Ethics education in Maltese public schools: a response to otherness or a contribution to Othering?
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Ethics education in Maltese public schools: a response to otherness or a contribution to Othering? Bernardette Mizzi 1 & Duncan P. Mercieca 2 Accepted: 14 September 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper reflects on the establishment of an Ethics Education Programme for school pupils aged between five and sixteen years who opt out of Catholic Religious Education in Malta. It needs to be seen in the light of the changing demography of Malta and the increasing secularisation of the country, as well as to the growing racism, islamophobia and rejection of the Other to be found all over Europe (and of course beyond). We question if the Ethics Education Programme, in its commitment to ‘totalising’ western ideals of rationality, autonomy, and universal values, is itself rooted in discomfort with the Other and constitutes a form of ethical violence. The work of Emmanuel Levinas on Otherness, sameness and violence is central to this paper. Keywords Ethics education Programme in Malta . Maltese public schools . Levinas .
Otherness . Violence
Introduction Malta, in 2012, witnessed the birth of a new National Curriculum Framework (NCF). It was the first time that a policy document raised the issue of non-Catholics and/or nonreligious pupils in public schools participating in the learning of religious education. The NCF argued that these pupils should be given a substitution for missing out Roman Catholic religion lessons. Its authors argued that an Ethics Education Programme (EEP) should be provided (see Ministry of Education, Employment and the Family 2012, 8). Such a recommendation needs to be seen within the Maltese context where the Roman Catholic Church has a long-standing influence within all levels of society.
* Duncan P. Mercieca [email protected]
1
University of Malta, Msida, Malta
2
University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
Mizzi B., Mercieca D. P.
Malta aspires to be a progressive European Union country when it comes to civil liberties, yet the Church’s influence on much of Malta’s populace and political decision-making remains very strong. Freedom of religion is pronounced in Malta’s Constitution (1964), yet Article 2 of Chapter I of the Constitution states that, (1) The religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion; (2) The authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong; and (3) Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all public schools as part of compulsory education. Moreover, the scholastic calendar is moulded around Catholic feast days, and most schools have reserved spaces within their premises and schedules for Catholic worshipping (Darmanin 2013). According to Borg and Mayo (2006), the Catholic culture has been allowed access to public schools and was permitted to work through intellectuals, such as teachers, curriculum administrators and textbook authors, to breed its privileged position within society. Schools conduct much of their activities to
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