A report on the assessment of ethics in the secondary science curriculum has been published by the Nuffield Foundation.

Download the report: Assessing Ethics in Secondary Science

The report follows a seminar convened by the Reaching Out to Young People group of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2008. The aim of the seminar was to discuss why teaching ethics in science is important, and to examine the challenges currently facing curriculum providers, examiners and science teachers in teaching and assessing philosophical principles and moral values in the How Science Works area of modern science curricula.

The seminar, chaired by Professor Michael Reiss, provided an opportunity to consider key issues such as:
  • the importance of ethical debate in science classes

  • the specifications that drive the teaching of ethics

  • how science can learn from the assessment of ethics in other subjects, such as religious education and philosophy


The Nuffield Foundation and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics hope that the recommendations made in this report, authored by Michael Reiss, will be useful to the relevant awarding bodies and curriculum developers when considering how the teaching and assessment of ethics in science can be improved across a range of secondary science courses.

Find out more about the Council's educational activities for young people.
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