Teaching and asessing ethics in psychology
training in the UK - Work in Progress…
Tony Wainwright and Tony Roth
Running order
2.00 Introduction and overview – Tony Wainwright
2.25 Ethics and the competence framework for CAMHS – Tony Roth
2.45 Group work – applying the four component model:
Ethical Sensitivity
Ethical Reasoning
Ethical Motivation
Ethical Implementation
Task is to identify principles on:
1. Delivery of teaching.
2. Identification of relevant competence
3. Assessment method noting reliability and validity issues
3.20
Feedback
3.40
Closing discussion
3.45 Close
Outline
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Context
Survey of ethics teaching by BPS Ethics Committee
Survey of ethics teaching experience by BPS
Postgraduate Affairs Group
Competencies
Context
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EFPA SCE1999 recommendations on teaching ethics
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2010 Survey data from Austria by Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Zuzan

Suggested this is an area for review
Some questions we have been considering
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What should be the content and method for
teaching
undergraduate/postgraduate/professional
psychology about ethics?
Is there an equivalent to evidence-based
practice that we use in other aspects of training?
Can we operationalise ethics competencies and
develop standards for assessment.
Competency based training
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BPS Accreditation criteria for psychology training
are now ‘competency based’
For Clinical Psychology, for example:
Requires trainees to develop competencies across
the life-span, with a range of client groups, in
various clinical settings and using different
therapeutic modalities. Crosscutting competencies,
such as working with diversity and ethical practice
are also mentioned.
Generally rather high level statements with limited
operationalisation
Ethics teaching audit
1.
Survey:
i.
Ethics Committee - UK courses
ii.
Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG) - postgraduates
2.
Review standards
3.
Identify examples of good practice
4.
Review competencies and assessment methods
5.
Publish guidance on curriculum and assessment of teaching.
Surveys
Psychology Departments
 113 institutions surveyed covering 612 accredited courses.
 Responses received from 42 institutions (37%)
 Good range of undergraduate courses responded
 Good range of professional training courses
 Sufficiently consistent to make develop some tentative broad
conclusions.
Individual postgraduate psychologists
 Members of PSYpag
 Approx 110 responses
The initial survey results
1. Departments
2. Individual postgraduates
experiences
1. Please indicate in what primary capacity you are
responding to this survey:
1
Head of Department
2
Head of
Undergraduate
Degree Programme
3
Head of
Postgraduate Degree
Programme
4
Head of
Departmental Ethics
Committee
5
Other: Included
Research Directors
Ethics officers (2)
Chairs of ethics
committees
N
Current
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42
Ethics Teaching Survey
10
2. Please indicate which Society accredited courses are
currently run within your Department:
1
Undergraduate
2
Postgraduate:
forensic psychology
3
Postgraduate:
clinical psychology
4
Postgraduate:
occupational
psychology
5
Postgraduate:
health psychology
6
Postgraduate:
counselling
psychology
7
Postgraduate: sports
and exercise
psychology
8
Postgraduate:
educational
psychology
9
Other:
PhD Research
Conversion Course
N
Current
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Ethics Teaching Survey
11
3. Is there a written curriculum covering ethics?
The following questions relate to the delivery of ethics teaching in your Department.
1
Undergraduate
2
Postgraduate:
forensic psychology
3
Postgraduate:
clinical psychology
4
Postgraduate:
occupational
psychology
5
Postgraduate:
health psychology
6
Postgraduate:
counselling
psychology
7
Postgraduate: sports
and exercise
psychology
8
Postgraduate:
educational
psychology
N
Undergraduate
32
Postgraduate: forensic psychology
6
Postgraduate: clinical psychology
11
Postgraduate: occupational psychology
Postgraduate: health psychology
4
10
Postgraduate: counselling psychology
4
Postgraduate: sports and exercise psychology
3
Postgraduate: educational psychology
2
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Ethics Teaching Survey
12
4. Please indicate if there are specific teaching sessions
devoted to ethics for each of the Society accredited courses
run within your Department:
1
Undergraduate
2
Postgraduate:
forensic psychology
3
Postgraduate:
clinical psychology
4
Postgraduate:
occupational
psychology
5
Postgraduate:
health psychology
6
Postgraduate:
counselling
psychology
7
Postgraduate: sports
and exercise
psychology
8
Postgraduate:
educational
psychology
N
Undergraduate
33
Postgraduate: forensic psychology
6
Postgraduate: clinical psychology
13
Postgraduate: occupational psychology
Postgraduate: health psychology
4
11
Postgraduate: counselling psychology
4
Postgraduate: sports and exercise psychology
3
Postgraduate: educational psychology
3
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13
5. Is there guidance for all teachers to include ethics in their
teaching sessions?
1
Undergraduate level
2
Postgraduate level
N
Undergraduate level
34
Postgraduate level
34
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Ethics Teaching Survey
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8. Please indicate whether the Society-accredited course(s)
run within your department covers the following areas of
ethics:
The following questions relate to the content of Society accredited courses run within your Department.
1
Undergraduate
2
Postgraduate:
forensic psychology
3
Postgraduate:
clinical psychology
4
Postgraduate:
occupational
psychology
5
Postgraduate:
health psychology
6
Postgraduate:
counselling
psychology
7
Postgraduate: sports
and exercise
psychology
8
Postgraduate:
educational
psychology
N
Undergraduate
32
Postgraduate: forensic psychology
6
Postgraduate: clinical psychology
12
Postgraduate: occupational psychology
Postgraduate: health psychology
5
11
Postgraduate: counselling psychology
5
Postgraduate: sports and exercise psychology
1
Postgraduate: educational psychology
2
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15
9. Is there a specific person or persons responsible for ethics
teaching within the Department?
1
Yes
2
No
N
Current
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7. Does the Department aim to develop an ethical identity in
your students?
We are concerned with how Departments foster the integration of ethics within the "identity" of the
students as future graduates and/or practitioners of psychology . This is goes beyond the teaching of
ethics (e.g. the skills of recognising the presence of common ethical issues, skills in ethical reasoning,
or improved understanding of the language and concepts of ethics) and relates to the development of
ethical, as well as techinically competent and knowledgeable, graduates and practitioners.
1
Yes
2
No
3
Unsure
N
Current
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Ethics Teaching Survey
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Ethics Committee survey summary
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Large majority cover Professional Codes of Ethics
Approximately half cover other areas:
Philosophical ethical traditions
Moral and ethical reasoning
Moral behaviour
Different domains of ethics (e.g. individual, social,
environmental)
Wide variation in the content and extent of ethics training
delivered at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Some respondents very positive about their work and have
examples of excellent practice
The BPS QA team have also examples of excellent practice.
Individual postgraduates survey
1.
2.
3.
Four questions relating to codes of ethics
Two questions relating to experience of ethics
training as undergraduate or postgraduate.
Twelve questions relating to the experience of
gaining ethical approval for research
PsyPAG survey - undergraduate experience
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For undergraduate courses over half of those who
responded to this survey did have some structured
teaching in ethics although nearly 40% of
respondents report no ethical instruction at this
level.
The most common method of delivery for the
teaching of ethics is via a research methods module.
Some training appears to be very thorough, whilst
other training appears to be rather minimal.
PsyPAG survey - Postgraduate experience
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At postgraduate level ethical training appears to be much
more consistent amongst those on clinical courses when
compared to PhD and masters courses.

BPS Code well covered, HPC code much less so.
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Some training very focused on the process of gaining
ethical approval perhaps at the cost of a more in depth
discussion of the purpose of ethics.
Conclusions
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The two surveys give a similar picture and provide
some confirmation of the findings
Survey indicates wide variation in ethics teaching
and the exposure students get to this area of
knowledge
Plan to have core curriculum derived from good
practice examples with material posted on the BPS
website, together with published guidance in due
course.
But…
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Teaching is not the same as learning.
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So how to assess ethical competence?
Psychology of moral development
Piaget and Kohlberg
Evidence-based ethics
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The patient
The ethical dilemma –
questions, food for thought
Medicine
Law
The ethics
The formulation
Afterthoughts
References and further
reading
Ethical competency assessment
•
There appears to be no consistent approach to ethical
competence assessment in psychology training
•
Illingworth 2009 Guidance on assessment within
Applied/Professional Ethics
•
http://www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/pdf.html/prsdocuments/104
•
http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/ethics/index.html
Illingworth 2009 Guidance on assessment within
Applied/Professional Ethics
The conclusion to this guide to assessment within applied and
professional ethics is that there is at present, no reliable conclusion
to be drawn regarding the best way to assess ethics learning and
teaching. However, there are many tests available, particularly in
respect of the measurement of moral reasoning capacity.What
should one assess, and how should one assess it? Neither question
has an easy answer, but it is vital that those concerned with ethics
learning and teaching, particularly as it concerns professional ethics,
continue to debate and develop this vital if contested area.
•
http://www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/pdf.html/prsdocuments/104
Assessing Ethical Competencies - George Lind Moral
Judgment Test
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Given a series of dilemmas
Asked to rate reasons for persons actions
Scored on the degree to which it corresponds with
developed ethical understanding.
Studies cross culturally, and with large number of
students. Been in use for 30 years. Translated into
35 languages. Has good psychometric properties
and defensible evidence-base.
Four Component Model
James Rest 1982 A Psychologist Looks at the
Teaching of Ethics The Hastings Center Report,
Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1982), pp. 29-36
•
•
•
•
•
Ethical Sensitivity
Ethical Reasoning
Ethical Motivation
Ethical Implementation
Developed the Defining Issues Test
Psychology and Ethical Competence
National competency frameworks developed - Professors Tony
Roth and Stephen Pilling

Ethical competencies particularly developed in the
Children Competency framework which is publically
available on http://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinicalpsychology/CORE/child-adolescent.php.
Tony Roth
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Competencies
Examples of competence areas
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legal responsibility
professional standards of behaviour
maintaining competence
harassment
dual relationships
Group work – four components
Ethical sensitivity
Ethical reasoning
Ethical motivation
Ethical implementation
1.
2.
3.
What teaching could be delivered relevant to
this component?
What are the relevant competencies?
How might you go about assessing these
competencies?
Ethical Sensitivity
Component I:
the Situation. This involves Interpreting the
perception that something one might do or is doing
can affect the welfare of someone else either
directly or indirectly (by violating a general practice
or commonly held social standard).
From Rest 1982
Ethical Reasoning
Component II:
Formulating the Morally Ideal Course of
Action. In seeking the morally ideal course of action, the
person tries to integrate the various considerations person A's needs, person B's needs, personal needs,
expectations founded on previous promises or roles or
instituted practices, and so on-insofar as they influence
the alternative courses of action available in a particular
situation.
From Rest 1982
Ethical Motivation
Component III:
Deciding What one actually intends to do. Simply
because the morally ideal course of action has
been defined does not mean that the person will
choose to follow it. From Rest 1982
Ethical Implementation
Component IV
Executing and implementing a plan of action,
involves figuring out the sequence of concrete
actions, working around impediments
and unexpected difficulties, overcoming fatigue
and frustration, resisting distractions and other
allurements, and keeping sight of the eventual
goal. From Rest 1982
Thank you for listening
a.w.wainwright@exeter.ac.uk
t.roth@ucl.ac.uk