INTRODUCTION

In 1995, a group of researchers in the social sciences launched a study of how individuals are able to perform “good work” in an era of rapid change and technological advancement. Over the course of a decade, the research team performed in-depth interviews with professionals in a range of domains—namely law, medicine, journalism, theater, genetics, philanthropy, business, K-12 education, and higher education. During conversations with participants representing a variety of ages and career stages, the team asked informants to think about their formative influences, beliefs and values, supports, obstacles, responsibilities, ethical standards, and more. The findings of this research team, headed by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and William Damon, have been published in two books and many articles, reports, and blogs. This original research into the nature of “good work” became the foundation for “The Good Project,” housed at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Although we believe these three elements are intertwined and of equal importance, the curriculum presented here focuses often on ethics and ethical reasoning—a common connotation of “the good.”

Since the start of The Good Project, new challenges have emerged for those attempting to do “good work”—as well as for those attempting to foster it in others. Many jobs and roles are disappearing; others are being dramatically reconfigured; and the new technologies that are replacing traditional workers may not be able—and may not be appropriate—to address common workplace dilemmas. Overall, the future of professions and workplaces is unclear, and excellence, ethics, and engagement need to be revisited in the contemporary context.

Of course, these trends and uncertainties are highly relevant not only for current workers but also for youth, who will one day enter the workforce. It is important that today’s students cultivate the skills that will help them in their chosen fields. Our research has shown that young people encounter dilemmas in their daily lives and in their work; we know that these youth will encounter both familiar and unprecedented dilemmas in their future lives at work.

Yet how best to prepare individuals for the rapidly changing working world remains an open question. Despite calls for the development of “21st century skills” (e.g., critical thinking, creativity, communication), current educational experiences about “work” are insufficient. Generally, secondary and tertiary education devote little attention to work in practice. Recent research from our team at Project Zero indicates that few college students in the U.S. identify learning about ethical issues as an important part of the college experience—even though many cite job preparation as the purpose of college education itself. Furthermore, upon entering the workplace, few workers have the opportunity to benefit from effective ethical training programs. Within the current environment, then, there are few outlets for students to grapple with the ambiguity, complexity, and tough choices inherent in the modern world, or to come to terms with their own opinions and beliefs regarding how to create meaningful, excellent, and ethical work.

To be sure, a range of character education programs, organizations, and frameworks exist to help strengthen understandings, virtues, and skills in students that they will need to succeed and even flourish in life. (Examples include The Leader in Me, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the CASEL framework, and the Jubilee Centre’s curricula in character virtues development.)

However, our program is distinct because we focus specifically on how to develop the skills and stances needed to confront the challenges and quandaries that arise as students seek to do purposeful, responsible, and high-quality work.

For the contemporary student, what constitutes work is, in and of itself, a complex question. Academic tasks are usually thought of as the work of students, but many students today find meaning and purpose in extracurricular activities, often more than in the average “work” of the school day. Accordingly, we employ here a broad definition of work that includes work in school (academic and extracurricular) as well as more traditional jobs and internships. Whatever the realm, students need time and guidance to reflect, create meaning, and develop purpose related to opportunities for “good work” in their own lives. 

In light of these issues, we created the set of lesson plans—specifically geared to high school students—presented here. Our approach entails exposing students to dilemmas that explore all elements of good work. Through engagement with our materials, via structured conversations and delineated strategies, students have the opportunity to reflect on their own opinions and beliefs regarding what work means to them and how they might pursue work in an ethical, engaged, and excellent manner. Students who grapple with these materials should be in a favorable position to develop the skills and understandings that will help them navigate complex situations in their future work lives.

The Lesson Plans Include These features:

• Overarching unit learning goals and lesson goals, which ground the plans in an overall sequence of desired outcomes;

• Assessment recommendations, which provide guidance about how to evaluate student performances;

• Dilemmas inspired by real-life situations in which an individual confronts a difficult decision entailing competing priorities;

• Reflective activities, which include individual student and group prompts, worksheets, and exercises that further explore “good work” concepts (e.g., responsibility, values, personal meaning).

As stated above, these plans have been designed with high school students in mind, but college students may benefit from these materials as well. Additionally, it’s important to note that many of the dilemmas in these pages are prototypically American in context. We encourage educators to adapt these materials to age and cultural context. Indeed, we also believe the lesson plans have the flexibility to be implemented at different scales—from a one-on-one mentorship consultation between a student and teacher to a full-school mission-driven endeavor that involves an entire community of stakeholders.

For recommendations on how to implement the Good Work curriculum at full scale, please see Appendix A at the end of this curriculum, “Establishing an All-School Initiative: Guidelines and Activities.” This curriculum was designed with in-person teaching and learning in mind; adaptations will have to be made should the materials be used either partially or fully online.

In sum, it’s our hope that students can develop the ethical reasoning skills and sense of purpose that will allow them to confront a complex working world. We hope that students will recognize issues of ethics, excellence, and engagement when they arise in multiple life settings; think well and deeply about these issues; and formulate responses and/or appropriate action based on the habits and repertoires they have learned. Ultimately, such students should individually flourish and recognize how doing “good work” contributes to a flourishing society for all.

A note to teachers: As we have used our Good Work Toolkit with students and adults over the past years, we noticed that the dilemmas are quite engaging and that groups often like to discuss the stories in detail. While this type of excitement is welcome and advantageous, we also want to point out that each lesson is designed with a particular purpose in mind (as you will note in the goals and assessment line items). As you approach each lesson, we recommend that you keep these particular goals in mind in order to keep the conversation on track and reasonably aligned with lesson targets.