Ethics in Education Sciences

Žan Korošec

Summary:  In this article we introduce how ethics has become established in pedagogical research, further exhibiting that its origin is in fact tied with the biomedical model, from which it later spread to other disciplines. The history of events since the Nuremberg Trials is crucial in order to become acquainted with the formal framework, with its prescribed content that has been applied uncritically regardless of incipient paradigms. Shifts at the level of research ethics have led to the establishment of research ethics committees, which at least on a declarative level strive to ensure observance of ethical normative and can these days be found in almost every institution engaged in research. In what follows, we offer a critique of research ethics committees from the perspective of their bureaucratisation, adherence to the tenets of managerialism, jurisdiction transference of ethical behaviour and their rigidity in disregarding contextually conditioned cases that are otherwise characteristic of pedagogical research. Finally, we present the main principles of ethical research related to the field of education studies.