Information for Parents

What is an Ethics Olympiad?

Ethics Olympiads run throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America. Their purpose is to help schools develop students’ skills in communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

Unlike a debate, students are not assigned a position. Each team takes its own considered position on an ethical question and presents it together. Another team may agree and reinforce that position with further supporting reasons, raise questions worth considering, or respectfully explain why it sees the issue differently while giving reasons for its own view.

Students are rewarded for careful, sustained reasoning in response to the question, and teams are also scored on the respect and consideration they show for the important moral issues raised in each case.

How the day works

Schools enter one or two teams of eth-letes. Heats run simultaneously with a standard format and common timing, held via Zoom so regional and remote schools can take part. Well before the event, coaches and eth-letes receive online training kits and a set of ethical cases to prepare. The goal is not research, but well-structured, reasoned answers to the single question asked about each case.

On the day there are three to four heats plus a practice round, in a round-robin format with teams taking turns to present and respond. Specialist judges score each heat. Every participating student receives a certificate, and the winning schools in each region receive medals to be awarded at a school assembly. Top teams at the Middle and Senior Olympiads may be invited to an international final, held early the following year.

How you can help

Your child will be stretched and challenged by interesting ethical issues in a supportive environment. The best support parents can give is encouragement. Talk through the cases at home if your child wants to, give them room to practise presenting their reasoning aloud, and celebrate the thinking, not just the result.

Watch a recorded heatThe quickest way to understand how an Ethics Olympiad runs

History of the Ethics OlympiadWhere the event came from and how it has grown

Training clinics

Optional online training clinics run in the lead-up to each Olympiad. At a clinic your child will receive instruction on key ethical concepts and principles, learn strategies for analysing ethical dilemmas, practise ethical dialogue with other students, and receive feedback from experienced coaches and judges.

Questions?

We welcome any questions in the lead-up to an event: please direct them in the first instance to the supervising teacher at your child’s school. You can also reach us at admin@ethicsolympiad.org.