Abstract
This article aims to highlight some of the ethical issues that arise when social
work educators plan to involve service users and carers from black and minority
ethnic (BME) communities in the teaching of social work students. Between 2005
and 2007, the authors carried out a two-part project that involved working with
service users and carers from BME communities in the area around Liverpool in
Britain. The article first discusses the background for this two-part project,
highlighting two themes relating to the ethical dilemmas we experienced. The
first of these themes concerned conducting a project in a political context based
on short and intermittent funding and intransigent bureaucracy. Our second
theme concerned how to reconcile bringing together a group of people because
they were recognized as having a shared experience while at the same time
there were a myriad differences within the group. We then discuss these issues
in light of the ethical approach we adopted, based on being open and honest,
flexible in a respectful and meaningful way, and on anti-oppressive ethics and
shared responsibility.
work educators plan to involve service users and carers from black and minority
ethnic (BME) communities in the teaching of social work students. Between 2005
and 2007, the authors carried out a two-part project that involved working with
service users and carers from BME communities in the area around Liverpool in
Britain. The article first discusses the background for this two-part project,
highlighting two themes relating to the ethical dilemmas we experienced. The
first of these themes concerned conducting a project in a political context based
on short and intermittent funding and intransigent bureaucracy. Our second
theme concerned how to reconcile bringing together a group of people because
they were recognized as having a shared experience while at the same time
there were a myriad differences within the group. We then discuss these issues
in light of the ethical approach we adopted, based on being open and honest,
flexible in a respectful and meaningful way, and on anti-oppressive ethics and
shared responsibility.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 86-94 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Ethics and Social Welfare |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 1 Apr 2008 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2008 |
Keywords
- Black and minority ethnic communities
- involvement of users
- teaching of social work
- anti-oppressive ethics