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From a care ethics perspective, this thesis aims to discuss and conceptualise children’s experiences of care in Swedish compulsory school. I initiate an ethical discussion focusing on the theoretical core of care ethics and exploring how the framework can be used and developed within the aforementioned educational context. The thesis consists of two empirical and two theoretical articles. In the empirical articles, a qualitative approach is employed to interview sixth-grade children about their experiences giving and receiving care within peer relationships in school. The theoretical articles explore the conditions of values education in Swedish schools and the application of the care ethics framework in the context of new moral psychological research. Article I, “Dissonance between liberal and conservative function: an analysis of values education in Swedish schools”, underscores the significance of contextualisation in analyses of values education, emphasising the intricate interplay between societal values and those imparted within educational contexts. It critically evaluates existing theoretical frameworks and approaches, highlighting the need to disentangle values from function and navigate dissonance within diverse value systems. In article II, “Caring narratives from Swedish compulsory school”, a care ethics perspective is employed to analyse caring narratives from pupils in sixth grade, revealing the dynamic roles of caregivers and recipients of care in shaping a reactive care narrative. Partiality’s pivotal role in care dynamics is explored in article III, “The partial care”, stressing its impact on peer relationships in school environments. Article IV, “What can Moral Psychology Contribute to the Understanding of an Ethics of Care?”, delves into recent developments in moral psychology, challenging the care ethics understanding of moral reasoning by acknowledging the connection between rapid emotional responses and deliberate rational thinking. It connects these psychological insights with the ethics of care, exploring the relationship between intuitive acts of natural care and deliberate choices of ethical care in a moral pedagogical context. In synthesising these themes, my thesis contributes to a relational understanding of values education and situates the ethics of care framework within the realm of education. It offers a novel perspective on the interrelationships between values education, critical Religious Education, and the feminist framework of care ethics, enriching the discourse within these subdisciplines.

This article underscores the importance of contextualization when analysing values education. The interplay between societal values and those imparted within an educational context significantly affect the interpretation and comprehension of values education. To address this concern, I strategically position sociologist Tiffany Mary Jones framework, ‘The Four Orientations Framework,’ within Swedish context. The critical examination of Jones’ framework and subsequent applications, reveals that these approaches do not fully capture the complex relationship between societal values and values education. Thereafter, three constructive conclusions emerge in response to this initial critique. Firstly, an argument arises for untangling values from function during the analysis of values education. Second, the function of values education is determined by the relation between societal values and the values conveyed within education. Lastly, I emphasize the importance of recognizing and navigating dissonance within and between different value systems.

Mimmi Norgren Hansson explores the essential aspects of respect and empathy within the context of research involving children. While empathy in interviews commonly revolves around recognizing and understanding participants’emotions and experiences, this chapter seeks to broaden the scope by highlighting the significance of respecting and appreciating children’s analytical abilities and statements. Drawing inspiration from a memorable encounter with twelve years old Chloe, the author incorporates her analysis of care as a preface to the argument. 

The aim of this article is to enrich the care ethics framework by uncovering the relationship between care and loyalty, offering insights into the complexities of children’s experiences of care in school. Through twelve interviews with pupils in sixth grade, I analyse the intersection of loyalty and care. The findings reveal two dimensions, conceptualized as internal care loyalty and external care loyalty. Internal care loyalty involves the relationship between the one-caring and the cared-for, shaping the (1) motivation, (2) understanding, and (3) reciprocity of care. External care loyalty extends beyond this relationship, encompassing (1) social inclusion and (2) conflict support. Employing a perspective grounded in care ethics, deepens the understanding of the interconnection between care and loyalty among peers and actualize the question of partiality in an educational context. This article blends feminist philosophical theory with qualitative empiricism, shedding light on the complexity and nuances of caring in peer-relations.

This article delves into the dynamics of care within peer relationships, examining how care is expressed between the caregiver and the recipient of care, as well as their broader connections with others. Based on qualitative interviews with twelve pupils, this study investigates the experience of giving and receiving care, particularly in relation to partial friendships. The results uncover two key dimensions of care: internal care, which influences the motivation, understanding, reciprocity and continuity of care within the caregiver-recipient relationship, and external care, which extends beyond this relationship to encompass aspects such as social inclusion and support during conflicts. This research underscores the pivotal role of partiality in shaping the dynamics of care and raises questions about its implications within an educational environment. Furthermore, it contributes to the framework of care ethics, stimulating a philosophical discourse on the moral aspects of partiality in an educational context.

Värdegrundsarbetet i svensk skola vilar på en inre konflikt. Denna motsättning återfinns i dissonansen mellan de värden som förmedlas i skolan och den funktion som värdeförmedlingen har i relation till det svenska majoritetssamhället. Eftersom de värderingar som förmedlas är huvudsakligen liberala och således ligger i linje med det svenska majoritetssamhället blir funktionen av värdeförmedlingen konservativ när den strävar efter att upprätthålla status quo. Det finns således en spänning mellan liberala värden och konservativ funktion i skolans värdeförmedling. I denna artikel kommer jag att analysera denna spänning för att sedan diskutera några möjliga förhållningssätt till dissonansen inom skolans värdeförmedling. I samband med detta argumenterar jag för vikten av att särskilja värdeförmedling från akademisk prestation. 

Skolan som institution arbetar med kunskapsförmedling men har både historiskt och i nutid även ett värdeförmedlande uppdrag. I både svensk och norsk utbildningspolicy såväl som i en internationell utbildningskontext fokuserar man inom detta uppdrag alltmer på individens framgång, förmågor och kompetenser. Risken med detta är att relationella aspekter av moral reduceras. Ett omsorgsetiskt perspektiv på det värdeförmedlande arbetet i skolan har potential att både komplettera och utmana en individualistisk värdeprofil. Med utgångspunkt i omsorgsetikern Nel Noddings teoribildning rörande omsorgstagare och omsorgsgivare undersöks i denna studie omsorgsberättelser från elever i årskurs sex. Utifrån åtta kvalitativa intervjuer är syftet med studien att analysera och diskutera berättelsernas narrativ samt hur omsorgstagare och omsorgsgivare positioneras. De två rollerna porträtteras av eleverna på olika sätt, omsorgstagare i tillstånd medan omsorgsgivare karaktäriseras genom handling. Tillsammans skapar de sedan ett reaktivt omsorgsnarrativ i vilket omsorgsgivaren reagerar på omsorgstagarens lidande. Med grund i resultatet förs till sist en diskussion om risken med en förståelse av omsorg begränsad till reaktiva handlingar.

Even though the school as an institution primarily works with academic knowledge, moral education has both historically and today been part of the educational mission. In Swedish and Norwegian education policy, as well as in the international education context, moral education have an increased focus on the individual’s success, abilities and competences. Within this profile, relational aspects of morality are at risk of being reduced. A care ethics perspective on moral education has the potential to both complement and challenge an individualistic value profile. Based on care ethicist Nel Nodding’s theory regarding the relation between the one-caring and the cared-for, this study analyzes care stories from interviews with pupils in sixth grade. The purpose of the study is to analyze and discuss stories of care, based on pupils’ everyday school life. The study consists of eight qualitative interviews in which the narratives of the stories and the positioning of the one-caring and the cared-for are examined. These roles are portrayed in different ways in the pupils’ stories, the cared-for in states while the one-caring are characterized by action. Together, they create a reactive narrative in which the one-caring reacts to the cared-for’s suffering. Based on the results, a discussion is held about the risk of an understanding of care limited to reactive actions. 

The recent development within moral psychology has changed the understanding of how people, in general, make moral judgements. The results suggest that moral judgments involve two cognitive processes, intuitive responses and rational thinking, where the latter's significance has traditionally been overemphasized. The theory has been used to explain the differences between two of the main moral pedagogical models depending on which of these cognitive systems is emphasised. The proponents of character-based models emphasize the ability to feel empathy, solidarity and group affiliation whereas the proponents of reason-based models emphasize the ability to think rationally and apply normative principles (cf. Greene 2007, 63; Graham, Haidt & Rimm-Kaufman 2008, 271; Cushman & Young 2009, 18). Researchers have considered this a paradigm shift within moral psychology (Maxwell & Narvaez, 2013, 271), but educationalists' interest has so far been limited and often restricted to harsh critique. An interpretation, following Steutel and Carr (1999), could be that the “differences between conceptions of moral education are nothing if not philosophical” in combination with a reluctance to accept “modern psychological attempts to derive moral educational conclusions from quasi-empirical research” (p. 3).  In this article, we analyse the critical approach to moral psychology raised by educationalists and propose an alternative where we believe moral psychology can inform moral education.

In this paper, we will discuss two educational approaches to the new paradigm of moral psychology. Initially, we will consider the proponents of a critical approach, where the influence of moral psychology on educational practice, generally is dismissed because of semantic or methodological reasons (see: Musschenga, 2008, 2013; Kristjánsson, 2013, 2016; Maxwell & Narvaez, 2013; Haste, 2013). Then, we will consider an adaptive approach, where it is possible to explore both sematic and methodological issues in relation to the new paradigm in moral psychology (Norgren Hansson & Lindström, 2020). Finally, we discuss the limitations and benefits of a psychologically informed moral education and which consequences this would have on the pedagogical practice.

As teachers we frequently face situations where we are expected to make moral judgements and act upon them as a part of our pedagogical practices. This is one reason why practitioners and researchers tend to agree on that teaching is an essentially moral practice. However, according to recent development within moral psychology, we often make judgements based on emotionally driven intuitions and afterwards make up reasons to explain them. This provides a challenge for the traditional views of moral education. Thus, the overall aim of this paper is to present and critically discuss what the new findings of moral psychology can contribute to moral education. Initially we will present the theory and argue why it seems to provide an important contribution to our understanding of the normative dimension of education. Finally, however, we will use philosophical method in order to critically examine of some of the core features of the model and discuss which consequences it has to, for instance, aspects of care which is inherent in an educational context.

The recent development within moral psychology has contributed to change the understanding of how people in general make moral judgements. The results suggest that moral judgements typically involve two cognitive processes, rapid emotional responses and slow acts of rational thinking, where the significance of the latter traditionally has been overemphasized. It is possible to argue that the division in moral psychology has a counterpart in an ethics of care which distinguishes between intuitive acts of natural care and deliberate choices of ethical care. The purpose of this paper is thus to discuss if and how the recent development within moral psychology can be used to understand an ethics of care as a moral pedagogical model. We will argue that the findings in moral psychology can contribute to the interpretation and application of an ethics of care which can benefit the understanding of both theories in an educational context.