EDUCATION OF FUTURE CITIZENS TO ETHICAL REFLECTION: PRESENTATION AND EVALUATION OF METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS

Abstract

The stakes in spreading a culture of ethical reflection are
gradually being considered beyond the human sciences
specialists and healthcare professionals. In particular,
the importance given by public authorities to educating
future citizens to ethics led to the establishment of a “moral
and civic education” in French primary and secondary
education in September 2015. However, in the absence
of institutional formation, teachers are not really able to
train students in this questioning procedure. In order to
improve the awakening of future citizens to ethics, we have
developed methodological tools to train teachers in ethics
and animation of ethical reflection workshops. Our model,
the originality of which is to train in ethics through the
practice of ethical questioning, follows a three-step path:
an introduction to ethics leaning on the study of a fictive
dilemma; a training in ethical questioning based on a real dilemma; an autonomous practice of this questioning
leaning on a real situation, not formulated in terms of
dilemma. In this article, we describe the model and assess
its relevance. We then discuss some problematic aspects
of the development of ethics education in the National
Education context and the conditions of its existence and
sustainability