EDFD710 - Spiritual and Ethical Dimensions of Education

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Both teaching and learning are moral acts, and their moral dimension invites scrutiny from a variety of philosophical and epistemological perspectives. Hence this unit explores the spiritual and moral dimensions of education. It also offers a framework on the use of various constructs to critique the spiritual/ethical dynamics of education. Issues such as: religion, spirituality, virtues, character, values and citizenship are explored in their educational contexts. A central feature in any spiritual/ethical education is the intention to bring about some form of personal change in students, and not just changes in knowledge and skills; this raises questions about the ethics of such intentions and related practices in terms of respect for individuals and their autonomy, as well as questions about the extent to which educational transactions can be expected to foster change in beliefs, attitudes and values. In addition, the unit considers some ethical issues related to policy, leadership and administration in education as well as ethical issues for research in education.