5. Professional ethics of EDC/HRE teachers: three principles

If students come to an EDC/HRE class with their own opinions, and all of them come away from it with the teacher’s point of view, this usually points to a problem. EDC/HRE teachers must take care not to press their students to adopt certain views or values that teachers personally adhere to. Schools are public institutions, and parents, and society as a whole, expect teachers not to abuse their power to indoctrinate their children.

The professional ethics of EDC/HRE teachers are therefore crucial to the success, and even the justi-fication of EDC/HRE as part of the school curriculum. They may be summed up under the following three principles, originating from a debate on this issue in Germany during the 1970s.¹⁹

19. See “Der Beutelsbacher Konsens” (www.lpb-bw.de).