MRAVNÁ VÝCHOVA V ŠKOLÁCH NA SLOVENSKU A V ZAHRANI ČÍ

OPTIONS FOR CHANGE OF CURRICULAR CONTENT FOR
ETHICAL EDUCATION SUBJECT IN THE TIMES OF
EDUCATION REFORM
Ľudovít HAJDUK, Slovakia
Abstract
Ethical education is a compulsory optional subject within the state educational program for ISCED
levels 1 - 3A. Its main purpose is to educate the personality of student with his own sense of identity
and value orientation, placing an important emphasis on respect for the people, nature, cooperation,
pro-social behaviour and respect for national and cultural values. To achieve this objective will not be
realised only by providing information but by effective support for the learning through experiments in
classrooms and students’ integral understanding of moral standards. As a result, ethical education
will facilitate adoption of such behaviour of students that is consistent with their understanding of
moral standards. In accordance with the change in the content of education the change should be
reflected in the content that refers to real life. Therefore ethical education should be oriented more
interdisciplinary and be of cross-curricular nature, introducing and responding to the new
developments in science. Ethical education should develop the issues of bioethics, ethics in genetics,
ethics in media as the ethical aspects of individual life of human being and his social interactions. In
terms of methodology of ethical education it is necessary to strengthen the position of case studies,
project classes and problem solving learning, in particular through experimental methods.
Introduction
• New Education Act introduces a two-level model of educational programs: (1) State Educational
Program, (2) School Educational Program.
• State Educational Programs define the content of education and training in schools and are issued
and adopted by the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic.
• School Educational Program is a basic document of school according to which education and
training is carried out. School Educational Program is issued by the headmaster after consultation
with School Pedagogical Leadership Team and School Governance Board. The establisher of
school may request the School Educational Program from headmaster for approval.
1. State Educational Program
The aim of education and training is to enable child or pupil to:
a) obtain the key competences, respectively a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes: in
particular in the fields of communication competence, oral and written form ability, the use of
Information Society Technology, communication in the mother tongue, official and foreign
languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology, learning
to learn, social and civic competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and cultural
awareness and expression competence,
b) strengthen respect for parents and other persons, strengthen respect for cultural and national values
and traditions of the state in which a pupil is a citizen, strengthen respect for the official language
and the mother tounge, understanding of one’s own culture and a sense of identity, acquire and
strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and principles set out in
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
c) face responsibilities in life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding and tolerance, equality of
men and women, friendship between nations, minority and ethnic groups and religious tolerance,
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