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Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Ethical Capability

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  1. 9-10

Levels 9 and 10

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 across people, groups and cultures.

Levels 9 and 10 Content Descriptions

Understanding Concepts

  1. Investigate the connections and distinctions between and the relative value of concepts including fairness and equality, and respect and tolerance (VCECU019)
    Elaborations
    1. 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
    2. discussing whether there are distinctions in attitudes of respect and tolerance, in relation to, for example, different views on child vaccination
    3. 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
  2. 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 (VCECU020)
    Elaborations
    1. 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
    2. identifying and analysing why members of the same religious tradition may hold different views, for example, on capital punishment
  3. Distinguish between the ethical and non-ethical dimensions of complex issues, including the distinction between ethical and legal issues (VCECU021)
    Elaborations
    1. 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?
    2. examining and comparing the ethical significance of codes of conduct, protocols, and legal responsibilities as preparation for undertaking research or working collaboratively
    3. 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

Levels 9 and 10 Achievement Standard

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 examine complex issues, identify the ethical dimensions and analyse commonality and difference between different positions. They explain how different factors involved in ethical decision-making can be managed.

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