Expert Group for Ethics and Social Work

The DGSA’s Expert Group for Ethics and Social Work serves as a forum for discussing the normative foundations and professional ethical issues associated with social work. It examines current ethical questions in the social work context and fosters constructive critical reflection on international professional codes of ethics. In addition, the group seeks to establish a methodology for implementing ethical discourses in professional social practice. Thus, for example, the expert group helped develop the DGSA’s Code of Research Ethics. Ultimately, the group is concerned with how the normative aspects of social professions become the object of practice-based development research processes and how social work ethics can help shape the discipline of social work. The expert group also regularly engages with ethics pedagogy. You can find publications by our members and reports on the expert group’s work on the DGSA homepage. The expert group focuses on specific topics and fosters discussion of the issues that are presented. It meets twice a year for a full day at different locations in Germany; during the pandemic, the conferences have taken place online. All interested social work professionals, teachers and researchers are welcome to take part.