Examination of Key Moral Values and Attitudes in Senior Secondary School Religious Education and Their Relevance to the Legal and Medical Professions in Zambia

Mwakawele, Andrew (2015) Examination of Key Moral Values and Attitudes in Senior Secondary School Religious Education and Their Relevance to the Legal and Medical Professions in Zambia. Masters thesis, University of Zambia.

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Abstract

This study examined key moral values and attitudes promoted by senior secondary school Religious Education and established how relevant or suitable they are to the required moral values and attitudes in the legal and medical professions in Zambia. The objectives of the study were; to identify key moral values and attitudes promoted by senior secondary school Religious Education syllabuses in Zambia; to establish similarities in the promotion of moral values and attitudes between senior secondary school Religious Education syllabuses and the legal and medical curricular at the University of Zambia, and finally to explain the relevance or suitability of key moral values and attitudes promoted in senior secondary school Religious Education to the required moral values and attitudes in the legal and medical professions in Zambia. The study was qualitative in nature with a descriptive design which identified the moral values and attitudes of integrity, responsibility, empathy religious faith and respect for others in RE syllabuses and related them to similar moral values and attitudes promoted in UNZA Schools of Law and Medicine curricular. The identified moral values and attitudes were further compared with the required moral values and attitudes in the actual work of lawyers and medical doctors. Data was collected through document analysis, interviews and observations. Document analysis was used to analyse RE syllabuses in addressing the first objective outlined above. Interviews were conducted with the UNZA Schools of Law and Medicine Assistant Deans, ten fourth year law students and ten seventh year medical students in order to address the second objective. In addressing the third objective, interviews were further conducted with the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) President, Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ) Registrar, fourteen lawyers and fourteen medical doctors. The total number of respondents in the study was fifty-two. Document analysis was further used to analyse lawyers‟ and medical doctors‟ ethical codes of conduct documents. For the purpose of triangulation, the moral values and attitudes of lawyers and medical doctors were further observed in the court room and patients‟ wards at Lusaka High Court and UTH, respectively. Data analysis was done qualitatively by extracting data from field notes and putting it in manuscript form. The researcher read and reread the text and then highlighted key quotations, insights and interpretations. A coding system was developed based on the data samples and the coded materials were placed under themes according to the objectives for easy discussion of the data. The study revealed that senior secondary school Religious Education syllabuses have taught key moral values and attitudes including integrity, responsibility, empathy, religious faith and respect for others, which were also promoted in the UNZA Schools of Law and Medicine curricula as they were further required in lawyers‟ and medical doctors‟ work. These similarities led to the final conclusion that Religious Education as a school subject is relevant to the legal and medical professions in Zambia. Responses from interviews of the Assistant Deans, the LAZ President, HPCZ Registrar, all the ten fourth year law students, all the ten seventh year medical students, all the fourteen lawyers and all the fourteen medical doctors indicated direct promotion of integrity, responsibility, empathy and respect for others in both the legal and medical professions. Only religious faith was indirectly or inherently promoted in the legal and medical professions as respondents revealed that specialised knowledge was primary but admitted that use of religious faith was inevitable in their professions. Finally, the study recommends that at senior secondary school level, pupils should be encouraged to learn Religious Education because it is an important school subject which canequip them with integrity, responsibility, empathy, religious faith and respect for other people‟s religious beliefs. In raising the status of Religious Education, the study recommends the need to make people aware that the moral values and attitudes learned in Religious Education are relevant to important fields such as law and medicine. Finally, the study challenges other scholars to research further in order to establish how suitable or relevant the moral values and attitudes promoted by Religious Education are to other professions not covered in this study.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BV Practical Theology > BV1460 Religious Education L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Geoffrey Obatsa
Date Deposited:	14 Dec 2018 11:40
Last Modified:	14 Dec 2018 11:40
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/8638

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