Understanding and promoting ethics and values education: The methodological challenge

Abstract

Two studies were undertaken recently to examine how schools promote SDG Target 4.7—including ethics and values. UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of International Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in Delhi examined to what extent concepts and competencies related to Target 4.7 are mainstreamed in education policies and curricula in 22 countries across Asia. Education Watch, a civil society group in Bangladesh that monitors progress in pretertiary education in the country, took the promotion of ethics and values through school education as the subject for its 2017 report. This article describes the methodological concerns and how the MGIEP comparative study and the Bangladesh study address those concerns. The SDG agenda, particularly Target 4.7, constitutes a frame of reference for both studies. The article discusses the relevance of SDG Goal 4 and Target 4.7 for the two studies, and briefly presents the objectives, the methodology, and the nature of conclusions derived from those studies. Next, it takes a comparative view of the two studies’ methodologies and analyses. Finally, the conclusion points to implications for further research and policy discourse.