Giving Voice to Values Ethics Education Legal Educators

Abstract

Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is basically a tool kit for people to feel empowered to have difficult conversations when their ethics, values, or something wrong is being urged. This is very pertinent for any profession (e.g. lawyers nurses) when a course of action might risk error, breach of ethics and responsibilities, regulations or patient/client harm. My colleague at ANU, Viv Holmes, was one of the first to adapt Mary Gentile (the pioneering architect of GVV – see resources section) into a legal context.

I, Viv, Anneka Ferguson and Pamela Taylor- Barnett have consistently taught it in the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice using Gentile’s tools for seven years at ANU. I have, in recent years also been using it in the professional development of lawyers and more recently for nurses and nursing students.This seminar was for legal educators across the UK. It explains Giving Voice to Values and why it helps to do it? It makes the connection between it and good, safe practice and mental well being and improved organizational responses. It discusses the Approach & Methodology, the Tools and some outcomes. It also flags some higher education and professional development training work I have been doing where I have been adapting GVV in different disciplines and contexts and my desire to evaluate it to build an empirical foundation for it. Show more