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Critical Thinking in Students’ Ethical Reasoning: A Reflection on Some Examples from the Swedish National Tests in Religious Education

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Assessment in Ethics Education

Abstract

To reason about ethical issues in a thoughtful manner is often seen as a desirable human ability if one is to live a responsible life, both as an individual and as a member of society. Taking its point of departure in Professor of Ethics Daniel Lee’s non-confessional approach to ethics education and Professor of Education Robert Ennis’s definition of critical thinking, this chapter reflects on manifestations of critical thinking in ninth graders’ responses to two tasks concerning ethical issues in the Swedish national tests in religious education. The reflection tries to describe and discuss some critical-thinking skills that are manifested and how these vary among the analysed student responses. The reflection also considers how task design may affect opportunities for students to manifest critical thinking. Further, the reflection discusses whether critical thinking could be a feasible focus point when testing, measuring and assessing students’ ethical reasoning, in order to avoid mixing personal and societal ethical values into the processes of testing, measuring and assessing this kind of reasoning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The task about the death penalty contains a short text (Appendix 1). But the task is not about the actual text, and the text cannot in any concrete way be used as support for the reasoning the task calls for, i.e. the students cannot base their thoughts about the death penalty and the different ethical perspectives on the text in any reasonable way.

  2. 2.

    This student response, and those presented below, has been translated from Swedish to English by the author. An effort has been made to stay as close to the original written response as possible.

  3. 3.

    See footnote 1.

  4. 4.

    For more on difficulties in assessing and measuring critical thinking, see, for instance, Ennis (2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Box 300, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Kristoffer Larsson

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  1. Kristoffer Larsson
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Correspondence to Kristoffer Larsson .

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  1. Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Olof Franck

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Task 12 (Forgiveness)

The word forgiveness is an important ethical concept. Perhaps you have forgiven someone or experienced being forgiven.

Discuss why forgiveness can be important both for the one asking for forgiveness and the one forgiving.

Task 25 (The death penalty)

Read the text below which deals with an ethical issue. Then solve the task below.

The Death Penalty: Right or Wrong?

The last execution in Sweden occurred in 1910. Johan Alfred Ander, who was convicted of a brutal murder, was executed early one morning in November at Långholmen in Stockholm. In Sweden, as in many other countries, the death penalty has now been abolished. However, it is still being used in several countries, for instance, China and the USA.

In newspapers and online, you can read about horrible crimes almost on a daily basis. For example, it could be about mass murder or serious sexual crimes. In these contexts, sometimes the issue of the death penalty comes up. Some say that the death penalty should be reintroduced in Sweden, while others say that it is the wrong way to go.

Discuss whether the death penalty is right or wrong. You should use the ethical models from the previous task in your discussion. Be aware that the same model can be used to argue both for and against the death penalty.

If you want, you can start your text with one of the following sentences:

  • Whether the death penalty is right or wrong is something that can be discussed. A consequentialist ethicist would probably say ….

  • A deontological ethicist would presumably say ….

  • I think that an intentionalist ethicist probably ….

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Larsson, K. (2017). Critical Thinking in Students’ Ethical Reasoning: A Reflection on Some Examples from the Swedish National Tests in Religious Education. In: Franck, O. (eds) Assessment in Ethics Education. Evaluating Education: Normative Systems and Institutional Practices. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50770-5_3

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