If education is an intrinsically normative exercise, then the ethical question of how we arrive at those norms cannot be avoided. Educational theorists often address this as a question of educational aims, but also of moral education. In either case, it demonstrates the foundational nature of educational theory and philosophy.

Scotland’s contribution to educational theory and philosophy is significant. One important aspect of this symposium is to reflect on the past to imagine possible futures for philosophy of education for Scottish education and society. Aspiring to establish the significance of the discipline, we then turn to the concept of moral education to consider different aspects of moral formation, from the civic and political to the personally formative. While the concept of moral education lies at the heart of many theories and philosophies of education it is an explicit dimension of contemporary Scottish schooling through the obligatory school subject: Religious and Moral Education. And yet the phrase Moral Education might seem out of kilter with contemporary Scottish sensibilities. On the one hand it can be simply defined as helping children and young people to acquire beliefs, values and dispositions concerning right and wrong. On the other hand, the phrase might seem like a paternalistic anachronism. Does moral education belong to a bygone era in which one of the primary functions of public education was to inculcate explicit moral virtues that reflected a singular moral vision? If we no longer consider moral education to be shaped by the religious culture of Scottish Presbyterianism, how do we understand moral influence today? How are we to reimagine moral formation when we struggle to take account of our own social and political realities, when we can’t fully reflect on our past and present? How are we to expect children to explore and discover moral and ethical values?

Such questions are longstanding. But contemporary contexts raise these issues in novel ways: from the transformation of social relations through modern technology, to repeated climate and ecological breakdowns; from the erosion of democratic and liberal values to crises in global health; from discourses of justice and human rights in an era of so-called post-truth. Such contexts highlight the urgent need for serious normative debate about the nature and future of education, in Scotland and the world.

This symposium invites reflections from philosophers of education at the University of Glasgow whose career-long interests in philosophical and normative educational issues make them well placed to initiate novel reflections on the state of moral education in Scotland today.

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