'Designing in’ ethics to the placement process

Designing in

Increasingly there are more and more challenges and complexities being experienced by students, and placement is the time when these complexities and tensions often emerge.  As experienced practitioners you will be aware of this, and the associated complexity that this involves for you supervising, guiding and mentoring students throughout their placement journey.  Unfortunately there is no neat ‘rule book’ on dealing with complexity that you and your students can refer to. Key to dealing with complexity is working ethically which involves ‘designing in’ ethics as a core underpinning framework for your interactions and engagement with the student.

Key to this is working from the AASW Code of Ethics which provides a robust framework for supervisors and students in dealing with complexity.

The AASW Code of Ethics (2012, p. 12) has identified "three core values, which give rise to general and specific ethical responsibilities...":

  • respect for persons
  • social justice
  • professional integrity.

Throughout the supervisory relationship there are some simple but key things you can do to build in ethics into everything you do:

  • Having regular and meaningful supervision is absolutely essential.
  • Having an open and honest interactions so there are never any "surprises".
  • Being open and transparent about boundaries, role clarification and expectations.
  • Working with the student to achieve ethical literacy which includes having regular discussions about ethical issues, no matter how "small" these may seem. This involves consistently using a common framework for ethical decision making – you can use the framework developed by Phil Crane (PDF file, 1.5 MB) or the framework by Chenoweth and McAuliffe (2012), (your student will have access to this).
  • Working within the organisational Code of Conduct and relevant policies around things like confidentiality, relationships etc, which means ensuring you and the student have discussed this and the parameters involved.

It’s important to have strategies that acknowledge the complexity and the challenges that students experience when these happen, so that you can normalise the situation. An open and transparent stance involves acknowledging that the situation may indeed be complex and there are no simple or easy answers, but that you will both work through this together. Just as in practice, there is no easy ‘one size fits all’ solution.

Ethics underpins most of what students learn as part of the social work degree, even though they may not realise this at first! So, ask the student to talk with you about the ethical approaches they have learnt at university, help them make sense of this in the context of the placement, you will hopefully see them make the links and light bulbs start to come up during these conversations!

Ask the students to talk with you about the theories they have learnt thus far and how these fit and make sense in the context of what you are doing. This is a great opportunity for you to share, and also for the student to help you stay up to date with theoretical approaches and research! Such discussions can help you use tools that already exist to help you both work through complex issues.  For example, if a student identifies with personal issues that blur boundaries and trigger emotions, how can the theories and ethical values they hold assist the student and yourself to work through these so that the student (and clients and workers) remain safe.

Make time for yourself to ‘spring clean’ or unpack your own ethical practice. Identify opportunities to build ethical considerations into your day to day practice and invite your students to do the same.

Remember that when you ‘design in’ ethical considerations into your practice, you are fostering a proactive response to complexity.  Building in the expectation of ‘no surprises’ is crucial to ensure situations can be addressed as they arise in a positive and constructive way.  This can help avoid students being fearful of raising issues they may be experiencing with you, as they may be afraid that you will think less of them, or they will fail, or...... After all, social work and human services practice is complex enough, why would we want to add further complexity to it!

The following provides an overview of what the students are taught at university:

An overview of what students learn about ethics

All undergraduate Human Service and Social Work students study the Unit SWB219: Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Social Work and Human Service Practice, taught by Dr. Phil Crane.

The content of the Unit includes:

  • Legislation (i.e. the different types of law, critically understanding legislation and the principle of "best interests");
  • Courts, tribunals and alternative dispute resolution (i.e. the differences between courts, tribunals, and ADR and the different roles in these settings, such as applicants/respondents, expert witness, members of tribunal, etc.);
  • The fundamentals of administrative law and the implications for practice (e.g. natural justice and procedural fairness);
  • Human rights and Human Service/Social Work practice (i.e. Australia’s human rights commitments, relevant human rights and anti-discrimination legislation in Australia & Queensland, Anti-Discrimination Commission, and the place of ‘rights’ in social work and human service practice);
  • Legal dimensions of the front line interface with clients (i.e. breach of statutory duty, breach of contract, torts, defamation, negligence (including duty of care), breach of duty of care, damage, civil liability, informed consent, privacy, recording and storing information);
  • Accessing and advocating for justice (i.e. sources of legal assistance, the role of HS/SW practitioners, legal process and court support);
  • Models of ethical decision-making for social work and human services (i.e. Looking at different models of ethical decision-making and how they are applied t scenarios);
  • Key approaches, theories and principles of ethical dimensions of practice (i.e. covers what is needed for ethical practice such as virtues, relational/ cultural/ organisational frames, ethical skills & knowledge, designing in ethics to human services);
  • Core Ethical issues in practice (Autonomy, self determination, informed consent, paternalism, privacy, confidentiality, social control, toleration and social change – exploring the when and how these may be incorporated in practice in particular contexts);
  • Ethics and cross cultural practice;
  • Professional ethics and Codes of Ethics for SW/HS (i.e. The role of codes of ethics and codes of conduct, and unpacking the relevant codes of ethics and how these relate to practice);
  • New directions in ethics and organisations (i.e. AASW Ethics Consultation Service, Ethics Complaints Management Process, exploring ethics in government and NGO contexts).

Remember also that your student will learn about ethical practice from watching how you and other practitioners grapple with the complexities of practice and decision making.  We know, no pressure on you at all!

An approach we have found useful for students and supervisors in identifying and dealing with complexities and challenges that arise throughout placement involves using a model of decision making developed by Dr Phil Crane.  Core to this is working through a range of questions that takes into considerations the context, opportunities and issues.

Use these templates below to guide your decision making:

A broad decision making checklist (PDF file, 275.6 KB)

A broad decision making checklist template (DOCX file, 13.3 KB)

Ethical questions for Supervisors:

Question: What do I do if my student’s values are not consistent with those of the AASW or ACWA and they demonstrate strong judgemental assumptions and statements?

Answer: All students must be able to demonstrate that they can work ethically, which means being respectful and ensuring that any value biases are recognised, articulated and worked through. In such a situation, there is a strong role for the field educator to work with the student during supervision to unpack their values, and to identify their root, how they align with the core social work or human services values, and what accountable and ethical practice looks like.  For Social Work students, their learning plan, based on the AASW Education and Practice Standards are very clear, students must demonstrate they are able to operate ethically. The AASW has a new ethical guidelines site for members only which as a list of frequently asked questions and responses around topics such as mandatory reporting, case note recording, conflicts of  interest etc. You do need to be a member to access this, but for AASW members, we highly recommend you visit Ethics Consultation and Resources web page: