ABSTRACT
Education for moral seriousness, requires the initiation of children and young people into at least four forms of practical inquiry: vocational inquiry, relationships inquiry, moral inquiry and political inquiry. Practical inquiry focus on choices in relation to which, directive teaching will very rarely be appropriate. A basic requirement of serious vocational inquiry is to access accurate information 'not just about the jobs, occupations or careers that might be available, but also about the preparation and qualifications needed to access'. Moral inquiry is self-inattentive because one's personal preferences and aptitudes do not enter into any plausible justification for subscribing to moral standards. Political inquiry is deliberation about political arrangements, policies and interventions. One aim of deliberation is consider and assess the arguments for different kinds of political order. Political inquiry is practical because it is concerned not merely with coming to understand political theories, policies and debates, with committing oneself to the positions and causes one judges worthy of support.
