Service User Perspectives on the ‘Ethically Good Practitioner’

Abstract

This short paper is based on a presentation delivered by four young people from Sunderland Children Services—Amy, Claire, Jordan and Glen (supported by Grace Roddam, Young People's Training and Development Mentor, and Dave Laverick, Workforce Development Consultant)—at the ‘Learning Professional Wisdom: Courage and Compassion’ Ethics and Social Welfare conference, which took place on 15 May 2009 at St Mary's College, Durham University, UK. The conference was organized by the newly formed Ethics and Social Welfare network, with support from the Social Work and Policy Subject Centre (SWAP), Durham University and Ethics & Social Welfare journal. The conference focused on the contested nature of ‘moral character’ in professional education, whether this can be learnt and developed and how it links with judgements about ‘suitability for practice’. The four young people, drawing on their specific experiences of the looked after system, provided a valuable contribution which will assist understanding of what is meant by the term ‘ethical practitioner’ and the values and attributes they believe practitioners should have in order to fulfil their ethical obligations.

Notes

¹Published in 2003 as a Green Paper, and followed by the Children Act in 2004, Every Child Matters (ECM) is a new approach to improving the well-being of children from birth to age 19. The programme aims to achieve better outcomes for all children by ensuring that all organizations and workers that provide services to children, such as schools, social workers, the police and health professionals, work together in a more effective way.