In the social work literature, ethical guidelines embodied in codes of ethics are said to provide the guidance needed when ethical dilemmas arise(Banks, 2001: Congress, 1999; Hugman Smith, 1995; Loewenberg, Dolgoff Harrington, 2000; Reamer, 1999; Rhodes, 1986; Rothman, 1998). However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, because ethical guidelines do not guarantee ethical social work practice (Gray, 1995; Rhodes, 1992). Social work education programs want to graduate students who take morality seriously, who take responsibility for moral action, who can demonstrate their commitment to ethical practice, and who have the awareness to recognise, and the expertise to work through, complex ethical problems. Field education placements provide rich and valuable experience on which to draw, as well as opportunities for direct application of new learning(Plath, 2004) A common purpose in social work is to teach students how to solve problems by c≥zom developing as full an understanding of the situation as possible through listening to the client's story, by helping clients to consider possible options for problem solving and anticipate the possible consequences of each option, and by enabling clients to choose a solution that best suits their needs and interests and those of others lved. However, we need to be careful not to overemphasise the rational aspects of ecision making to the detriment of other ways of knowing and gaining understanding. If we want to develop creative, imaginative practitioners, we need to avoid what Dreyfus and Dreyfus(1986)refer to as the Hamlet model of decision making: the detached, deliberate, and sometimes agonising selection among alternatives. This overemphasis on rational problem solving or decision making leads to the situation where students, and practitioners, want to be told how to do things wherein they are happy only when they are being given a well-defined structure within which to work. Although not overlooking the importance of the technological or skill dimensions of social work, we believe that an overemphasis on technical skills and models discourages students from thinking creatively By encouraging students to reflect on their values and commitments as well as their intuition and emotions, we lead them to exciting and perplexing discoveries about themselves and others Although rational decision making is important, ethical practice requires us to go beyond formulaic responses to become intuitive decision makers who know from experience that it is impossible to generate a complete list of options and to anticipate their consequences(Dreyfus Dreyfus, 1986). Essentially, problem solving is an interactional or dialogical process wherein discoveries are made. Thus, we also need to encourage students to respond intuitively and to reflect on the validity of their intuitions, as well as to draw on their experience and to incorporate situational and intuitive understanding into their reasoning processes More than this, we need to teach students to reflect on the way in which their reasoning, actions, and decisions are affected by their values, because without values the helping process becomes a rational-technical endeavor(Gray Askeland, 2002); without an understanding of the complexity and uncertainty of the helping situation, the"practical, problem solving perspectives of professional helpers may only prolong the false hope . that there is one rational solution to any problem"(Goldstein,In the social work literature, ethical guidelines embodied in codes of ethics are said to provide the guidance needed when ethical dilemmas arise (Banks, 2001; Congress, 1999; Hugman & Smith, 1995; Loewenberg, Dolgoff & Harrington, 2000; Reamer, 1999; Rhodes, 1986; Rothman, 1998). However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, because ethical guidelines do not guarantee ethical social work practice (Gray, 1995; Rhodes, 1992). Social work education programs want to graduate students who take morality seriously, who take responsibility for moral action, who can demonstrate their commitment to ethical practice, and who have the awareness to recognise, and the expertise to work through, complex ethical problems. Field education placements provide rich and valuable experience on which to draw, as well as opportunities for direct application of new learning (Plath, 2004). A common purpose in social work is to teach students how to solve problems by developing as full an understanding of the situation as possible through listening to the client’s story, by helping clients to consider possible options for problem solving and anticipate the possible consequences of each option, and by enabling clients to choose a solution that best suits their needs and interests, and those of others involved. However, we need to be careful not to overemphasise the rational aspects of ethical decision making to the detriment of other ways of knowing and gaining understanding. If we want to develop creative, imaginative practitioners, we need to avoid what Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986) refer to as the Hamlet model of decision making: the detached, deliberate, and sometimes agonising selection among alternatives. This overemphasis on rational problem solving or decision making leads to the situation where students, and practitioners, want to be told how to do things wherein they are happy only when they are being given a well-defined structure within which to work. Although not overlooking the importance of the technological or skill dimensions of social work, we believe that an overemphasis on technical skills and models discourages students from thinking creatively. By encouraging students to reflect on their values and commitments, as well as their intuition and emotions, we lead them to exciting and perplexing discoveries about themselves and others. Although rational decision making is important, ethical practice requires us to go beyond formulaic responses to become intuitive decision makers who know from experience that it is impossible to generate a complete list of options and to anticipate their consequences (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986). Essentially, problem solving is an interactional or dialogical process wherein discoveries are made. Thus, we also need to encourage students to respond intuitively and to reflect on the validity of their intuitions, as well as to draw on their experience and to incorporate situational and intuitive understanding into their reasoning processes. More than this, we need to teach students to reflect on the way in which their reasoning, actions, and decisions are affected by their values, because without values the helping process becomes a rationaltechnical endeavor (Gray & Askeland, 2002); without an understanding of the complexity and uncertainty of the helping situation, the ‘‘practical, problem solving perspectives of professional helpers may only prolong the false hope ... that there is one rational solution to any problem’’ (Goldstein, Australian Social Work 223 Downloaded by [Shanghai Jiaotong University] at 07:30 23 May 2012