Learning from Real-World Ethical Dilemmas A Teaching and Learning Framework for Applied Ethics in Social Work Education

This document sets out a complete, ready-to-use teaching and learning framework for applied ethics education in social work, developed and taught across two cohorts of MSW students at Maynooth University. The framework is built around a seven-week, scaffolded, experiential structure: students identify a real ethical dilemma from their own practice placement, work through it in a small group using a consistent structured template, and present their finished analysis to a wider student audience, alongside an individual, four-lens Weekly Reflection Journal completed progressively across the module. The framework is grounded in Universal Design for Learning principles, constructivist pedagogy, and Fook and Gardner’s (2007) model of critical reflection, and is designed to build and assess professional competence directly, self-directed learning, structured small-group collaboration under real disagreement, and sustained individual reflection, rather than through a single essay or exam. This document includes the full weekly teaching plan, in-class exercise scaffold, reflection journal structure, assessment rubrics, and a complete foundational reference appendix, and is offered for other social work educators to use, adapt, and build upon in their own teaching contexts.