Equality, Diversity, Ethics and Management in Social Work Education

This paper is about ethical practice in higher educational organisations with special reference to equality, diversity, and social work education and values. It examines the practices of mainstreaming and managing diversity in higher education and argues that social work academics need to consider carefully the ethics of their own behaviour in relation to equality and diversity issues in view of changing organisational practices, and because of the pedagogical implications in social work, where ethical and value issues are of central importance. The paper is case study based on the experience of the authors who have both been involved in developing equal opportunity policies in higher education for well over a decade. The aim of the paper is to consider how academics engage in ethical practice within their own organisations. The occasion for the development of this paper was a national conference on equality and diversity in higher education, which included a presentation by one of the present authors. The latter has contributed to this paper her expertise on equality and diversity issues in the business and management of organisations, whilst the former has contributed his knowledge of social work values and ethics.