Internalization of and advocacy for social work professional ethics through microfilm: a progressive teaching reform for MSW ethics curriculum

Social work ethics is vital to social work education and professional development. However, traditional didactic teaching does not always translate to internalization of social work ethics, and few visual teaching tools measure the extent to which the students have truly internalized professional ethics. Using the perspective of action research, the present study introduced a progressive teaching reform to a Master of Social Work (MSW)-level social work ethics curriculum at a social work school in China. The progressive reform went through two action cycles. In the first cycle, a preliminary attempt, the instructor redesigned the course structure and applied student-generated microfilms as a final assignment. In the second cycle, educators from China and the United States collaborated in class to revise the course in response to issues raised in the first cycle and explore refined and more effective pathways to help MSW students internalize and advocate for professional ethics through filmmaking. The present study examined successes and failures throughout the reform process, providing practical lessons and evidence for social work educators interested in adopting filmmaking as an experiential teaching tool in MSW educational practices.