Techers, Ethics and Globalizaion : an international comparative field study of the perspective of six teachers regarding ethics questions

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to study the view of six teachers, working in three different field areas, on ethics questions and ethics teaching in schools, from a global perspective. My second aim was to analyze whether there was any cooperation between these different field areas or between them and others, in order to improve the ethics teaching in schools. My research questions were intended for one teacher in a Swedish school, three teachers in a Brazilian school, one Swedish missionary and one Swedish senior lecturer in ethics. The research questions basically centre on how these teachers would define concepts such as ethics and global ethics, what kind of ethics questions they feel are important for the school to convey and if there is any form of cooperation between teachers in Swedish/Brazilian schools and different organizations, designed to improve the ethics teaching in schools from a global perspective. On the basis of the results of my questionnaires I find the definition of ethics more or less equal among the six teachers. They relate ethics to moral philosophy and other questions such as what is right, wrong, good and evil. The teachers also believe ethics contains a reflection on global matters, like the environment, poverty and peace. Five out of six teachers define global ethics with conceptions like global responsibility, respect for future generations, global consensus, comprehension and tolerance. One of the teachers does not believe in global ethics but in groups that could establish some common values to be achieved. All six teachers feel it is important to bring questions related to Human Rights to the fore in schools. These ethics questions would touch on increased egoism, responsibility, respect for the environment, respect for differences, solidarity, tolerance, attitudes and sexual morals. According to the teachers these matters should be practiced and studied from a micro, macro and gender perspective. My results show that cooperation does exist between the Swedish/Brazilian schools and different organizations and institutions. There is cooperation between The Church of Sweden Mission and Brazilian organizations, but there are no exchanges between Swedish schools and schools outside Europe. One way to improve ethics teaching and facilitate exchanges between schools from a global perspective could be to globalize the curriculum. With a globalized curriculum teachers could give the students the global context they need in global society.