Gränsöverskridande värden i icke konfessionell etikundervisning

ämnesidentitet och multidisciplinärt lärande i ämnet religionskunskap

Abstract

Traditionally religious education (RE), in a Swedish context, includes ethics education. The syllabus of the subject included in the latest school reform for compulsory school (Lgr11) present clear and detailed prescriptions regarding ethical issues which have to be taught. At the same time there could, in the national policy documents, be found explicit regulations that the teaching of ethics, like many other areas, should not be restricted to RE. Pedagogical integration is recommended. A multidisciplinary ethics education can be motivated in many ways, pedagogically as well as with reference to subject considerations. Such an education gives rise to challenging questions concerning which contributions RE may be supposed to develop in relation to school ́s comprehensive teaching in ethics. More precisely, there seems to be a need to identify and explain how these contributions are to be apprehended and interpreted within the context of RE, but also in relation to other subjects. In this article the core content of the new syllabus in RE is discussed methodologically as well as with reference to subject considerations. A few ethical profiles characteristic of the subjects of social sciences are presented. Some important challenges regarding the need for specifying the meaning of the concept of ethics, interpreted within the context of RE, are elaborated. One issue that is highlighted concerns to what extent non confessional RE may create specified and constructive contributions to a multidisciplinary ethics education. In relation to the focusing of this theme, a critical discussion regarding an essentialistic interpretation of the relation between ethics and religion within RE is carried out.