The Students' Perspective Contribution: Rethink the Ethical Education of Engineering Students

Abstract

The inclusion of ethics education in engineering courses has been recognized as fundamental. However, in Portugal this training component is present only in a small number of courses. Teachers are mainly responsible for building the curriculum, but students are the ones most affected by this absence of ethics education. In this context it is necessary and important to understand students´ perspective, because their role is vital in the curriculum construction´s success. It is in this framework that this investigation listened to engineering students' voice as a factor to consider in the rethinking of engineering course curriculum in the ethics education area. This study highlights the concept that students have of engineering action, their perspective about the possibility of their courses to include ethics training and its practical implementation. This research is part of a case study and research-action. The results indicate that students are very receptive to this training component, and they consider that it should be included as mandatory in engineering courses. The results also show that students prefer a more practical training with ‘prescription’ characteristics and that their perspective of engineering action consequences is very limited. These results reinforce the need for ethics education that promotes a wide scope critical reflection.