Mainstreaming Ethics in Higher Education The Teacher: Between Knowledge Transmission and Human Formation Vol. 2

Abstract

In the first volume of our book, titled “Mainstreaming Ethics in Higher Education – Research Ethics in administration, Finance,Education, Environment and Law”, published under the Globethics.net Education Ethics series, the editors indicated that a second volume would follow. This project is part of the result of those efforts made by Globethics.net Geneva, to lead the integration of Ethics in Higher Education globally, through ensuring that a conference with training held in March 2018 at the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA), Nairobi Kenya reached a global audience. The book captured the potential for sharing of knowledge, triggering interdisciplinary collaboration and research. It is our joy as editors to present the second volume of this project. Higher Education institutions and their universities play vital roles in contributing to a better world. These interdisciplinary works on ethical reflection address the needs of teachers and professionals, and show the urgency of preparing the next generation of leadership at all levels, with persons grounded and founded in ethical integrity. The lack of Ethics has remained one of the biggest challenges for a world without corruption, which is the bane of many societies, political groups, technologies, businesses, economies, law and research. Ethics permeates every sphere of life and every activity so that no aspect of human life is beyond or above ethics. Not even witchcraft! On November 2019, the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) held a controversial two-day conference on witchcraft despite prayers, fasting, strong opposition from Christians and social media. Under immense pressure, the conference organizers were forced to change the theme of the conference from the original “Witchcraft: Meaning, Factors and Practices”, to a new theme on “Dimensions of human behaviours”. So, is ethics relevant to the practice of witchcraft? Certainly! Anything that has to do with human behaviour is a subject of ethical consideration. The issues dealt with in the second volume of ainstreaming Ethics in Higher Education clearly demonstrate this fact. The articles contained in this volume cover a wide variety of issues ranging from religion, ethics, education, commercial entrepreneurship, leadership, corruption, witchcraft and fundraising for climate change. All authors emphasise the importance of mainstreaming ethics in the teaching of higher education, as a way of preparing students and professionals to live their ethical lives in full. The authors also address down-to-earth issues concerning the nature of ethics. While some of the chapters focus on the understanding of ethics and its relationship with the various other aspects of life, others concentrate on the methods and strategies of effectively teaching ethics, and on ways of ensuring that this teaching is not just another theoretical acquisition among other. Teaching should be a formation that ensures the graduates of universities develop skills and attitudes that help them to live as ethical professionals, and models for the rest of society. The teacher is crucial to the success of ethics education, and programs in schools and universities. Unlike certain schools, where designated teachers are charged with the responsibility of teaching values and ethics, every lecturer and every professor in the university, is by virtue of their position, both an academic and a moral educator. As such, he/she must be expected to play an important role in ensuring that the students are ethically formed to live the life of morals and virtue. In addition to the academic qualifications that these teachers may hold, it is necessary that they should also be ethical exemplars for emulation. They must be models to be emulated by their students. This is in recognition of the fact that teachers are always teaching, even when they may not be conscious that they are. The most effective method of teaching is not the saying, but the doing. Students learn more from what teachers do than what they say! Teachers must also understand the basics of values and ethics, such as the skill of ethical decision-making, and they must be willing to teach these skills along with ethical attitudes to their students. All this has serious implications for the way in which teachers are trained, as well as how they are recruited, selected and hired. A couple of chapters in this volume allude to traditional African roots, and the traditional methods of education. We suggest that we could take a leaf out of their book, and learn from the effective methods used by African society. While they do not make a direct reference to the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which served to guide our African values and world-view, these authors lead us to reflect on the role of African identity, culture and values that seem to be conveniently forgotten. Perhaps a future study could be devoted to the importance of understanding our African identity and cultural roots, and how that can help Africans to better understand their roots, and perhaps fit in better within the globalized world in which we live today. The authors of this volume are quite clear that it is not enough to introduce the teaching of ethics in our universities. That is only the first step. The goal is not achieved by simply adding one more course or programme to an existing university curriculum. The success of mainstreaming ethics in our universities must be measured by the degree of commitment of our graduates (read new professionals and leaders), to change our currently corrupt, unethical and unsustainable society, into one that respects integrity and honesty, and so guarantees sustainability for the future. Africa urgently needs people who will help transform our society by living a more ethical life. This transformation that our society so desperately needs can only come around when our learners commit to doing the right thing, because it is the right thing to do, and not because it profits them to do so.