those who have the most influence will be those who use an ethical vocabulary: they say things like ‘That is a horrible – or a really kind – thing to do’; ‘Don’t you think you’ve had more than your fair share?’."
The baroness even goes so far as to suggest that this concept of behaving well should be part of a teacher’s professional training. But that’s not to say that parents don’t have a contribution to make.
"Common morals can be taught at school and home,” says Warnock, “but sadly in some homes a moral vocabulary is not known, so then the responsibility falls more heavily on the school."
The baroness believes it makes no difference in the early years what the child’s ethnic background is – that good and bad behaviour are the same throughout today’s multicultural society.
"Basic principles, such as it is morally wrong to be greedy and violent, or to hurt and deceive people, are absolutely common to all cultures,” says Warnock. “It’s not until children are much older that conflict between school and home may emerge. However, by then, with any luck, the basic difference between nice and nasty behaviour is already in place."
At primary years age, Warnock believes that children can start to learn right from wrong through the concept of shame.
“Shame is enormously important to ethics,” says Warnock. “Very little children can learn when they are disapproved of by their teachers or classmates. This is Aristotle’s thinking and the idea is that eventually you don’t need others around you to feel shame – that there are things you wouldn’t do even if you were alone on a desert island.”
Once children are a little bit older, though, the baroness says that the concept of society must also come into play.
"This is the age to make students realize that they are all in the same boat and that they can’t pursue their own wishes without any thought of others,” she says. “A child has to learn that everybody is subject to temptation and that they need to guard against that. Because we are human, we are free to choose, but we must learn that we do not need to choose the bad thing."
The baroness also believes that children of this age will, by now, be interested in thinking about the theories and moral issues within their own society and government and those around the world.
"Teenagers love discussing these things,” she says, “looking at what the issues are and where a sense of morality comes into it. It’s good to open their eyes to global problems. The IB has all the infrastructure to teach not just government, but international government; not just law, but international law. I find that very exciting."
International morality is evidently something that preoccupies Warnock.
"The question is whether we can formulate public international policy which really has teeth,” she says. “The UN attempted this, but the thing of real interest is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This presupposes that there is a common morality that is superior to the different concepts of morality that different cultures have."
The hope is that what children learn at school about good and bad, right and wrong, will stay with them throughout life as they integrate deeper into society and become global citizens.
“A good school,” Warnock wrote in An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Ethics, “will produce pupils who want to go on with what they have started. Whatever they do, they will want to do
it well. As they more clearly see the implications
of being human, they will want to be good specimens of humanity.”
The baroness admits that not all children will grasp this in the same way: some will be better and some will be worse at succumbing to temptation.
"But, if they know they can resist,” she says brightly, “it’s more likely that they will end on the plus side of the divide, which will be good for society at large."
An ethical education the IB way
IB believes that an ethical education guides and supports students, and asks them to consider their choices and actions, the choices and actions of others, and how those actions affect others. Effective education in ethics does not come from courses but from approaching ethical issues through structured inquiry and critical thinking.
It also comes about through developing an environment for learning and a school ethos that addresses ethics in theory and on a practical level. The learner profile is fundamental to this thinking and leads students to develop their own code of values, bringing them to an understanding of what is good through reflection and debate. For example:
IB Diploma Programme
TOK: one of the areas of knowledge is ethics – how we can know or justify what we ought to do
CAS: learning outcome – students have considered the ethical implications of their actions
Group 4, Experimental sciences:
raises awareness of the moral,
ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of using science and technology
Business and management: identifies social and cultural factors, and ethical considerations in the actions of organizations
ITGS: one-third of the
course is entitled ‘Social and ethical issues’. For every topic studied in ITGS, students are expected to look at the social and ethical issues
World religions: what are
the core ethical teachings of
a religion and what significant interpretations of them exist?
To what extent are ethics and moral conduct affected by social, political or cultural contexts?
Middle Years Programme
Ethical content: students study
and consider the ethical dimensions
of issues throughout the programme
Areas of interaction: through areas of interaction fundamental ethical issues are addressed across all subjects
Ethical issues are embedded in some of the subject objectives, for example: discuss how science and
its application interact with social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and ethical factors
Primary Years Programme
Making meaning is central to the PYP: it applies to ethics as to all areas of knowledge
Action cycle: Reflect/choose/act supports students in making sense of why they do or do not act in certain ways and supports them in building
a personal code. Students begin to construct their understanding of behaviour that is accepted and expected in the community, and can justify to themselves and others the actions they take
