MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction

In November the ETHICS (Ethics Teaching Highlighted in Contextualised Surroundings) Project offered twinned workshops. The first was held at Birkbeck College, London on 12th November, and the second at King's Manor, York on 26th November. Together they attracted a total of 47 delegates.

Each day was structured around short presentations followed by facilitated small group discussion and had two main themes, the first of which focussed on the interdisciplinarity of professional ethics learning and teaching. While events bringing together ethicists from related fields such as healthcare or bioscience are not uncommon, the ETHICS Project's inclusion of six subject centres , between them serving the needs of at least 56 separate disciplines, give it a much wider base on which to draw.

Many delegates expressed an appreciation of the opportunity to meet ethics teachers from a wide range of disciplines and it was instructive to note how many areas of common interest and concern were identified.

The second theme reflected the direct and immediate relationship between the teaching of Professional ethics in Higher Education and its application in real life situations. The workshops juxtaposed presentations on learning and teaching initiatives with contributions from those involved with Research Ethics Committees and Clinical Ethics Committees to present a broad perspective on the challenges facing those charged with the task of helping students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to function within the rapidly evolving moral framework of professional working practice.

Both days were productive in terms of networking and interdisciplinary collaboration. The presentations were well received, stimulating lots of lively discussion. A hardcopy guide, based on the issues and concerns identified at the workshops will be available in the spring of 2004.