2026 Online
Middle School
Ethics Olympiad



The importance of developing an ethical understanding remains high on the agenda of educators. The Ethics Olympiad has a proven track record of providing teachers and students with a creative vehicle for developing skills in communication, critical thinking and respectful discourse while dealing with interesting and contentious ethical issues. This event involves students in Years 7-9 (11-14 year olds). Of course the main reason for participating is to promote and advance ethics education in schools but there are many other benefits such as promoting teamwork in the school as well as cross sector, cross cultural and international dialogue.
Schools are invited to register one or two teams of five students to participate in the event. See the list of schools that are currently registered at the bottom of this page. You can register a team now by selecting one of the following dates and clicking on the link below. Please choose the region where your school is located. We offer multiple events in some regions in order to keep the number of participants at each event manageable. Please note that we run these events on Zoom and so there is no travel/excursion costs involved.

We publish the dates early and open registrations now so schools can plan confidently knowing they have a place at the event. Once a date is full, we will not accept registrations for that date.




Dates: November 2026


  • New South Wales 1 - Monday 2nd November

  • Victoria 1 - Wednesday 4th November
  • Tasmanian - Thursday 5th November

  • ACT - Friday 6th November

  • New South Wales 2 - Monday 9th November

  • Queensland 1 - Tuesday 10th November

  • ​India - Thursday 12th November


  • WA/Singapore Schools Friday 13th November

  • Queensland 2 - Monday 16th November

  • New South Wales 3 - Tuesday 17th November

  • South Australia 2 - Thursday 19th November

  • New Zealand North Island 1 - Friday 20th November

  • New Zealand South Island - Monday 23rd November

  • New Zealand North Island 2- Tuesday 24th November

  • Western Australia - Wednesday 25th November

  • Hong Kong - Wednesday 25th November

  • Victoria 2 - Friday 27th November​

  • NSW 4 - Monday 30th November

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During the day teams will participate online in a series of four Ethics Olympiad heats where they will be scored according to set criteria which rewards, clear, concise, respectful discourse around interesting ethical cases. The first heat is a practice round which allows everyone to become comfortable with the format. We run each heat and coaches are free to observe the teams while university based academics/ethicists run each heat. Coaches will be notified of the results later and Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be mailed to successful schools on the following day.





Eligible Year levels and ages



In Australia we invite teachers of students in Years 7-9 (12-15 year olds) to participate. In NZ we invite teachers of students that are 12-15 years old, in the year of the event. In India, Hong Kong & Singapore we invite Secondary School students to participate (12-15 year olds) Please note that schools can change their team members right up to the date of the event.


Registration

Once registered we will send you the cases, training resource kits and an invoice. Please note we are happy to send these cases to you on request. The registration fee is $45-$55 (AUD) per student ($225-$275 AUD) per team. The entrance fee is smaller for member schools and there is a reduced rate for early bird bookings. (Valid up until 29/7/24). Schools can enter one or two teams. Please note there are a limited number of teams that can participate and please book in early to avoid disapointment.





Format and Awards



The heats use the same format as the Ethics Bowls in the US. The main difference is that all groups will be running simultaneously in breakout rooms in Zoom. There will be a round robin format with different schools participating against each other. Cases will be selected from the case set provided and questions announced on the day. The first round is not scored, a practice round. Scores will be private on the day, but we will email the final results to each participating school after the event.


Medalists will be announced on the following day and certificates will be provided for all participants. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be sent to the three top schools in each location. Depending on the size of the Ethics Olympiad a number of teams will be invited to participate in an International Final.



Book in here



""Many of our students have said this is the most meaningful extracurricular learning experience they have had. It was incredible to watch the students develop their ethical understanding and critical thinking skills - the cases and questions were all fantastic. I cannot recommend the Olympiad enough!!"



ALIESHA SIMMONS SELWYN SCHOOL NZ