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• VCECD008

  Discuss the role of personal values and dispositions in ethical decision-making and actions

  Elaborations

  • exploring, as part of a character analysis in a narrative such as Harry Potter or Aesop’s fables, questions such as: What do characters say and do that might suggest their dispositions? To what extent are dispositions such as being honest, cautious, persistent, selfish, proud, or empathetic necessary for ethical decision-making? Can someone be honest and brave and yet make the wrong choice? Are there some dispositions that are more important than others?
  • undertaking research to identify dispositions and values commonly associated with significant community leaders, heroes, sport champions and celebrities and discussing what counts as a desirable disposition and reasons for disagreements
  • discussing the actions of a character over time, for example, the father or friends in the book/film 'How to Train Your Dragon', to determine the values implicit or explicit in decision-making and what may cause personal values to be questioned

  VCECD008 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 3 and 4 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECU015

  Investigate why ethical principles may differ between people and groups, considering the influence of cultural norms, religion, world views and philosophical thought

  Elaborations

  • researching contemporary or historically significant people across a range of cultures and identifying and comparing the principles evident in the decision-making and actions of, for example, William Barak, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Aung San Suu Kyi
  • exploring a cultural norm concerning, for example, the importance of winning, maximizing profit or teamwork, and how this may influence a decision about where duties lie or what is the best outcome
  • investigating instances where individual action differed from the wider group, and the reasons for these differences, for example, in response to discrimination, corruption or bullying

  VCECU015 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 7 and 8 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU010

  Discuss how ethical principles can be used as the basis for action, considering the influence of cultural norms, religion, world views and philosophical thought on these principles

  Elaborations

  • investigating some common ethical principles, for example, ‘always treat people as ends not means’ (philosopher Immanuel Kant), and ‘actions are right in proportion to whether they promote happiness’ (philosopher John Stuart Mill), and comparing how they might be applied to a particular situation, for example, whether to participate in a fund raising event.
  • examining basic tenets of major world religions and non-religious worldviews and how they form the basis of a particular principle/s, such as ‘treat others as you would want to be treated’ (the Golden Rule)
  • investigating differing cultural norms concerning the importance of the individual relative to the family or wider community and how this may influence views on loyalty, obligation and responsibility and in turn views on guiding ethical principles

  VCECU010 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 5 and 6 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU019

  Investigate the connections and distinctions between and the relative value of concepts including fairness and equality, and respect and tolerance

  Elaborations

  • discussing whether fairness and equality are the same thing, and if not, which is more important, using examples such as affirmative action, concessions for those with special needs, or differences in tax rates
  • discussing whether there are distinctions in attitudes of respect and tolerance, in relation to, for example, different views on child vaccination
  • discussing why punishments may be unequal and whether this is fair, for example, if applied to the same case in court or in a sporting tribunal

  VCECU019 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECD007

  Explore how apparently wrong actions can sometimes lead to good outcomes and the reverse

  Elaborations

  • using examples to show how an act could lead to good or bad outcomes, or both, such as an act of generosity (for example sharing lunch, helping a friend with homework, providing welfare) or selfishness or greed; or an act of apparent duty (for example keeping a promise or being respectful, or honest)
  • evaluating the consequences of responses to problems and whether these were intended or foreseeable, for example, playing a prank on someone
  • researching changes of opinion before, during and after a development in the local community

  VCECD007 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 3 and 4 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECD003

  Explore the effects that personal feelings can have on how people behave in situations where ethical issues are involved

  Elaborations

  • comparing the deliberations and actions of people who share a problem but experience different feelings, and reflecting on the influence feelings have on the outcome, for example, conflict over the sharing of a reward for a group effort
  • examining a range of issues to determine if feelings are important in reaching the best decision and why, for example, reaching a decision on who to invite to a party, or what jail sentence a judge should hand down
  • discussing whether a machine or robot would be able to make the best decisions in particular situations without being able to feel

  VCECD003 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Foundation to Level 2 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECU009

  Examine the contested meaning of concepts including truth and happiness and the extent to which these concepts are and should be valued

  Elaborations

  • using ethical dilemmas, as a prompt for exploring whether it is ever desirable to lie, for example, lying to protect a friend from getting into trouble, to stop someone’s feelings being hurt, or about an injury in order to get picked for a team
  • asking a range of people what their views on happiness are, how important it is and what is necessary for happiness
  • investigating whether everyone should have the right to be happy and if so, whether this is possible, using as stimulus issues of treatment of prisoners or bullies, or how much the wealthy should help the poor or the strong the weak

  VCECU009 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 5 and 6 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU014

  Explore the contested meaning of concepts including freedom, justice, and rights and responsibilities, and the extent they are and should be valued by different individuals and groups

  Elaborations

  • exploring the meaning of justice by proposing and evaluating criteria that might be used for justice, such as what is deserved, adherence to laws or maximising the common good
  • comparing and evaluating two conceptions of freedom: the absence of anything that prevents you achieving what you want, and the ability to control your own interests (self- determination); and whether the harm principle should be used to limit freedom, as part of a study of an issue concerning freedom of speech, or freedom of action (such as restrictions to gambling or alcohol consumption)
  • using a range of examples, such as drink driving, to examine whether there are more important rights and responsibilities than others, whether rights are means or ends and the extent to which reasons involving rights do and should outweigh other reasons for actions

  VCECU014 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 7 and 8 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECD023

  Investigate how different factors involved in ethical decision-making can be managed by people and groups

  Elaborations

  • identifying an ethical problem and how a social and/or private institution negotiates different points of view, for example NGOs working in local communities, or government organisations such as local councils with a planning or development issue
  • analysing a range of fiction and non-fiction texts such as autobiographies to compare and reflect on how characters/people internally managed the interaction of factors such as feelings, reasoning, experience, dispositions and conscience

  VCECD023 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECU004

  Explore the contested meaning of concepts including fairness and harm and how they can seem to differ in different situations

  Elaborations

  • testing a proposed definition of fairness as equal treatment by considering whether an older sibling should do more at home or whether there should be special parking places
  • testing a proposed definition of harm as involving a deliberate intention that caused mental or physical suffering, by considering whether an accidental injury to someone on the playground is harmful or whether taking offence to teasing or a joke is a choice
  • exploring the concept of fairness by setting a task where resources are distributed unevenly and reflecting on the desirability of the outcomes

  VCECU004 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 3 and 4 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU020

  Explore a range of ethical problems and examine the extent to which different positions are related to commonly held ethical concepts and principles, considering the influence of cultural norms, religion, world views and philosophical thought

  Elaborations

  • identifying and discriminating the ethical concepts and principles raised by people or groups in a globally significant debate such as responses to people movements, poverty or climate change
  • identifying and analysing why members of the same religious tradition may hold different views, for example, on capital punishment

  VCECU020 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECD012

  Explore the significance of ‘means versus ends’ by considering two ways to act when presented with a problem: one that privileges means and one ends

  Elaborations

  • investigating a choice such as posting an image of a friend and justifying why someone should or should not post the image, in terms of means and ends
  • responding to a range of ethical dilemmas and comparing responses that focus on means (where the most important consideration is the action itself, such as being honest regardless of the consequences) and responses that focus on ends (where the most important consideration is the likely outcome, such as making someone happy even if it means lying to them)
  • analysing the position 'the end justifies the means' and the tension between means and ends in different contexts, for example, experimentation on people or other animals, the collection and use of data, making consumer decisions, selecting/training teams in sport or making civic decisions such as removing homeless people from areas during an event

  VCECD012 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 5 and 6 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECD013

  Discuss the role and significance of conscience and reasoning in ethical decision-making

  Elaborations

  • defining conscience and discussing examples where conscience could influence reasoning and decision-making, such as when faced with an opportunity to gain by doing the wrong thing, with little likelihood of getting caught, for example acknowledging the use of someone else’s ideas, tampering with evidence or data, or accessing internet content without paying

  VCECD013 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 5 and 6 | Decision Making and Actions

• VCECU011

  Examine how problems may contain more than one ethical issue

  Elaborations

  • exploring the nature of an ethical dilemma in which there is a choice to be made between at least two options, none of which gives an ethically acceptable result, for example, choosing who to put in a lifeboat when there are limited places, or whether someone should tell the shop owner that they their friend is shop-stealing expensive medicine for their poverty stricken mother, or, whether to stop and help someone and miss an entrance exam, or whether to quit a sport team in a small town knowing that then there will not be enough players and the team will fold
  • investigating a problem such as responding to a natural disaster and identifying the ethical issues involved immediately and into the future
  • researching an historical example such as Batman’s 'treaty' and its validity, identifying the different ethical issues involved and from whose point of view

  VCECU011 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 5 and 6 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU021

  Distinguish between the ethical and non-ethical dimensions of complex issues, including the distinction between ethical and legal issues

  Elaborations

  • assessing a complex ethical issue that is, one, such as euthanasia, that involves more than one question and area of contestability, a range of diverse people, and/or is part of a wider problem or historical context, to discriminate and explain those features that are of ethical significance, using these questions: who is involved, what are their intentions and what gave rise to the intention (including relevant dispositions)?, Is there something inherently right or wrong in the act itself or interpretation of the issue?, Is there a duty at stake (for example arising out of a perceived right or a particular relationship such as friend to friend, parent to child or doctor to patient)?, What are the possible consequences?, Who is likely to be affected?
  • examining and comparing the ethical significance of codes of conduct, protocols, and legal responsibilities as preparation for undertaking research or working collaboratively
  • exploring a response to an issue such as the use of someone else’s ideas, conditions of factory workers overseas, or the rescuing of adventurers, to identify if there is no legal, but arguably an ethical, obligation

  VCECU021 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU001

  Explore the meaning of right and wrong, good and bad, as concepts concerned with the outcomes of acts

  Elaborations

  • exploring how the terms good, bad, right and wrong are used in different ways and identifying whether these are concerned with ethical outcomes, for example, ‘she is good at kicking a football’, ‘he is a good person’, ’this is a good drawing/design solution’, ‘it is wrong to give money to a beggar’, ‘winning was good’
  • using the term ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ to describe a choice and exploring whether this reflects consideration of a likely outcome, for example, identifying a game rule ‘youngest goes first’ as a good or bad rule of a game and examining if the reasons are influenced by perception of the outcome

  VCECU001 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Foundation to Level 2 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECU006

  Discuss the ways to identify ethical considerations in a range of problems

  Elaborations

  • considering questions such as ‘does this matter and why?’, ‘is this about something where the outcome can be judged good, bad, right or wrong?’ for usefulness in identifying an ethical problem
  • identifying an ethical problem, such as whether to help a friend or stranger first and considering questions such as ‘Who is involved and how are they likely to be affected?’ and ‘Does this involve breaking a rule or other commitment?’
  • using if…then reasoning to identify possible consequences as an ethical consideration in a situation, for example, if animals thought to be cuter were protected ahead of other animals then…

  VCECU006 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 3 and 4 | Understanding Concepts

• VCECD022

  Discuss issues raised by thinking about consequences and duties, in approaches to decision-making and action, and arguments for and against these approaches

  Elaborations

  • defining and comparing ethical terms such as deontology and consequentialism, identifying the main contestabilities and applying findings to discuss the costs and benefits of a proposal such as diverting money from a planned pedestrian crossing to a hospital, or from the foreign aid budget to domestic farmers, or from programs that respond to health problems to those that claim to prevent health problems
  • using hypothetical ethical dilemmas to compare consequential and duty-based approaches to decision-making and their contestabilities, for example the trolley problem, where a switch can be flipped to divert a runaway carriage that would crash into five railway workers, but would instead kill one person standing on the other line (from Philippa Foot), or whether to stay and look after a family member or go and fight evil forces (from Sartre), or a politician lying in an attempt to protect citizens from harm (from Machiavelli - the problem of Dirty Hands)
  • examining issues in fiction that show problems with consequence and duties-based approaches to decision-making, such as conflicts between rights or duties or potentially causing the suffering of the few for the sake of the majority, for example, in “The Hunger Games” or “Les Miserables”, for example, when Jean Valjean faces the decision of whether to save the person mistakenly identified as him

  VCECD022 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10 | Decision Making and Actions