Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive analysis how ACAP student code of conduct and how the underlying principles are reflected in professional codes of ethics within the discipline. Specifically, the paper compares the ACAP Student Code of Conduct with ACA Code of Ethics and Practice. The rationale is to determine how the student codes of conduct are applicable in the counselling profession once the students graduate and enter into practice in Australia. A reflective statement will help determine and define the role, strengths, and limitations of the codes (Mo & Shi, 2017). In addition, it will help define the relationship between personal and professional values to ethical living and learning. Moreover, a reflective statement will describe the future for developing and applying ethical codes to both study and work.
Comparison between ACAP Student Code of Conduct and ACA Code of Ethics and Practice
The purpose of the ACAP Student Code of Conduct (ACAP) is to create a safe and supportive environment with the ability to empower, encourage, and promote the professional and personal development of students of psychology. The student code of conduct was developed with the aim of establishing the standards expected of all students in college (ACAP, 2016). In this view, it is expected that all students will always conduct themselves in a manner that reflects and is consistent with the outlined codes (Mo & Shi, 2017). Moreover, the code provides the principles that guide the students’ behaviors and responsibilities as well as the standards of conduct and ethical standards that should guide the learners.
On its part, the purpose of ACA is to provide an industry-based association for all those engaged in counsellor practice and education. In addition, the code helps to monitor, maintain, set, and improve the professional standards in both counsellor practice and education. Third, ACA seeks to provide for the registration of all the members (Byars & Stanberry, 2018). In addition, ACA seeks to liaise with the government to ensure that the members and the public in general benefit from the profession.
It is worth noting that while ACAP code of conduct for students has a scope that applies to all ACAP students, ACA code of ethics applies to all those involved in the counselling profession and education (Saygili & Öztürkoğlu, 2017). Furthermore, ACAP outlines both code of practice and code of ethics that all members involved in counsellor education and practice must follow, unlike ACA that only outlines students’ code of conduct.
The issue of responsibility is an important aspect that applies to people involved in counselor education and practice. In both ACAP (2016) and ACA (2017) codes, the issues of responsibility are provided in details. In ACA, there are five important issues of responsibility provided for the counsellors. First, all counsellors must have a duty of care and responsibility to avoid misleading, misguiding, and misdirecting their clients as to the practitioners level of competence, qualifications, or experience (Mo & Shi, 2017). Failure to take this responsibility results in a serious breach of ethics because it is likely to increase the risk of harm to the clients as well as causing damages to the credibility of the profession (ACAP, 2016). Second, all counsellors must take the responsibility of keeping the records of their clients secure and safe. Third, they are supposed to take responsibility for clinical and therapeutically decisions when working with their clients.
Fourth, all counsellors are required to take responsibilities to associated parties, including all individuals or organizations other than the clients. These parties include client’s relatives, employees, employers, friends, guardians, and care givers, other professionals and experts, and representatives from organizations and communities (Tehranineshat et al., 2020). Finally, the counselor-client relationship is considered the most important and prioritized ethical concern, which requires the counsellors to consider other sources of ethical responsibility. ACA (2017) provides a list of responsibilities that the counsellors have to their clients. These responsibilities include the safety of the clients, client’s self-determination, responsibilities to other counsellors, breaks and endings, responsibility to colleagues, resolution of conflicts, and responsibility to the wider community law.
In contrast, the issues of responsibilities in the ACAP code of conduct is quite narrow as it focuses on the student behavior. In this case, the responsibilities of students include maintaining a safe, tolerant, and harmonious environment as they are members of the college community (Mo & Shi, 2017). In addition, the students are expected to acquaint themselves and comply with the rules established by the college, act in accordance with the Code, ensure current personal details, and read the relevant correspondence received from ACAP.
In both codes, the conduct and practice expected of the specific members are provided and which everyone is expected to follow strictly. On its part, ACAP code of conduct provides a list of conducts expected of the students in the school and those expected of them in academic matters. The ‘Conduct Expected of Students’ is a list that provides the actions that students must take (or avoid) when interacting with other members of the college. These include dignity, courtesy, respect, sensitivity, and others (ACAP, 2016). These acts include the behaviors that students should adopt or avoid when in school or interacting with other members of the college community. The rationale is to ensure that there is a state of harmony, tolerance, and safety.
Similarly, the ACA code of Ethics and Practice provides a list of conducts expected of the counsellors and those involved in counsellor education. There is a section that outlines the ant-discriminatory practices that members should follow, which include client respect, client autonomy, and counsellor awareness (Saygili & Öztürkoğlu, 2017). In addition, confidentiality is a priority in the code and seeks to improve the relationship between the practitioner and the client in regards to the privacy and safety of their information.
In establishing the ACAP Code of Conduct for Students, there is an emphasis on the ethical standards that apply and which form the basis for the listed behaviors. In this case, the ACAP states that the ethical standards from which the codes are derived include PACFA, ACA, TASA, APS, AASW, and those from other organizations. On the contrary, ACA does not have this section since it applies to those working as professional counsellors only. Instead, ACA code outlines the specific groups, individuals, areas, and organizations with which the counsellors should use the codes. In this case, counsellors should use the ACA codes when dealing with business, career, couples, family, group, grief and loss, school, Universities, individuals, and employment.
It is also worth noting that the ACA Code provides the consequences of non-compliance. Specifically, it states that students who fail to act in accordance with the Code will face disciplinary action according with the policies that relate to both academic and non-academic misconduct (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2016). On the contrary, the ACA Code does not have this section and there is nothing mentioned about the consequences of breaching the codes.
Reflective Statement
A code of ethics is an important aspect of any organization or society because it helps to guide the members to exist in a safe, harmonious, and just environment. By definition, a code of ethics is a guide of principles that help members to conduct business or live with honesty and integrity. It is the role of the code of ethics to outline the values and mission of an organization and how professionals or members should approach problems. It is important to note that the codes of ethics outline the ethical principles based on the core values of the organization or group and the standards to which the profession or society is conducted.
Based on the review of the ACA and ACAP codes, it can be concluded that the roles of such codes is to set out the ethical guidelines as well as best practices to follow as a means of achieving integrity, honesty, and professionalism. For members of a given group or organization, violating the code of ethics or conduct has consequences such as sanctions and punishments (Mo & Shi, 2017). Moreover, in some institutions or groups such as schools, colleges, and industries, codes of ethics and conduct act as specific laws that government the entire organization.
In addition, the review of the codes can motivate one to examine further the need and strengths of such documents for an organization or group. In this case, a background research of this topic shows that codes of conduct, when applied and implemented in an organization or group, have a number of strengths or advantages (Ikonen et al., 2017). For example, good ethics helps improve performance. Regardless of the type of business process or purpose, all organizations have ambitions or objectives. When rules and regulations are established and flowed, members behave in the expected manner. Consequently, each member is able to achieve the expected goals, which also means that the organization itself achieves its objectives (Kvalnes, 2019). Secondly, codes of conduct or ethics ensure that every member adheres to same rules. This means that every member works from the same playbook, which ensures that the overall mission of the organization is achievable.
Third, codes of ethics improve workplace culture for both organizations and groups. In this view, a policy of ethical compliance creates a workplace culture that ensures respect for all members. In such an environment, all members have an equal access to opportunities and the workplace turns to be a positive and a nurturing environment. In essence, ethics policies ensure that members feel satisfied in their place of work and the manner in which they conduct their duties (Mo & Shi, 2017). In addition, the ethics ensures that there is a string working relationship between members as well as their leaders. In organizations, turnover of employees or members of groups is reduced and productivity is likely to improve.
However, codes of ethics are not always as expected because they also have some limitations. For instance, an ethical compliance program requires implementation that also needs a comprehensive support management. In essence, an effective ethical compliance program requires a comprehensive management support, which is often a problem in many organizations and groups (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). If members of the management or leadership apply personal versions of ethics to their manner of management, there will be a clash of principles that confuse the workplace and cause chaos. In the same way, codes have a limitation associated with cost (Mo & Shi, 2017). The process of development, implementation, and maintenance of ethical programs within a group or organization tends to be expensive and time-consuming. Such policies require continuous updating to ensure that they reflect the changes in organizational laws and changes in the workplace culture. In addition, such programs require additional staff such as ethical officers and the commitment of resources.
There exists a relationship between personal and professional values to ethical living and learning. Personal ethics or ethical living refers to the ethics than an individual assumes in respect to people and situations they are dealing with. On the contrary, professional ethics refers to the ethics that an individual is expected to adhere to in respect to the interactions and dealings in the workplace (Mo & Shi, 2017). While personal ethics are learned from childhood under the influence of the family, religion, and the surrounding, professional ethics are learned later in life. Examples of personal ethics include openness, sincerity, honesty, and integrity while professional ethics include time management, transparency, punctuality, and confidentiality.
Based on the definitions, it is possible to identify the relationship between professional and personal ethics. In some cases, professional and personal ethics clash and result in a moral conflict (Tehranineshat et al., 2020). For example, a security officer might believe that the law she is enforcing is wrong. However, under the country’s code of conduct, the officer is required to obey all the laws and instructions to enforce that specific law (Yarbrough, 2017). In the same way, a physician may hold the view that a medical intervention that a patient chooses is not the right one (Swisher & Royeen, 2019). Nevertheless, under the code of ethics provided by the organization monitoring his services, he is required to perform that specific medical intervention based on the concept of patient rights, autonomy, and freedom of choice.
In the same manner, however, there is a positive relationship between professional and personal ethics. Integrity, honesty, sincerity, and openness are personal ethics that must apply to most codes of conduct established by organizations and groups. For example, a person with the ethics of openness and honesty is easily able to follow codes of conduct that required him to be transparent in the workplace (Yarbrough, et al., 2017). In fact, most professional codes of conduct are designed based on the personal codes of conduct.
Conclusion
Some guidelines that act as ways forward for developing and applying ethical codes to work and study. While there is no specific way through which individuals should develop and implement ethical codes to work and study, there are some aspects that one should consider (Yarbrough, et al., 2017). First, one must root the code in core values such as honesty, integrity, and trust. Secondly, one must conduct a background study or research on the best way to establish personal codes. Third, the existing codes by organizations or associations controlling certain professions such as counselling should be prioritized (Gelmez et al., 2019). In this case, the idea is to read and understand the codes of conduct in the profession and ensure that personal codes are rooted in them. Furthermore, it is necessary to review personal and professional codes in light of changing business or professional environment.
References
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