Ethics Teachers’ Training Course (ETTC)
As ethics is an emerging field, with change driven constantly by scientific break throughs and our rapidly changing technologies, it is important to develop robust education systems that can prepare our scientists, engineers, business leaders, judiciary and many other disciplines to deal effectively with ethical concerns in a changing world.
Some disciplines such as medicine, are relatively advanced din providing ethics courses in tertiary institutions, and other are yet to develop these. And some regions are more advanced than others, particularly with regard to contextualisation of courses and case materials dealing with local and topical issues.
UNESCO’s ethics education program provides a “model” course in bioethics that can be used as is or adapted to suit local needs. This Bioethics Core Curriculum [link to BCC page on global web] currently consists of four components:
- Bioethics Core Curriculum, Section 1: Syllabus. Ethics Education Programme, UNESCO, 2008 [PDF, 1.4 MB]
- Bioethics Core Curriculum, Section 2: Study materials. Ethics Education Programme, UNESCO, 2011 [PDF, 319 KB]
- Casebook on Human Dignity and Human Rights, Bioethics Core Curriculum Casebook Series, No. 1, UNESCO, 2011 [PDF, 1.9 MB]
- Casebook on Benefit and Harm, Bioethics Core Curriculum Casebook Series, No. 2, UNESCO, 2011 [PDF, 2.2 MB]
The core curriculum is free to download and currently available in Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.
UNESCO supports training courses for teachers of ethics. Based on the core curriculum, this one week training course covers how to develop, adapt and implement a university level ethics course. For information on events planned see the events page. This short video provides an overview of the ETTC experience.
UNESCO also enters into MOUs with institutions that wish to introduce the core curriculum into their educational programs. Under these MOUs UNESCO supports the development and implementation of a bioethics curriculum.
UNESCO offices in Jakarta and Beijing are leading work on ETTC in the region. Please consult their websites for further information.
For additional materials and resources on bioethics see the publication page.
