perspective, although gendering an ethics of care and polarising male reason and feminine caring is discouraged" for it is not clear that caring qualities pertai properly only to women"(McBeath Webb, 2002, P. 1027). Robinson and Reeser (2000)advocate a least harms model, Mattison's(2000)"person in the process model emphasises the reflective cycle, and so on. We ask students to examine the differences and similarities between these models and their groups framework and others they have found themselves through their reading. a practitioner is invited to present students with information on setting work priorities, experiences of having a colleague practicing unethically, limits of confidentiality, conflicts between organisa- tional, professional and personal values, and case examples of situations where ethical dilemmas have arisen. Working in small groups, students apply theory to practice using a case example drawn from their field placement experience and consider the 1. Is this an ethical dilemma? 2. If so what is the ethical dilemma involved? 3. How do existing ethical frameworks help us deal with the dilemma? 4. What, if anything, does the code of ethics say about this dilemma? They then have to use all the knowledge they have learnt, including the ethical code, decision making frameworks, and their reading, to decide on an appropriate solution to a particular dilemma. They are asked to justify the analytical process they used to make this decision and to plan how they may act on the decision made. Finally, they are asked to reflect on the extent to which critical thinking, ethical codes, and ethical screens or decision making frameworks have helped them think through their dilemma. Usually the session ends with the lecturer analysing one of the dilemmas presented by the students to demonstrate how to integrate knowledge from various sources. There is always a relationship between the ethical material and policy whether agency policy or legislation relating to particular practice areas, such as child protection or aging The final assessment When we first began teaching this learning unit, the assignment(which constituted one of the assessment items for this course, the second being an essay on competing research models in social work) was conducted as an oral where students presented to two of their teachers who then engaged them in discussion about the case they had presented. More recently, we have made this into a written assignment in the belief that our students needed to be able to articulate their ideas in writing because our model of teaching provided ample opportunity for students to participate in small group discussions In their assignment, students are required to draw together their learning on values, ethics, models of ethical decision making, the social work code of ethics, and self-awareness about how their own values and experience influence their ethicalperspective, although gendering an ethics of care and polarising male reason and feminine caring is discouraged ‘‘for it is not clear that caring qualities pertain properly only to women’’ (McBeath & Webb, 2002, p. 1027). Robinson and Reeser (2000) advocate a least harms model, Mattison’s (2000) ‘‘person in the process’’ model emphasises the reflective cycle, and so on. We ask students to examine the differences and similarities between these models and their group’s framework and others they have found themselves through their reading. A practitioner is invited to present students with information on setting work priorities, experiences of having a colleague practicing unethically, limits of confidentiality, conflicts between organisa￾tional, professional and personal values, and case examples of situations where ethical dilemmas have arisen. Working in small groups, students apply theory to practice using a case example drawn from their field placement experience and consider the following questions: 1. Is this an ethical dilemma? 2. If so, what is the ethical dilemma involved? 3. How do existing ethical frameworks help us deal with the dilemma? 4. What, if anything, does the code of ethics say about this dilemma? They then have to use all the knowledge they have learnt, including the ethical code, decision making frameworks, and their reading, to decide on an appropriate solution to a particular dilemma. They are asked to justify the analytical process they used to make this decision and to plan how they may act on the decision made. Finally, they are asked to reflect on the extent to which critical thinking, ethical codes, and ethical screens or decision making frameworks have helped them think through their dilemma. Usually the session ends with the lecturer analysing one of the dilemmas presented by the students to demonstrate how to integrate knowledge from various sources. There is always a relationship between the ethical material and policy, whether agency policy or legislation relating to particular practice areas, such as child protection or aging. The Final Assessment When we first began teaching this learning unit, the assignment (which constituted one of the assessment items for this course, the second being an essay on competing research models in social work) was conducted as an oral where students presented to two of their teachers who then engaged them in discussion about the case they had presented. More recently, we have made this into a written assignment in the belief that our students needed to be able to articulate their ideas in writing because our model of teaching provided ample opportunity for students to participate in small group discussions. In their assignment, students are required to draw together their learning on values, ethics, models of ethical decision making, the social work code of ethics, and self-awareness about how their own values and experience influence their ethical Australian Social Work 229 Downloaded by [Shanghai Jiaotong University] at 07:30 23 May 2012