More than double the number of enrolments has led t a big expansion of kindergarten ethics classes in New South Wales.

Last year, 8,500 students attended the session in NSW schools, but the number has grown to 20,000 this year.

The teaching program is run by Primary Ethics a company which “exists to develop and deliver philosophical ethics education for children who do not attend scripture classes”, according to its website.

Younger students such as those in kindergarten are posed simple moral questions such as; ‘What is okay?’ ‘Can you do harm without meaning to?’.

Older students are exposed to concepts of forgiveness, selfishness, reasoning, disagreeing, empathy, human and animal rights, fatalism, freedom and fairness.

The classes came in after a legal change in 2011, which allowed NSW schools to teach secular ethics as an alternative to scripture lessons.

The change was opposed by a number of religious groups, but the curriculum has be re-written and now Primary Ethics says it has been accepted by most churches.

Ethics education now involves 1,400 volunteer teachers at 300 NSW state primary schools.

“What we aim to do is provide children who are sitting in non-scripture with something productive to do with their time,” general manager of Primary Ethics, Alyssa Kelly, told the ABC this week.

“We are not evangelising ethicists. We actually require parent contact with us to say we want the classes.

“We are very much driven by demand,” she said.

With some authorities estimating that up to 100,000 students in NSW public schools currently elect not to attend scripture classes, there is plenty of room for expansion.