It’s not news that the science of rules of behavior in a decent society was born long ago and, changing over the course of eras, still continued to live and develop safely. Today the answer to the question "What is secular ethics?" even children know, because in younger schoolchildren this subject is included in the compulsory program. Therefore, to understand what a similar lesson is and what the children learn on it is important and relevant.
ORKSE: what is it?
This abbreviation stands for “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics,” and is a curriculum universally introduced by the Russian Ministry of Education since 2012 in elementary school classes across the country. For all regions, this subject is currently a federal and mandatory component. The basics of secular ethics and religion include 6 modules; Of these, the student, together with his legal representatives (parents, guardians), selects only one at his discretion for further study.
Goals and objectives
If everything is clear with what secular ethics is, then the analysis of the provisions on what the introduction of this subject is aimed at remains open. The global goal of the general course of the ORKSE includes the formation of conscious moral behavior and motivations for the youngest teenager, instilling in the child respect for the religious and cultural traditions of the multinational population of Russia, teaching the student the ability to dialogue with representatives of other worldviews and views. The more local tasks highlighted in the program of the foundations of secular ethics include:
- nurturing in the minds of younger adolescents the notions of the importance of moral values and norms for the dignified existence of an individual, family, and society as a whole;
- acquaintance of students with the basic foundations of the Christian (Orthodox), Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist cultures, key provisions of world religious movements and ethics;
- systematization of concepts, knowledge and ideas about spiritual self-awareness, morality and culture received by younger adolescents in the early grades of elementary school, the formation of philosophical value-semantic orientations based on them, providing a uniform perception of native culture and history and their achievements when referring to the study of subjects with humanitarian focus on the steps of the primary (secondary) school;
- development of students' abilities to cooperate and communicate in a multiconfessional and multi-ethnic environment, where interaction is built on the principles of mutual respect and dialogue in order to maintain social harmony and peace.
Item Formation
So, what is secular ethics in schools and what priority tasks is it aimed at today? But how was the introduction to school practice of a completely new, previously unfamiliar to children discipline? This process was carried out in 3 long stages:
- From 2009 to 2011, this subject area was tested in 21 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
- From 2011 to 2014, the subject was introduced, without exception, in all regions of the country, supported and accompanied by a system of information and communication technologies, thanks to a specially created Internet resource for this, which provides the organizational, methodological and information base for conducting the ORKSE course.
- The final stage was held recently, namely, it covered the period from 2014 to 2016. At this time, a positive assessment was given of the effectiveness of introducing such a discipline in general education institutions, and therefore culture, secular ethics and knowledge of the fundamental principles of world religions were included in the curriculum of schools as a single, mandatory and unchanging subject.
Future development directions
At the third stage, it is also planned to gradually develop coordination activities on the part of the executive branch regarding the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of education. The same applies to other participants (subjects) of the educational process, namely:
- parents or other legal representatives who are required to make an informed choice of one of the modules offered under the framework of ORKSE;
- the professional staff who organize the process on the ground are responsible for the effective study of the course, reinforce the theory with material and technical aids, etc.
In addition, it is planned to take control of measures to identify the quality of teaching the subject in municipal and state educational institutions of the Russian Federation. The development of the subject area of the foundations of secular ethics in the Federal State Educational Standard, in this case, primary basic general education (NOE), will continue. Corrections and additions will be made taking into account the Concept of educating the personality of a Russian citizen and his spiritual and moral development.
What is spelled out in GEF NOU?
The work program of the GEF on secular ethics provides for compulsory study of the subject, for example, in the 4th grade, during 34 academic hours for the entire academic year. The frequency of the discipline is 1 lesson in 5 working days; a similar provision was approved by an order of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 28, 2012, and was fixed in a special letter of the Ministry of Education and Science with a special provision, and even earlier, back in August. Initially, the subject was called "Fundamentals of the spiritual and moral culture of the peoples of Russia", however, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of December 2012, a change was made to the Federal State Educational Standard, according to which the discipline changed its name to the aforementioned ORKSE.
On the question "What is secular ethics in schools?" gaps in knowledge should not remain now. However, how is discipline implemented within the walls of each individual educational institution? The standard in this case is loyal: organizations independently form the structures of the main educational school programs and lesson planning in secular ethics, one of the components of which is, for example, the curriculum. At the same time, management still needs to rely on some documents. These are normative legal acts of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Government, the provisions of the Federal Law and the approximate plan of the basic educational program of the Federal State Educational Standard on the foundations of secular ethics.
How is monitoring done and why is it needed?
It may seem that ORKSE is an extremely inaccurate subject, incomparable, for example, with mathematics or physics, where there are formulas, laws, proved theorems. Is it really impossible to verify knowledge in this case? This is not true. The Federal State Educational Standard stipulates a provision according to which quarterly monitoring of student knowledge (traditional tests, tests, etc.) is carried out annually at the regional and federal levels in each subject of Russia. It allows you to:
- determine the presence of the needs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in additional support for conducting the course;
- to compare and enrich the accumulated pedagogical experience of teaching a relatively “young” discipline;
- identify the qualitative effects of the program, build a vector of its adjustment.
Subsequently, the monitoring results are processed in a specially created for this automated information and analytical system (in short - IAS). Data is stored and gradually form a single database.
Modules
A lesson on the basics of secular ethics for their child is chosen by parents or any other legal representatives who fill out a written application and provide it to school management. 6 modules are offered - these can be the basics:
- Buddhist culture.
- Orthodox culture.
- Islamic culture.
- Jewish culture.
- Secular ethics.
- World religious cultures.
At the same time, parents of third-grade students are offered counseling, informing, familiarization activities so that they can make a voluntary, free, informed and better choice of module for their child. According to the law, both the implementation of the course and the assistance to legal representatives in determining can and should be carried out through the involvement of relevant centralized religious associations.
Positive value
The ORKSE course allows you to instill in children patriotism, love, including for a small homeland, its representatives and their work, help to master moral values and develop qualities such as respect for other cultures, tolerance, tolerance. The course of ORKSE is aimed at the development of meta-subject and personal results, which will be useful in the further development of the child as a student.
In addition, it is within the framework of this discipline that the family joins the school: parents and other adults help children understand and correctly interpret the different categories (love, friendship, altruism, guilt, morality, shamefulness, etc.) inherent in the content of the subject. Consolidation of efforts of all participants in the educational process allows achieving the most effective results: this is developing a child’s ability to reflect on their own actions, to show emotional and moral responsiveness, to work in a team.