Australian Social Work V.60,Na.2,June2007,pp222-238 R Routledge There are no answers only choices Teaching Ethical Decision Making in Social work Mel gray Jill Gibbons School of Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, australia Abstract In teaching students about ethical decision making in social work, it is essential that the students are able to recognise the moral implications of their work and develop a deep understanding about ethical issues and their personal responsibility for making ethical hoices. Thus, more than a how to do it"approach is needed and teaching students about values and ethics is an essential thread that runs through our experience-based social work education program. The present paper describes a learning unit that soug to teach students about ethical decision making as a critical thinking process and, in so doing, to integrate students'knowledge and experience of values, ethics, policy, and research in the final year of study. The relationship between values, ethics, policy, research, and social work practice provided an ideal context within which students could learn to integrate their knowledge and experience and apply it directly to their fieldwork practice. The paper ends with our critical reflection on this teaching experience and a critique of decisionism ethical frameworks Keywords: Ethical Decision Making Frameworks; Ethical Decision Making: Teaching Ethics Virtue ethics s not only the transformation of the public consciousness that we are interested in, but it's our own transformation as artists that's just as important. Perhaps a corollary is that community change can't take place unless it's transformative within us. That familiar line- I see the enemy and it is I"means that every prejudice, every misunderstanding that we perceive out in the real world is inside of us,and has to be challenged. (Allan Kaprow, cited in Lacy, 1995, P. 33) "This article was accepted under the editorship of Christine Bigby and Sharon McCallum. Correspondence to: Mel Gray, School of Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail: Mel Gray@newcastle.edu.au issN 0312-407X(print)/ISSN 1447-0748(online)@ 2007 Australian Association of Social WorkersThere are no Answers, Only Choices: Teaching Ethical Decision Making in Social Work+ Mel Gray & Jill Gibbons School of Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Abstract In teaching students about ethical decision making in social work, it is essential that the students are able to recognise the moral implications of their work and develop a deep understanding about ethical issues and their personal responsibility for making ethical choices. Thus, more than a ‘‘how to do it’’ approach is needed and teaching students about values and ethics is an essential thread that runs through our experience-based social work education program. The present paper describes a learning unit that sought to teach students about ethical decision making as a critical thinking process and, in so doing, to integrate students’ knowledge and experience of values, ethics, policy, and research in the final year of study. The relationship between values, ethics, policy, research, and social work practice provided an ideal context within which students could learn to integrate their knowledge and experience and apply it directly to their fieldwork practice. The paper ends with our critical reflection on this teaching experience and a critique of decisionist ethical frameworks. Keywords: Ethical Decision Making Frameworks; Ethical Decision Making; Teaching Ethics; Virtue Ethics It’s not only the transformation of the public consciousness that we are interested in, but it’s our own transformation as artists that’s just as important. Perhaps a corollary is that community change can’t take place unless it’s transformative within us. That familiar line*‘‘I see the enemy and it is I’’ means that every prejudice, every misunderstanding that we perceive out in the real world is inside of us, and has to be challenged. (Allan Kaprow, cited in Lacy, 1995, p. 33). + This article was accepted under the editorship of Christine Bigby and Sharon McCallum. Correspondence to: Mel Gray, School of Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail: Mel.Gray@newcastle.edu.au ISSN 0312-407X (print)/ISSN 1447-0748 (online) # 2007 Australian Association of Social Workers DOI: 10.1080/03124070701323840 Australian Social Work Vol. 60, No. 2, June 2007, pp. 222238 Downloaded by [Shanghai Jiaotong University] at 07:30 23 May 2012