This chapter sets out the background and rationale for the book; conceptual understanding of the term ‘ethics’; consideration of some of the major ethical theories; conceptual understanding of the terms ‘personal ethics’, ‘professional ethics’ and ‘interprofessional ethics’; aims and approach of the book; conceptual framework for the book with a mapping to book parts; and a brief introduction to each of the parts and chapters. The remaining chapters in the book provide further insights into these concepts and understandings, drawing on the ‘lived experiences’ of the authors and/or other professionals working in person-centred professions. The final chapter pulls together the...

Educational psychologists (EPs) in the UK are governed by the Health and Care Professionals Council Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics (HCPC, 2012) and guided by the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct (BPS, 2009). While professional codes of ethics offer principles for guidance, ethical practice requires EPs and other professionals to constantly engage with tension and complexity. Despite the complex nature of the work, the literature on ethics in EP practice is limited. Lindsay notes that, until recently, EP training in ethics offered little by way of ‘ specific and targeted discussion’ (Lindsay, 2008, p 52). The...

The management of services is changing and staff are increasingly being asked to work ‘interprofessionally’ (Tope and Thomas, 2007; Cameron et al, 2009) and to come together in new configurations to deliver services in new ways (Baxter and Brumfitt, 2008). The term ‘interprofessional working’ is often used when different professionals work together, and is also termed interprofessional practice (World Health Organization (WHO), 2010; Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011). Interprofessional working affects all organisational members and the very structures of the organisations that support them. As a result, leaders and managers in organisations are required to manage individuals with diverse...

Increasingly, professionals find themselves operating in a policy context where governments seek greater levels of community involvement and participation. For example, a Scottish Government consultation on a proposed Empowerment and Community Renewal Bill (Scottish Government, 2012) aims to ‘ensure communities are able to have a greater role in determining how their local public services are delivered’ (p 5). In Australia, partnership with health service users in planning, designing and evaluating healthcare is one of ten National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011).

The authors welcome this focus, but it does...

The complexity of teachers’ work is primarily due to the varying social interactions that teachers encounter and are constantly challenged to reflect on as part of their professional practice. They relate to others and regularly deal with highly complex and emotional situations that expose them to both emotionally draining and ethically ambiguous experiences. This is one reason why teachers are vulnerable to burn-out. Teachers’ professional ethics may be understood in social terms, moral justification arising from the question as to whether teachers’ actions are beneficial or harmful to social interaction, the community and, eventually, the democratic society (Mead, 1962; Dewey,...

The historical changes in Scottish criminal justice social work (CJSW) have been well documented (for example McNeill, 2004; McNeill and Whyte, 2007), but require some attention in this chapter as they are important for understanding possible ‘disjuncture ’ and for contextualising the respondents’ comments from the research study explored later in the chapter. The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 was responsible for the reorganisation of social work in Scotland, including the incorporation of work with offenders within generic social work, and Section 12 of the Act puts a duty on social work departments to promote welfare for all service users....

In line with the aims of Part Two, this chapter focuses on the dynamics of personal and professional ethics (see Figure 1.1). It takes up an intellectual exploration of the ethical tensions and practices that emerged for the authors during their leadership of a professional learning programme for teachers in government-funded schools over a three-year period. The authors present and examine their lived experiences and draw on the writing of teachers involved in the programme to illustrate the ethical dilemmas they confronted and the consequent decision-making approach they adopted.

The authors were educators and researchers within the education faculty of...

As part of Part Two, this chapter focuses on dynamics of personal and professional ethics (see Figure 1.1). It considers the moral challenges to social workers and focuses on the role of the child protection social worker in particular. The authors take a moral philosophy and virtue ethics approach to highlight the importance of the concept of ‘role’ as the basis of a morally adequate and readily applicable response to these challenges. They draw upon a case study to highlight the moral and ethical dilemmas that the lead author faced in her own practice – challenges that are representative of the...

In line with the aims of Part Three (see Figure 1.1), this chapter explores professional and interprofessional ethics from the perspective of professionals working within an Intellectual Disabilities (Learning Disabilities ) team. Vignettes based on lived experiences of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and the teams working with them have been used to illustrate the dilemmas faced by multidisciplinary teams. The authors draw upon medical ethics and moral ethics theory to frame their discussion.

Multidisciplinary and multi-agency working is well established in ID, though different professional backgrounds and cultures can lead to disagreement between practitioners and debate over the ethically...

In this chapter the authors consider pre-birth child protection assessment and intervention from the perspectives of social work and midwifery to highlight some of the ethical issues inherent for both professions. Both social work and midwifery have international codes of ethics that shape and guide practice, and in this chapter these ethical codes have been considered from the theoretical perspectives of utilitarianism and value-based ethics.

Child protection practice in the UK is directed by law, policy and guidance that seek to promote the well-being of the child and its family. Where there are significant concerns for a child’s well-being or...

As part of Part Three, this chapter focuses on the dynamics of professional and interprofessional ethics (see Figure 1.1). The author uses a real-life case study, namely the Tarasoff case, to illustrate these dynamics. The chapter draws on moral philosophy and consequentialism to debate issues of ethical practice.

The standards of ethical practice will inevitably vary among people and professions and by country. Ethics can take on many theoretical perspectives but, in essence, it is, fundamentally, about knowing what is right and what is wrong in any given situation and exercising appropriate ethical judgement to act accordingly in new and...

This chapter presents findings from a number of serious case reviews in the UK as case studies to highlight the need for professionals involved in child protection to work collaboratively with professionals from other disciplines. In line with the aim of Part Four (see Figure 1.1), these cases are used as a lens to understand the multiple dynamics of personal, professional and interprofessional ethics experienced by professionals working in this area, with a focus on the perspectives of police officers, elicited through research conducted by the first author.

A police officer, especially in the field of child protection, domestic abuse...

This chapter explores some of the ethical issues involved in supporting children and young people who have experienced bereavement, highlighting personal, professional and interprofessional dilemmas in line with the aims of Part Four (see Figure 1.1). The authors present cases of children who were bereaved and not effectively supported by adults, whether their own family or professionals. These narratives and the importance of children’s rights are discussed using the frame of moral theory.

When an adult is bereaved they can draw upon a life’s-worth of experiences and make use of their cognitive abilities to discern what needs are to be...

The focus of this chapter is the interrelationship of personal and professional ethics in education, and the effect of differing political contexts on the development of the ‘moral self’ of teachers. In line with the aims of Part Five (see Figure 1.1), this is done in the context of two countries as case studies, namely Finland and England. The authors define ‘ethics’ as being the values that direct decision making and behaviour. The chapter considers the degree to which the values governing ethical decision making and behaviour in education are ‘out there’, a reality to be discovered through reasoning and...

This chapter, a part of Part Five (see Figure 1.1), explores the dynamics of professional and interprofessional ethics when working across countries with significant cultural differences. It uses the case study of a trauma recovery programme delivered by UK professionals in Palestine to illustrate the potential tensions and dilemmas. The chapter then takes an ethical decision making (EDM) approach to suggest ways of resolving any issues inherent in such work.

The occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) are a dangerous place for children and adolescents. A recent survey found that children in Nablus experience on average at least 13 different types of...

In line with the aims of Part Five, this chapter focuses on professional and interprofessional ethics in the context of different countries (see Figure 1.1). The authors use a case study to highlight the part that cultural, geographical, professional and ideological factors can play when working across multinational contexts (Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US). The chapter analyses the values espoused by social work and other professions similar to social work, and emphasises their deontological nature.

Social work is a profession that continually crosses boundaries. Typically these boundary crossings are along professional lines, as social work is often...

As part of Part Five, this chapter explores issues of professional and interprofessional ethics across national boundaries (see Figure 1.1). The authors approach ethics and volunteering in palliative care from a number of ethical theoretical perspectives, but principally from a medical and personal ethics standpoint. This chapter uses the case studies of two countries to highlight ethical issues arising from volunteer involvement in two very different settings for palliative care: Kerala in India and the UK.

In a palliative care setting volunteers find themselves as part of a multidisciplinary team. In Chapter One, Hannah and Jindal-Snape discuss the challenges of...

In line with the aims of Part Six, this chapter considers ways in which understanding of ethics can be embedded into the thinking and practice of professionals in training (see Figure 1.1). To illustrate this, the case study of an educational psychology professional training programme is presented. The authors take a positive ethics approach and highlight the use of moral theory for ethical decision making.

The ability to be alert to the ethical dimensions of practice and to acquire professional knowledge and skills to make informed ethical decisions is a core competency of educational psychologists. This chapter considers approaches to...

This chapter, in line with the aims of Part Six (see Figure 1.1), provides an insight into how ethical mindfulness can be developed as healthcare students experience interprofessional dilemmas within workplace learning. Healthcare students learn professionalism and how tobecomeprofessionals through the formal, informal and hidden curriculum. This chapter begins by utilising theoretical and research literature to introduce the concepts of healthcare professionalism, professional identities and interprofessional learning. The case study draws on an exemplar narrative from an extensive research programme exploring healthcare students’ lived experiences of professionalism dilemmas to demonstrate how students make sense of their experiences and...

This chapter will revisit the themes, concepts and theories considered in Chapter One; synthesise and summarise the common, as well as unique, themes emerging from Chapters Two to Nineteen to explore the possible reasons behind any tensions and, in line with the aims of Part Six (see Figure 1.1), consider a possible way forward. Through an exploration of the authors’ ‘lived experiences’, this book provides a series of lenses focusing on what is happening in the real world as professionals negotiate and wrestle with tensions and conflicts in their day-to-day practice. Chapter One referred to the authors’ interest in interprofessional...