DefinePK

Abstract

With the passage of time, we are finding an ever increasing crisis of ethical and moral behaviours in our society at large. Being the most effective way of modifying human character, education is assumed to be responsible for this phenomenon. Therefore, a critical analysis is direly needed to dissect the existing curriculum and identify the gaps for ethical and moral aspects and to provide suggestions for improving the situation. Thus, the present research has three major objectives; to explore the existing status of moral and ethical education at the secondary level in Pakistan, to identify the expected features of the proposed curriculum and to develop a curriculum model based on these findings. This phenomenological research, under a constructive paradigm has targeted people from all walks of life including teachers, students, policy makers, religious scholars and other stakeholders of education as the study population in Pakistan. Thirty-three participants were purposefully selected to administer a semi-structured interview, representative of both genders, urban and rural areas, uneducated, literate, or highly educated from all age groups from different parts of Pakistan. A rigorous thematic analysis of their interviews concluded that the existing curriculum for moral and ethical education is not being opted out efficiently and effectively at the secondary level. Based on the extracted themes, a curriculum model was suggested for the ethical and moral development of high school students to improve character building process of young adults.