Ethics in Social Work

Department

Master's Program Social Work, Social Policy & Management

Course unit code

SOA-M-3-SOA-ETP-SE

Number of ECTS credits allocated

Name of lecturer(s)

Prof. Harms-Smith Linda, BA(SW), MSocSc, B(Hons)Soc. Sc(Psych), PhD, Altenberger Iris, PhD

Mode of delivery

face-to-face

Recommended optional program components

none

Recommended or required reading

Hölscher, D. & Hugman, R. (eds.) (2023) Social Work Theory and Ethics: Ideas in Practice. Singapore: Springer.

Fanon, F. (2008). Black skin, white masks (R. Philcox, Trans.). Pluto Press. (Original work published 1952)

Césaire, A. (2000). Discourse on colonialism (J. Pinkham, Trans.; R. D. G. Kelley, Intro.). New York: Monthly Review Press.

Harms-Smith, L. & Afeworki Abay, R., 2023. Epistemic Decoloniality: Transcending Colonial Epistemic Violence and Centring Southern Knowledges in Social Work. In: T. Kleibl, R. Afeworki Abay, S. Lugo Rodríguez & A.-L. Klages, eds. Decolonizing Social Work: From Theory to Transformative Praxis. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Castiello-Gutiérrez, S., & Gozik, N. J. (2022). Decolonizing education abroad: Grounding theory in practice. In N. J. Gozik & H. R. T. Olson (Eds.), A house where all belong: Redesigning education abroad for inclusive excellence (pp. 183-202). Stylus Publishing. https://doi.org/10.36366/SIA.1.978-1-952376-21-4.9

Hook, D. (2004). Frantz Fanon, Steve Biko, ‘psychopolitics' and critical psychology. LSE Research Online. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/

Masson, F and Harms Smith, L. 2019. Colonisation as collective trauma: fundamental
perspectives for social work. In: Tanja Kleibl, Ronald Lutz, Ndangwa Noyoo 2019.
Handbook of Post-Colonial social work. Routledge

McAuliffe, D. (2021) Interprofessional Ethics: Collaboration in the Social, Health and Human Services. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schumacher, Thomas (2013): Lehrbuch der Ethik in der Sozialen Arbeit. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa

Ferguson, Iain (2012): Reclaiming Social Work. Challenging Neo-Liberalism and Promoting Social Justice. London: SAGE Publications

Kaminsky, Carmen (2017): Soziale Arbeit - normative Theorie und Professi-onsethik. Opladen: Barbara Budrich Verlag

Herzka, Michael (2019): Gute Führung. Ethische Herausforderungen im Non-Profit-Management. Wiesbaden: Springer

Kooperationskreis Ethik (2019): Ethik in Einrichtungen der Sozialen Arbeit. Freiburg: Lambertus Verlag

Franz, Julia; Unterkofler, Ursula (Hg.) (2021): Forschungsethik in der Sozialen Arbeit. Prinzipien und Erfahrungen. Verlag Barbara Budrich. 1. Auflage. Le-verkusen-Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich (Theorie, Forschung und Praxis der Sozialen Arbeit, 23).
Danchev, Dee; Ross, Alistair (2013): Research Ethics for Counsellors, Nurses & Social Workers. London: Sage Publications.

Level of course unit

Master

Year of study

Fall 2025

Semester when the course unit is delivered

Language of instruction

English

Learning outcomes of the course unit

1. Critically examine ethics in social work and interprofessional contexts
2. Critically evaluate the relationship between individual agency, social structures, and social justice in ethical decision-making
3. Compare and contrast Western, Southern, and Eastern moral philosophies in relation to social work practice
4. Interrogate colonisation and the imperatives for ethics of decoloniality in relation social work
5. Understand the ethical considerations and contemporary challengesrelated to digital and technological contexts
6. Explore the 'post-human', non-anthropocentric ethical frameworks in relation to social work and global crises
7. Integrate radical and critical perspectives and into ethical practice

Course contents

• Professional ethics of social work
• Ethics in social work science
• Theory and practice of social work ethics
• Ethics as a science and concept
• Positions of social work ethics

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course comprises an interactive mix of lectures, discussions and individual and group work.

Work placement(s)

none

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