WELCOME TO THE COURSE MORAL AND CIVIC

EDUCATION

BY: KENA KEBEDE (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, IN

DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT)

FEBRUARY, 2024
 CHAPTER ONE
THE MEANING AND ORIGION OF CIVICS
1. INTRODUCTION
Question: What is Civic Education?
➢Civic education is an education that studies about the rights and
responsibilities of citizens. In different times, different writers were defined
civic education in different ways.
➢For example, Patrick defined civic education as the knowledge of the
constitutions, its principles, values, history and application to a
contemporary life.
➢Citizenship education is the knowledge, a means, and activities that designed
to encourage the students to have active participation in a democratic life
by accepting and exercising their rights and responsibilities.
 Cont…
• United Nations Development Program (UNDP) defined civic
education as a way of learning for effective participation in a
democratic and development process.
• On his part, Aggarwal linked civic education to the development of
ideas, habits, behaviors and useful attitudes in the individual which
enables him/her to be a useful member of the society.
• Still the subject matter civic can be also defined as the process of
helping young people to acquire and learn to use the skills,
knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent
and responsible citizens throughout their lives.
 Cont…
➢Civics and Ethics has a task of developing democratic minded
citizens. Different names of the subject across states were;
✓Right Education (in South Africa),
✓Citizenship Education (USA and Germany),
✓Citizenship and Character Education (in Singapore),
✓Moral Education during Emperor Hailesillassei I (in Ethiopia),
➢Political Education during Dergue Regime (in Ethiopia),
➢Civic and Ethical Education during EPDF (From 1995-2018
G.C in Ethiopia),
➢Moral and Citizenship Education (currently in Ethiopia).
 Cont…
Maximal and a Minimal Concept of Civic Education
1. The minimal:- It is content-led, teacher-based, whole-class teaching
and examination-based assessment.
2. The maximal:- It is comprised of knowledge, values and skills, and
aims to prepare students for active and responsible participation.
➢It is more than learning the curriculum and classroom to all
activities
inside and outside school.

The Definition and Nature of Ethics and Morality

Question:- What is Ethics?
❖Ethics is a branch of philosophy that explore the meaning and the
ranking of different ethical values such as honesty, autonomy or
independence, equality and justice.
 Cont…
➢Ethics can be also called as Moral Philosophy or Morals. We can use these
words interchangeably.
➢Ethics deals with the reason that makes an action or act of human being
morally wrong or right, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable.
➢Generally, ethics is the critical examination and evaluation of what is good
or bad, what is right or wrong in human conduct.

Morality
Question:-What is Morality?
❑In its nature, morality is a complex concept. The word morality can be derived
from a dictionary definition (from Latin word - moralitas-refers to “Manner,
Character, Proper or good behavior”).
 Cont…
➢It is refers to specific problems, such as “Is lying/stealing ever
right or wrong?
➢With the comparison of morality, ethics is more general and
theoretical (“what makes any act, such as lying or stealing, right/ good
or wrong”).
➢Ethics is usually associated with a certain conduct within a
profession, E.g., The code of ethics for the teaching profession.
➢Morality is refers to the character of individuals and the
community.
 Cont…
Ethics and Law
➢Laws are the norms that are formally approved by state, national
or international political bodies, but not ethics and morality are
approved by any empowered body.
Question:-Why Ethics is not law? Because;
✓1st, Some actions that are illegal may not be unethical. For example;
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. For example, USA laws
permitting slavery in the 1800s, but, today, most people would
say that; those laws were unethical or immoral.
 Cont…
✓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.
The Importance/Goal/ of Moral and Civic Education
➢Teach us the values and sense of commitment that define active and
principled citizen.
➢Teach how to make responsible decisions, how to solve different
problems of the community ,i.e. like lack of good governance.
 Cont…
❖Teach us how to care about the others (how to respect other’s idea),
❖Teach us how to be tolerant and respectful of diversity.
✓Generally, the necessity of delivering Moral and Citizenship course
for all is emanates from:-
1) The need to instill citizens about their rights and duties
2) The need for creating participant political culture
▪ Almond and Verba (1963) construct three political cultures:-
A) Parochial political culture:- in such political culture, citizens
have low cognitive, affective, and evaluative orientation regarding
the political systems, government powers, functions and even their
 Cont…
privileges and duties. Citizens have insignificant role in politics
since they think about their families.
B) Subject Political culture:- in this political culture, 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, there is passive relationship on the part of
the citizen in politics.
❖ Most compatible with centralized or authoritarian political
structure, like Dictatorship form of Government.
 Cont…
C. Participant political culture:- members of the 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 (state).
✓Are most compatible with a democratic political structure.

Democratization challenges in countries like Ethiopia

1) Individual interests were dominate in the socio-economic and
political structure of a given state.
2) Self-understanding of people as recipients/consumers/ instead
of active citizens or active participants.
 Cont…
3)The need/interest that we have for relevant knowledge, skills and
positive attitudes.
4) The issue of fostering inter-cultural (diversified and shared
culture) societies.
5) The issue of peace-building: in an environment characterized by
increasing militarization, terrorism, civil wars and genocidal acts.
➢Thus, the main goal of teaching civics and ethics at any level of
educational institutions is to produce competent, high moral
standard society and responsible citizens who can ask and use their
rights and fulfill their obligations.