1 Moral and Citizenship

MORAL AND CIVICS
EDUCATION
“We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live”
Socrates
A.G
1
Introduction …
• Moral and Citizenship Education aimed for the creation of holistic development
in all citizens, who are confident, critical thinkers, competent professionals
who satisfy the requirements of the global market; entrepreneurs and innovative,
strong ethical and moral values, stand for justice; peace, and unity in diversity.
• basically aspires to equip the learners with relevant knowledge, respect for the
worth and human dignity of every individual, right attitudes and requisite skills
to enable them to perform their roles as a credible members of their society.
• will also acquire nature of Ethiopian federalism and parliamentary system of

government, ways of making responsible decisions, solve problems, care about
others, contribute to society, and be tolerant and respectful of diversity.
2
Chapter 1: Understanding Civics & Ethics
• Civics and Ethics has task of developing democratic minded citizens.
• Right Education (in South Africa),
• Citizenship Education (USA and Germany),
• Citizenship and Character Education (in Singapore), different names of the
• Civics and Ethical Education (in Ethiopia). subject across states:
• Civic education is study of rights and responsibilities of citizens of a

politically organized group of people (most cited defn).
• the knowledge of the constitutions, the principles, values, history and
application to contemporary life (Patrick 1986).
• a way of learning for effective participation in a democratic and
development process (UNDP).
• the development of ideas, habits, behaviors and useful attitudes in the
individual (Aggarwal, 1982) 3
Cont’d…
• Maximal and a minimal concept of civic education.
• the minimal: it is content-led, teacher-based, whole-class teaching
and examination-based assessment.
• the maximal: it comprised of knowledge, values and skills, and
aims to prepare students for active, responsible participation.
• it extends learning beyond the curriculum and classroom to all
activities inside and outside school.
• it is highly dependent on interactive teaching for discussion, debate
and participation.
4
The Definition and Nature of Ethics and Morality
• Ethics is:
• a branch of philosophy attempts to understand peoples moral
beliefs and actions.
• it considers theories about what human beings are capable of
doing, and what they ought to do if they are to live an ethically
good life.
• it explores the meaning and the ranking of different ethical
values, such as honesty, autonomy, equality and justice
• share common ground with the law, religious belief, popular
opinion, professional codes and the dictates of authority figures.
5
Morality and Ethics
• Morality refers to the degree to which an action conforms to a
standard or norm of human conduct pertinent to right or wrong.
• it refers to specific problems, such as Is lying/stealing ever right?
• is a complex concept,
• Ethics refers to the philosophical study of values and of what

constitute good and bad human conduct.
• Ethics is more general and theoretical (what makes any act, such
as lying or stealing, right/good or wrong.
6
Cont’d…
• ethics is usually associated with a certain conduct within a
profession,
• E.g., the code of ethics for the teaching profession.
• It is used to refer to what we would call moral conduct while

ethics is used to refer to the formal study of moral conduct.
• It can be claimed that morality is related to praxis, but ethics

is related to theory.
7
Ethics
Cont’d… Morality
philosophical study of the code, refers to the code of conduct one follows
standards or norm of human conduct.
establish the standards, norms, or is the conformity of human

codes to be followed by behavior to the established code
human beings of conduct .
Is the development of reasonable effort to guide one’s conduct by
standards and procedures for reason while giving equal weight
ethical decision-making to the interests others
Is a set of normative rules of conduct, a code, a Has to do with what one should do, all things
standards that govern what one ought to do when considered, not what, in fact, any of us will so
the well-being, or duties to oneself, others or
in a particular instance
institutions is at stake.
8
Ethics and Law
• laws are norms, formally approved by state, power or national or
international political bodies but not ethics and morality.
• Why ethics is not law?: b/cs
• 1st some actions that are illegal may not be unethical. Speeding
is illegal, but ethical to break it for emergency to hospital.
• 2nd some actions that are unethical may not be illegal.
• 3rd laws can be unethical or immoral. USA laws permitting
slavery in the 1800s but most people today would say that those
laws were unethical or immoral.
• 4th we use different kinds of mechanisms to express, teach,
inculcate, and enforce laws (penal codes, court ruling) and ethics
(religious texts, professional codes of conduct).
• 5th we use the coercive power of government to enforce laws but
merely condemning for unethical behavior.
9
The Importance/Goal of Moral and Civic Education
• Civic education is a discipline that deals with virtue traits rooted in
values of respect and culture of tolerance to make individuals
responsible and efficient member of their community.
• It teaches the values and sense of commitment that define
an active and principled citizen,
how to make responsible decisions,

solve problems,
care about others,
contribute to society, and

be tolerant and respectful of diversity. 10
Cont’d…
• Generally, the necessity of delivering the course emanates from:
1) The need to instill citizens about their rights and duties:
• presented four issues to look into the interplay between rights and
duties (Sastry et al. 2011)
i. one's right implies the other's duty.
ii. one's right implies one's duty to recognize similar rights of others.
iii. one should exercise his rights for the promotion of social good.
iv. the State being a nucleus organ needs to take care of the social and
legal interests of all its individuals.
 Balancing rights and duty is mandatory.
11
Cont’d…
2) The Need for Participant Political Culture:
 political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments
which give order and meaning to a political process provide the
underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the
political system.
• shapes what people expect of their political system, what they see
as possibilities for their own action
• it defines roles w/h an individual may play in the political process.
• Almond and Verba (1963) construct three political cultures:
A. Parochial cultures c/ns have low cognitive, affective, & evaluative
orientation regarding the political systems, gov’t powers & functions
& even their privileges & duties.
Citizens have insignificant role in politics since they think about their
families
12
Cont’d…
B. Subject cultures, there is high cognitive, affective, and evaluative
orientation towards the political system and policy outputs, but
orientations towards input objects (like political parties) and self as
active participants are minimal.
• relatively detached, passive relationship on the part of the citizen.
• most compatible with centralized or authoritarian political
structures.
C. Participant cultures, members of society have high cognitive,
affective, and evaluative orientation to the political system, the input
objects, the policy outputs, and recognize the self as an active
participant in the polity.
• are most compatible with democratic political structures
13
Cont’d…
Democratization challenges countries like Ethiopia.
• individual interests dominate in the socio-economic and political
structure of a given State
• self-understanding of people as recipients/consumers instead of active
citizens
• 3) The Need for Relevant K/dge, Skills and Positive Attitudes:
 useful k/dge in dealing with a particular problem
 skillful manpower with positive attitudes
 useful k/dge to cure for the ‘social ills’ and anti-social behaviors
particularly young people.
 4) The issue of fostering intercultural societies 14
Cont’d…
• 5) The issue of peace-building: in an env’t characterized by
increasing militarization, terrorism, civil wars and genocidal acts
• promote cooperation, dialogue, and a sustainable peace
• Dev’t of competencies for peacemaking, conflict resolution,
healing, reconciliation and reconstruction.
• understanding of nonviolent civil disobedience philosophies,
strategies and skills.
15

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MORAL AND CIVICS

• will also acquire nature of Ethiopian federalism and parliamentary system of

• Civic education is study of rights and responsibilities of citizens of a

• Ethics refers to the philosophical study of values and of what

• E.g., the code of ethics for the teaching profession.

• It is used to refer to what we would call moral conduct while

• It can be claimed that morality is related to praxis, but ethics

establish the standards, norms, or is the conformity of human

how to make responsible decisions,

contribute to society, and

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