ABSTRACT
Social workers are bound to follow codes of ethics in their day-to-day practice. However, ethical practice is not a matter of rule-following; the art of ethical judgement is more subtle and complex. This chapter shows that ethical deliberation in practice cannot be seen as the inculcation of rules to be followed by practitioners but should be seen as a critical and thought-provoking process that questions moralising rules and examines assumptions and values. It argues that dramatic forms have the potential to capture and represent ethical issues embodied in practice, which is often missed or ignored in more cognitive-focused accounts of ethical expertise. The chapter illustrates the development and delivery of an ethics skills workshop for final year social work students that employed strategies from theatre to identify and explore ethical issues in practice. It focuses on the impact of the workshop for participants drawing on student evaluation and feedback.
