From Dissertation to Classroom: New Year 7 Ethics Workbook published for schools

A new Year 7 Ethics workbook, Rights, Responsibilities and Our Shared World, has been published by the Ethics Education Department within the Directorate for the Early Years, Languages and the Humanities, Ministry for Education and Sport. The workbook will be freely distributed to Ethics teachers in all schools, providing educators and students with a substantial new resource to support the teaching and learning of Ethics at Year 7 level.

What makes this publication particularly significant is its origin. The workbook grew out of a Master’s in Teaching and Learning dissertation in Ethics within the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta. The original dissertation, Exploring Rights, Freedom, and Truth: An Ethics Booklet for Year 7 Students, was undertaken by Nicoleta Vella under the supervision of Dr Lucianne Zammit from the Department of Education Studies.

The publication therefore provides an important example of how work undertaken within a postgraduate professional programme can move beyond the university and be transformed into a resource with direct relevance to schools. What began as a Master’s dissertation has developed into a full classroom workbook that can now support Ethics education across Malta.

Written by Nicoleta Vella and Lucianne Zammit, and edited by Roger Tirazona and Kirby Caruana, the workbook has been further developed for use within the national Ethics Education programme. It is organised around three broad areas: Rights, Living Together, and Our Shared Natural World. Across these areas, students encounter topics including human and children’s rights, democracy, bullying and inequality, digital citizenship, intellectual property and generative AI, cultural and moral diversity, animal welfare, sustainability and environmental responsibility.

The workbook places particular emphasis on helping students discuss, explain, create and reflect, rather than simply learn ethical concepts as abstract knowledge. Students are encouraged to listen to different perspectives, give reasons for their views and reconsider their positions in the light of stronger arguments.

Its publication also reflects productive collaboration between the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education and the education authorities. By taking research and curriculum development emerging from an MTL dissertation and making the resulting resource freely available to Ethics teachers across all schools, the initiative demonstrates how postgraduate work can contribute directly to educational practice and to the continuing development of Ethics education in Malta.