Lärares samtal om etik Sociala representationer av etikundervisning på mellanstadiet inom ramen för de samhällsorienterande ämnena

Sammanfattning: This study draws attention to how teachers view and reason about ethics education in social studies. Based on the Social representation theory, the study aim to answer questions about the content and themes which are expressed in the teachers' conversations about ethics education. The study also wants to emphasize the communicative resources used by participants when they create a common understanding of ethics education.The study's empirical data consists of six focus groups interviews with teachers working with student in school year 4-6. Teachers in three teams (a total of 13 teachers) met at two occasions to talk about ethics education in social studies.The result from the analysis is presented in three parts. The first part draws attention to teachers' social representations of ethics education in social studies. Four social representations were found and they consist of teachers' ideas about content, methods and strategies, and the purpose and goals and difficulties in ethics education. The second part shows that the teachers express three social representations of how ethics education is related to, religious education, social studies and the school's overall mission. The analysis shows that ethics education is an important part of the religious education but also other subjects in social studies and the school's overall mission. The third part draws attention to the communicative resources that teachers use to create a common understanding of ethics education. Examples of communicative resources used in the conversations is teaching materials, national tests, the curriculum and their own teacher education.