Discussions of ethical dilemmas: developing ethical competence and life skills in upper secondary religious education in Norway

Abstract

In 2020 and 2022, Norway introduced national curricula for secondary religious education (RE) that incorporated the interdisciplinary topic of ‘health and life skills’, encompassing ethical dilemmas. This empirical study examined how discussions of real-life ethical dilemmas facilitated the teaching and learning of ethical competence and life skills in RE. In 2021–2024, 132 teacher logs and 77 video-recorded lessons were collected in 22 classrooms at 6 schools, involving 14 RE teachers. The teacher logs were used to detect lessons focusing on both ethics and life skills. One upper secondary lesson was identified and analysed quantitatively using an observation protocol on life skills and qualitatively through deductive codes and hermeneutical interpretation. The teacher fostered the development of ethical competence and life skills by facilitating group discussions about dilemmas that students may face in their current or future lives. The discussions revealed how the students developed ethical competence and life skills in their zones of proximal development. The teacher scaffolded the discussions by instructing the students to use a framework of questions on ethical dilemmas. While interacting with the groups, she evoked a linguistic repertoire, posed relevant questions, and introduced related ethical dilemmas. The students used this scaffolding to varying degrees.