Working Ethics

Welcome to Working Ethics – and greetings to those who have been here before.  We get several visits a day and we welcome comments.  So if you are interested in following up ideas raised here do get in touch. 

This site is for people interested in ethics in the professions and public life. It aims to help you develop a practical working ethic.  The site is managed by me, Richard Rowson.  To know more about the site or me, please click on the right. 

Please get in touch if you are interested in any of the issues, activities and organisations mentioned below.  There are networks of people interested in these topics and I can put you in touch with them if you would like that.

How to contact me:

I’m at richardhrowson  and the rest of the address is @aol.com – sorry to put it that way, but I’m trying to avoid spam.  Don’t forget to put the “h” between “richard” and “rowson”. 

 Thank you for visiting the site.

In November 2009 I presented a paper on ethical aspects of using older people in medical research at the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice.   Basically I was showing how the FAIR framework (developed in Working Ethics – how to be fair in a culturally complex world ) is able to highlight ethically significant aspects of this area of research and provide a useful  analytic tool when issues are open to debate.  The Forum is concerned with relating ethical practice to developments in medical science.  For more information go to www.efgcp.be

At Kingston University I am developing a new research project on shared values.  The ideas is to see how far the FAIR ethics framework (see Working Ethics) is an appropriate ethical basis for community leaders and people working in the public space.    

Since this framework is successful in helping members of different professions work together it might help people working across cultural divides and in culturally complex situations.

We are currently in discussion with various organisation on how best to organise this research and will keep you posted on its progress.

Things have moved on since the paragraph below about activities at Kingston University.

Two new courses have been approved to begin in September 2009.  They are a Foundation Degree and an  MA in Child-Centred Interprofessional Practice.  By “child” is meant anyone from birth to 19years, so these courses are for people who work in a profession or in a voluntary capacity with babies, children or young people.   The courses are designed to help pratitioners, strategic managers and volunteers at all levels understand each others’ work and collaborate effectively, whether as individuals or as members of interprofessional teams.   Attendance for the courses is over twelve or so weekends a year, so you can take the courses while working full-time. If you would like to know more go to www.kingston.ac.uk/education  

We are also developing research ideas to complement the courses.  One idea currently being explored is the possibility of discussing with young people from different cultural and religious traditions the values of the FAIR framework outlined in my book Working Ethics – how to be fair in a culturally complex world.   For details about the book click on About this website.

AREC is a busy organisation which represents Research Ethics Committees in Universities, NHS and the independent sector.   It holds conferences, seminars and informal forums several times during the year.  For more details click on The Association of Research Ethics Committees.

On the afternoon of 13th March – before AREC’s conference on the 14th in Birmingham - there was a seminar entitled Learning from each other – the international experience.   I conducted the opening session on An international basis for research ethics - a short paper followed by discussion.   For further developments on this issue, see below. 

Kingston University is at the forefront in developing new courses and resources for professionals working with 0-19 year olds.   The University is currently setting up an Institute for Child-centred Inteprofessional Practice (ICCIP) which will be a centre and academic base for professionals in early years,  social work, youth justice, nursing and the police.  

I am contributing to the ethical aspects of ICCIP’s development - for example, by taking part in seminars with professionals working with children from birth to 5 years as part of Kingston’s BA Hons Education and Childcare: for details contact www.kingston.ac.uk/education. 

Students work in a range of settings with babies and children with different conditions and from varied background.  Consequently they encounter vastly different problems.   We look at scenarios arising in early years work and consider how the ethical framework set out in Working Ethics might suggest ways of dealing with them.  Some points to emerge were:

- the importance of early years professionals being mindful and protective of the objectives of their work

- the value of making these objectives clear to parents so they can make informed decisions about the welfare of their children

- the need to protect the integrity of the role of early years professionals

- that it is ethically important to respect the autonomy of early years professionals as well as that of parents and other stakeholders:  fairness requires respect for the informed views of everyone!

It was agreed that these points can help professionals arbitrate between conflicting demands and also help them decide when they should say no to some requests!

If you  wish to pick up on any issues raised in this posting, please send your comments and queries to this site.  It can become a forum for ongoing discussion.  Please say whether you would like your communication made public.

In a paper at the international  conference of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) and the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) at Liverpool in June I put forward suggestions for an international basis for research ethics, having first talked about the issue at a conference in March (see below).  There was a lively discussion on the problems of running international research projects in the absence of an agreed ethical basis, and since then several delegates have been in touch.  Several people are hoping to find a forum for promoting the idea, so if you are interested in joining us, or have any ideas, please get in touch.

Two of my recent articles are about the problems which some professionals experience with human rights as a moral and legal concept.   One appeared in Public (the journal produced by Guardian Newpapers) in December 2006, p42,  entitled There are no absolute rights  and the other in Nursing Ethics (the international journal for health care professionals) volume 14, number 6, 2007, p 838, entitled Nurses’ difficulties with rights

In 2007 I was in discussion with a government minister and a member of the conservative shadow cabinet (on  separate occasions!) on how ideas in my book Working Ethics – how to be fair in a culturally complex world might be used in their work.  I am currently thinking how the ideas may help combat racism and promote aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility.  

 At a seminar on interprofessional issues at Kingston University on March 2007 I gave a paper comparing the ethical terrain of nursing and policing.  I began by claiming that the terrain of the police was more complex and difficult to deal with than that of nursing.  I then argued that, despite this difference, there were certain common core values which, if accepted and acknowledged by each profession, could  help each be more effective and also enhance cooperation between them. 

If you’re interested in receiving a copy of the paper, please email me at the address given on the about this website page.