1. Ethical issues in professional practice
Career Guidance Week 2007
Ethical issues in professional practice
7th March, 2012
Jo Hutchinson
Siobhan Neary
Principal Research Fellows
International Centre for Guidance Studies

2. Why does ethics matter to practice?

3. Ethical practice – the basics
“One of the characteristics of contemporary society is the coexistence of different approaches to ethics”
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2009
“ethics…fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring and limiting life are evil”
Albert Schweitzer, 1949

4. Ethics within professional practice
With all professions it is difficult to separate ethics from professionalism
"The Challenge of working ethically means that practitioners will inevitably encounter situations where there are competing obligations...members... are committing themselves to engaging with the challenge of striving to be ethical, even when doing so involves making difficult decisions or acting courageously”
BACP(2001, p.261)

5. Ethics in the helping professions
Four principles of the helping professions (Mulvey, 2002):
Beneficence – doing good for the client, which may have a positive action on behalf of the clients such as advocacy
Non-malfeasance – the avoidance of harm
Autonomy – the client is facilitated to make decisions
Justice – issues of equality and equity

6. What do we mean by ethics?
Definitions of ethics predominantly focus on conforming to standards of behaviors or sets of moral principles
Ethics provide the common structure on which we base our professional practice within guidance
Most professions will have an ethical code – in some they may be more important than others such a medicine and research.

7. Personal moral qualities
BACP Ethics framework
Values include a commitment to (e.g.)
Respect for human rights and dignity
Principles direct attention to important ethical responsibilities e.g.
fidelity
autonomy
Personal qualities are of utmost importance to clients and have an ethical or moral component: e.g.
empathy
Values inform principles, which are action-oriented
Reliance on principles alone should not detract from personal qualities
Practitioners are encouraged to aspire to these
Values
Principles
Personal moral qualities
Fidelity: honouring the trust placed in the practitioner

8. Ethics and professional practice
Careers Profession Alliance
building a core code of professional ethics
(draft code available on ICG website)
register of practitioners
Organisations may have their own codes of conduct or professional standards.

9. Our research
Interviews with 7 practitioners across a range of UK settings
Asked them to talk through and then reflect on an ethical dilemma which had an equality and diversity angle
Agreed transcript with each practitioner

10. Key findings: time of change and competition
Organisational change driven by either contracts, competition for learners or policy change was a universal theme:
Example 1: immigration policy & student visas
Example 2: targets and action plans
Example 3: standing up to aggressive advice from teachers in a client review

11. Key findings: Values
Practitioners feel compromised when their values do not match those of their employer, or of their clients
Example 4: advising recently redundant managers on access to a training fund
Example 5: advising clients with fundamental views

12. Key issue: organisational support
Organisational infrastructure
Active and supportive line management
Availability of specialist advice
360° communication
Training
Professional resilience

13. Key issue: codes of ethical practice
Relevance of ethical codes of practice
All were aware of them
Employer organisations had some codes and policies but they were more generic
Confidentiality was important
Dilemmas arose out of sense of compromising personal values – a gap in the codes?
Dilemmas arose out of a conflict between employer needs and professional ethics

14. CONTACT US! Jo Hutchinson 01332 591367 j.hutchinson@derby.ac.uk
Career Guidance Week 2007
CONTACT US!
Jo Hutchinson
Siobhan Neary 14