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• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• VCECD017

  Explore the extent of ethical obligation and the implications for thinking about consequences and duties in decision-making and action

  Elaborations

  • placing a range of acts on a continuum from strictly obligatory to ‘above and beyond the call of duty’, and comparing the reasons for and implications of the placements, for example, giving up a full-time job to help family/friends/strangers, obeying rules/the law, handing in small/large amounts of found money, fighting in a war to protect your own country/a neighbouring or far or poor country/a country that has helped you in the past, volunteering at school/in the community, giving first aid at an accident, rescuing people who have disobeyed safety signs
  • discussing the views of a range of major religious traditions and non-religious world views on ethical obligation, to inform a response to an ethical issue, for example responding to global people movements or armed conflict
  • discussing a philosophical view on ethical obligation, for example those of Peter Singer in relation to poverty, and the kind of community change that would occur if those views were followed

  VCECD017 | Capabilities | Ethical Capability | Levels 7 and 8 | Decision Making and Actions

• 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

• 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