Ethics in education: an analysis based on the TV series Merlí

Abstract

The current educational context requires ethically qualified teachers to detect and/or deal with difficult educational situations. The series are a privileged way to access ethically controversial issues as they produce and reproduce current social imaginaries. This article presents the revision and redesign of a conceptual scheme that brings together the major organizing principles of ethics in education based on the series Merlí (2015-2018). A content analysis of the 40 episodes is carried out to identify the ethically controversial situations featured in the series. The results show that these dilemmas occupy a relevant place in the series and that it is necessary to update the conceptual framework on the main principles that organize ethics in education. This is a key resource for the elaboration of a diagnostic device of ethical sensitivity and a tool for teacher training in professional ethics based on contemporary series.