UVSSPUK026 Ethics in social work and public administration

Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Summer 2026
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Andrea Preissová Krejčí, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Petr Slováček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Petr Slováček, Ph.D.
Institute of Public Administration and Social Policy – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Contact Person: Ing. Lucie Kamrádová, Ph.D.
Timetable
Fri 20. 2. 11:25–13:50 C310, 13:55–16:20 C401, Fri 20. 3. 13:55–17:10 C206
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is: a) to equip students with the basic conceptual tools of ethics as a philosophical discipline; b) to problematize the uncritical approach to ethics by introducing them to ways of justifying value judgments; c) to make students more sensitive to ethical issues; d) to apply the ethical perspective thus founded to the professional fields of social work and public administration through the relevant codes of ethics.
Learning outcomes
The student understands what ethics, morality, moral pre-understanding are. The student understands the issues related to the special logical-semantic status of value judgments, on this basis the student understands the relatively broad issues of justification of value judgments. The student also knows the basic ethically relevant documents of social work and public administration, understands specifically professional values ​​and knows what sources they are based on and what is the difference between professional and personal ethics. 
Syllabus
1. Basic definition of ethics, origin of ethical thinking, relationship of ethics to philosophy and tradition; nature of ethical norms; division of ethics 2. Basic concepts of ethics and their relationships  moral pre-understanding and its categories (good/evil), moral evaluation, conscience, voluntariness, responsibility, justice, human value, autonomy, values, virtues, dilemmas, etc. 3. Ethics and Religious Studies - Judaism and Christianity as indispensable sources of European ethical thought 4. Basic ethical concepts I - ancient and medieval concepts: virtue ethics, hedonism, natural law 5. Basic ethical concepts II - modern and modern concepts: social contract, utilitarianism, ethics of justice, ethics of duty 6. Basic ethical concepts III - intuitionism, emotivism, decisionism, positive law 7. Professional ethics - development, motivation and sources of professional ethics 8. Ethics in social work and public administration - specifics of ethics in social work in the space given by the client, environment and social worker, ethics of care; specifics of ethics in public administration 9. Codes of ethics in social work - the importance and development of codes of ethics in history. Code of Ethics for Social Workers in the Czech Republic 10. Code of Ethics in Public Administration  Code of Ethics for Public Administration Workers 10. Specific Values ​​of Professional Ethics – Freedom, Equality, Impartiality, Professionalism, etc. 11. The Individual, His/Her Autonomy and Dignity  The Dimension of Partnership in Social Work 12. Human Rights Context of Social Work and Public Administration  The Concept of Human Rights as the Most General Basis of Codes of Ethics. 
Literature
    required literature
  • PREISSOVÁ KREJČÍ, Andrea, Průvodce studiem k předmětu Etika v sociální práci a veřejné správě, Opava 2025.
  • ANZENBACHER, A. Úvod do etiky. Praha: Academia, 2001. ISBN 80-200-0917-5. info
  • BOHATÁ, Marie a kol. Etika a integrita veřejné správy. Praha: Grada, 2021. ISBN 978-80-271-3311-6.
  • CIMRMANNOVÁ, Tereza. Sociální etika. UK. Studijní text. On-line. Praha: Univerzita Karlova.
  • JANKOVSKÝ, J. Etika pro pomáhající profese. Praha: Triton, 2003. ISBN 80-7254-329-6. info
    recommended literature
  • KLIMSZA, Lucjan. Úvod do etiky, historický vývoj etiky. OSU, Ostrava 2013. Studijní opora. On-line. ISBN 978-80-7464-464-1.
  • HLAVINKA, Pavel. Dobro a ctnost pohledem etických a náboženských koncepcí. Praha: Triton, 2014.
  • KOLEKTIV AUTORŮ. Etický kodex sociálních pracovníků a členů Profesního svazu sociálních pracovníků v sociálních službách APSS ČR. Řídící rada Profesního svazu soc. pracovníků v soc. službách APSS ČR, 2017.
  • MÁTEL, Andrej and Andrea PREISSOVÁ KREJČÍ. Respect for Diversity and Multiculturalism in the Historical Transformations of Social Work Professional Ethics. Caritas et veritas. 2024, vol. 14, No 2, p. 16-33. ISSN 1805-0948. Available from: https://doi.org/10.32725/cetv.2024.017. URL info
Teaching methods
Lecture and seminar.
Assessment methods
The prerequisite for awarding credit is the preparation of a seminar paper of 4 pages on a selected topic reflecting the focus of the course.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2023, Winter 2023, Summer 2024, Winter 2024, Summer 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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