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• Ethical Capability: Levels 7 and 8 achievement standards

  By the end of Level 8, students explain different ways ethical concepts are represented and analyse their value to society, identifying areas of contestability. They articulate how criteria can be applied to determine the importance of ethical concerns.

  Students analyse the differences in principles...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 7 and 8

• 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

• Ethical Capability: Levels 3 and 4 description

  In Levels 3 and 4, the curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and understandings to evaluate particular acts, and to identify and critically respond to ethical problems. Students extend their vocabulary and begin to reflect on means and ends. Students develop an understanding that...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability

• 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

• Ethical Capability: Foundation to Level 2 description

  From Foundation to Level 2, the curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and understandings to approach ethical problems and evaluate outcomes. Students develop a vocabulary to engage with ethical problems and an understanding that personal feelings can effect decision-making and actions.

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability

• 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

• Capabilities | Ethical Capability: Learning in Ethical Capability

  The Ethical capability curriculum focuses on the conceptual and analytical skills necessary for informed deliberation on ethical issues. This curriculum enables students to identify the assumptions and implications of different ethical positions, recognising the areas of contestability within...

  Overview material | Ethical Capability

• 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

• Ethical Capability: Levels 9 and 10 achievement standards

  By the end of Level 10, students explain connections and distinctions between ethical concepts, identifying areas of contestability in their meanings and relative value.

  Students analyse and evaluate contested approaches to thinking about consequences and duties in relation to ethical issues. They...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 9 and 10

• Capabilities | Ethical Capability: Rationale and Aims

  The VCAA has published the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0. To view the curriculum, familiarisation resources and support material, go to the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 website.
  
  Go to the VCAA website to explore the timeline for familiarisation and implementation of...

  Overview material | Ethical Capability

• 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

• Ethical Capability: Levels 9 and 10 description

  In Levels 9 and 10, the curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and understandings to analyse and evaluate ethical problems and their resolution and to identify and manage contestability in ethical matters. Students reflect on whether there are ethical concepts and principles common...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability

• 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

• Ethical Capability: Levels 5 and 6 description

  In Levels 5 and 6, the curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and understandings to evaluate the significance of ethical matters. Students explore the basis of a range of ethical principles and reflect on means and ends. Students consider decision-making approaches based on thinking...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability

• Ethical Capability: Levels 7 and 8 description

  In Levels 7 and 8, the curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge, skills and understandings to explore the tensions related to ethical concepts and decision making. Students extend their exploration of the two major ways to approach ethical deliberation – thinking about consequences...

  Level description | Capabilities | Ethical Capability