COMET: Community of Ethics Teachers in Europe

Ethics in education plays a key role in fostering active global citizenship, critical thinking, and global competence. This includes examining local, global, and intercultural issues; understanding and respecting the perspectives and worldviews of others; engaging in open, appropriate, and effective interactions with people from different cultures; and acting for the common good and sustainable development.

However, ethics is taught in very different curricula across European secondary schools—ranging from philosophy and civic education to ethics as an independent subject, as is the case in Germany. This curricular fragmentation, together with the diversity of pedagogical methods and objectives, limits opportunities for the exchange of good practices and mutual learning. One of the key findings of preliminary research was that none of the EU countries used a comprehensive methodology for developing speaking skills in the ethics classroom: although discussions on ethical topics were common, a systematic approach to debating moral dilemmas was largely absent. This is significant, as numerous studies have shown the positive impact of debate on the development of skills that lie at the core of any ethics curriculum, such as critical thinking, empathy, and respect for differing viewpoints.

The COMET project therefore seeks to overcome these curricular differences through digital and debate-based methodological innovations in order to strengthen the skills and competencies of European ethics teachers.

Objectives, Activities, and Impact
As part of the project (2017–2020), we established a network of ethics teachers through an online platform available at:
https://ethics.community

In the ongoing follow-up project (2020–2023), we have:
expanded the online platform with ethics curricula,
developed a teacher handbook with the working title Teaching Ethics Through Debate, which will be adapted to the diversity of curricula and approaches in the partner countries.

Consortium and Partners
Coordinator: Tilburg University (Netherlands)
The consortium includes five universities (Tilburg University, Netherlands; Sofia University, Bulgaria; Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway; Matej Bel University, Slovakia), three secondary schools (Wolfert Bilingual School Rotterdam, Netherlands; Gymnasium Weilheim, Germany; Lycée Classique de Diekirch, Luxembourg), and three organizations (Za in Proti, National Debate Organization of Slovenia; Udruga Mala Filozofija, Philosophical Association of Croatia; Institute of Educational Policy, Greece).

In addition, COMET 2 has three associated partners: the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie (FISP), the Association Internationale des Professeurs de Philosophie (AIPPh), and the International Debate Education Association (IDEA).

Key Information
Project co-funded by the European Union (European Commission)
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action type: Strategic Partnership in school education

More information: EU projekt COMET