To begin next year, the Primary Ethics pilot program will be run in year 7 classes and will be run by the independent Ethics Centre.

Having now run for almost a decade, the Primary Ethics program has been adopted in Wagga Public School and Lake Albert Public School.

"Ethics classes are based on developing critical thinking through logic and reasoning," said Primary Ethics regional manager Heidi McElnea.

"It's about giving children the skills to work through disagreements respectfully so that they can understand each other's differences."

Wagga-based scripture teacher Phillip Banton welcomes any strategy that will increase student self-awareness but has questioned the necessity of ethics programs.

"I openly tell [the high school students] I don't want you just to agree with me or each other, let's have a discussion about these big topics," he said.

"That's a valuable tool to have in life, to be able to discuss respectfully, because you're always going to be dealing with people you don't agree with. That's the challenge, but it's worth it."

Conversely, Ms McElnea affirmed that ethics classes establish a modern understanding of reality by posing questions that are unique to a generation growing up in this day and age.

"Children are very aware of the challenges in this world, they're exposed to things like climate change, social media and political issues. There's awareness but it's complex, so there needs to be a place to discuss freely," Ms McElnea said.

"The Bible or any sort of religious text is a tool that can be used for learning ethics," she said.

"But students are increasingly coming into a world were the answers they're seeking are not in those traditional places.

"Artificial intelligence, scientific discoveries, social media, these are things that are not discussed in the Bible. So the Bible might say stealing is wrong, but we discuss what stealing is, for example, is using your neighbour's WiFi without permission, is that stealing?"

Since relocating from Sydney nearly three years ago, Mr Banton has taken on scripture classes in three Wagga high schools, and three primary schools.

He spends each day grappling with student's moral questions in his classes and determines the main difference between a scripture class and an ethics class is the parametres for that discussion.

"I think all of us can agree on the idea of right and wrong, and that we're there to discuss what that means," Mr Banton said.

"We look to God to be the needle on our compass, but with ethics, I'm not sure what the needle is.

"It seems like it's a compass without a needle, so we can see there's good and there's bad just like we can see there are north and south, but we have nothing to point us towards them."

Mr Banton believes ethics classes have not originated in a vacuum of religious instruction.

"It's a matter of secularising, and it's not just for our young people. As much as people may not want to admit it, the generation that is celebrating secularism has grown up with some godly frameworks," he said.

"On who's authority can we determine good and bad? If we base it on feelings, well that sounds good, but is that really the governance of our morality?"

The trial ethics program will be run in up to 20 high schools across the state, with expressions of interest now open.

The Department of Education was sought for comment on whether the program will be formally endorsed, and offered the statement: "Primary Ethics is working with the NSW Department of Education on the future delivery of Special Education in Ethics in high schools. Further details relating to the trial are yet to be finalised."