What is an Ethical Curriculum?

By Kate Smith. 

The pandemic has placed inconceivable pressures on schools and their communities and we know that the effects of this pandemic will not be distributed equally. They are expected to be most damaging for children in the poorest countries, and in the poorest neighbourhoods, and for those in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations.

We are navigating complicated times – the spread of COVID – 19 is exaggerating issues that we still fight to make headway on.  We are already living in an inequitable society: 4.2 million children are living in poverty, racism is rife, we’ve not made enough progress on the gender pay gap, our planet is deteriorating through our abusive habits…. and the list goes on. 

Not only this, but there is an incredible strain on the mental health of our young people.

Again, this is exaggerated for our children with SEND, those who identify as LGBTQI+, or those in the youth justice system. Children’s social and emotional development, and the future of our planet, have to remain of the utmost important in the curriculum. 

Now is a pivotal time to be thinking about how well our curriculum is serving our young people.  

Now is the time to teach a more Ethical Curriculum.

What is an Ethical Curriculum? 

It is a curriculum that ensures all pupils develop holistically; allows them to deeply understand, celebrate and empathise with others, and empowers them to become global citizens, changing their attitudes and actions to make the world a kinder, more sustainable place to live. It’s an incredibly altruistic curriculum, with exposure to real, authentic and often quite emotionally provocative themes which in turn help to promote the development of collective and core personal values in children, and in staff too. It’s linked closely to Values-Based Education philosophy which is based on valuing self, others and the environment through a dedication to teaching particular themes within the curriculum. It’s a curriculum that will allow children, communities and the planet to thrive. 

Why do we need to teach an Ethical Curriculum?

There are many reasons to teach a more relevant and ethical curriculum, many of which I’ve mentioned in my opening paragraph. 

In addition:

• We want to ensure that we are teaching a diverse and colourful curriculum that promotes equity and inclusion for all, and by all I’m referring specifically to those within the Protected Characteristics Groups.
• We want to be educating our young people on issues around sustainable living, and the importance of becoming globally minded citizens in order to make the world sustainable; a kinder and more equitable place.
• We want our young people to know and live their core values, to know their purpose in the world, so deeply, that they develop an authentic self-esteem with the potential to become future change makers.

The challenges lie in implementing this transformative curriculum within the constraints of the educational climate and the pressures of the current educational system. Now is such a critical time for reform: we need to rethink our curriculums and ask ourselves; How well is my curriculum serving my pupils and my community? How will what I teach in my school make the world a better place?

There are certain subjects in the curriculum that are naturally easier to use as a platform for teaching more ethical topics, such as teaching about climate change through geography, or LGBT relationships through RSE or PSHCE, however, we need think carefully about how we interweave relevant themes into the subjects we already teach, to help with usualising these ethical issues

When I refer to themes, I am referring to teaching ethical issues that are relevant, contextual and necessary to teach in schools. Themes which have a moral backbone and help pupils to develop and themselves, others and their environment. I’m talking about teaching anti-racism, I’m talking about teaching about equity, I’m talking about teaching about poverty, about social justice, about climate change, about sustainable living, about conflict management, about love, about sustainable living…. about all the topics that if we choose to ignore to teach, then we potentially allow our children to grow up with misconceptions, with narrow minds, with ignorant viewpoints by default. We have the responsibility to ensure that that doesn’t happen, that we empower children to want to make to world a better place.

Teaching through values and teaching the inner curriculum is beautifully aligned with an #ethicalcurriculum.

A first step in thinking about an ethical curriculum is to consider how meaningful your content is to your young people. It’s important for children to see the relevance of what they are being taught. So, we need to be aware of what’s going on Globally, Nationally and Locally to inspire us to incorporate moral themes into our teaching.

As a quick example, just think specifically teaching about Equity. There are so many themes here to be addressed; gender pay gap, global inequality in education, stereotyping, rights for LGBTQI+, racism, social mobility, the justice system, poverty, ableism, the protected characteristics… there are so many imperative topics to be interwoven in the curriculum in just one area. Learning to focus on themes like this helps develop the values of self respect, involvement, empathy and advocacy to name a few.

Using your values within the curriculum authentically and deeply is the key. Whilst values are completely universal, the values you choose to focus on can still be specifically relevant to your school context too. So take a look at your holistic strengths and areas for developments. You may work in a school with a large refugee community, therefore, you need to nourish the values of empathy and humanity. Perhaps you’re in a school which is lacking in diversity, and consequently, your values need to promote respect and equality. On the contrary, if you are a school which is doing great work on climate change, or celebrating diversity, then you might want to strengthen your #ethicalcurriculum through a focus on the values of Leadership or Service.

Finally, Renaming and reframing the titles and outcomes of your topics or schemes of work can be incredibly powerful in helping you shift your mindset and focus onto the ethical and moral aspects of a topic. As an example, if you’re looking at teaching a unit of work on design in DT in KS2, then why not reframe the focus onto the Effect of Fast Fashion and the impact on child labour, therefore developing the value of empathy and agency. If you are teaching history in KS3 then how are you ensuring you’re teaching black history, and not omitting it from the curriculum, so that you are explicitly focusing on racial and ethnic diversity and promoting values of humanity and collective responsibility.

Curriculum development is a long-haul task, but a beautiful one, and an ethically focused curriculum, carefully crafted, will mean the children, and the staff and families and the planet, will reap the benefits for years to come.

The 5-year-olds we teach now are going to be our future activists, our future humanitarians, our future engineers, our future environmentalists, our future policy makers. The curriculum we teach today is about ensuring that our children and young people thrive in five years, in ten years, in 30 years’ time. That’s why we have to teach children about mental health, about looking after the environment, and we support them in developing values so that they have a desire for social change NOW. In doing so, we will all play our part in creating a kinder, more sustainable world.

I leave you with this question. How will you implement a more ethical curriculum in your school?