Facilitating reflection on social robots in care: ethics and pedagogy

This article explores the ethical implications and pedagogical approaches for integrating social robots into social care. With the increasing prevalence of social robots in care contexts, it is essential for social professionals to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the ethical challenges these technologies present. The article begins by outlining various types of social robots used in professional care settings and the ethical concerns associated with them, such as issues of competence, safety, data privacy and the potential dehumanisation of care. It then explores the nature of professional learning and identity formation in the social professions, highlighting the importance of context-sensitive, action-guiding knowledge. Various pedagogical strategies for teaching ethics are reviewed, including theoretical ethics instruction, principle-based teaching and case studies, with an emphasis on fostering critical ethical reflection. The article concludes by proposing a comprehensive, six-component process for training social professionals to manage the ethical challenges posed by social robots, focusing on factual understanding, conceptual clarity, experiential learning, perspective-taking, reflective practice and the application of learning to professional contexts. This approach aims to equip social professionals with the capacity for critical, informed ethical decision-making in an evolving technological landscape.