Project refers to pragmatisation of ethical values in schools and is focused on the norm of intellectual property in school and its violoations by the pupils. Any ethical value undergoes pragmatisation as far as  it is deprived its very nature as a moral value and is taken just as a matter of practical action means to achieve different kinds of social ends (Bauman 2000). Authorship and intellectual property issues are considered to be central to school management for moral education in it.  It is argued that demoralization of ethical values in school follows as a consequence of a narrow focus in teaching and learning on intergenerational transmission of  knowledge, skill, and value without much care for pupils’ social-moral development.

Although the concept of top to bottom transition of knowledge and values in education was criticized by numerous scholars in the last decade (Piaget 1948; Freire 1992; Kohlberg, Mayer 1993) it is still prevailing in schools. However, the development of information and communication technologies shows, that there is no more monopoly for teaching nowadays. Therefore, the goal of education should be to create moral and intellectual individuals.

This understanding is based upon A. Niemczynski’ theory of autonomous development of individuals and  L. Plymers’ concept of fundamental competencies of a students.  A. Niemczynski’ theory refers to Piagets’ and Kohlbergs’ works, however in contrast,  Niemczynski highlights the importance of the inner or autonomous regulations in human development before external or heteronomous regulations which usually try to find out how the people adapt to their environments (Niemczyński 1980, 1994). L. Plymers’ concept focuses on school practice where students are educated in five dimensions: knowledge, orientation in values, interactions with others, interaction with oneself and becoming the social individual (Łuczyński 2011). The theoretical framework leads to the research questions:  Does the practiced concept of education influence the process of pragmatisation of ethical values in schools? How could ethical education be managed for students and societies development?

To find an answers the three hypotheses were presented and investigated among students and teachers. The first hypothesis is related to the idealization of education as a value worth of living (Macnamara 1990; Niemczyński 2007). This hypothesis has two categories - heteronomous and autonomous value of education. In the first, the goal of education is defined to help students to learn the life ideals of state or other external organizations (which means centuries of practice whereby a group of individuals is trying to impose these ideals upon another group). In the second category, the goal of education is to create intellectual and moral autonomous people who have a clear sense of the principles of justice and compassion towards others (Niemczyński 1996).

The second hypothesis is related to idealization of intellectual property and has two categories - ethical and pragmatic. Ethical understanding means that people think of intellectual property in internal ways. The goal of the intellectual property of student is to develop as an author and as a person – responsible for the final products of his authorship. Pragmatic understanding of intellectual property means that people treat their authorship as a way to provide some external goals (i.e. raise the social status). Pragmatic understanding of intellectual property grows out of ethical understanding, however in the context of social transition it dominates them.

The third hypothesis says that people who represent a heteronomous thinking about education as a value have a pragmatic attitude to intellectual property. On the other hand people who represent an autonomous thinking about education as a value have an ethical attitude to intellectual property.

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