MORAL DEVELOPMENT OR MORAL DECLINE - A DISCUSSION OF ETHICS EDUCATIONFOR THE HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONS

Ethics education curricula in professional programmes are often confus ed and ineffective. They focus on traditional conceptions of professio nal ethics as rules supplementary, to the law, and, it is claimed, con tribute to tension and conflict in professional relationships, particu larly with authority. This paper presents, first, a contemporary conce ption of the relationship between law and ethics that reinstates moral ity as a core component; it informs professional ethics and together t hey contribute to the law. Second, the paper describes the educational philosophy of two programmes in rehabilitation science where the ethi cs education component is being analyzed. Finally, research, that is c urrently under way, is described which will demonstrate the different effects of traditional and enhanced ethics education effort upon the m oral reasoning processes that students use in reaching moral judgments .