Ethics
Anonymity/confidentiality
Above all other ethical aspects of this assignment, perhaps, is the need to ensure that you do not provide any identifying information regarding the pupils you work with during the second half of the module – including using their photographs on the site – as it can be viewed by the public.
Students in 2016 did use photographs they took during these sessions, but were careful only to include back-of-head shots, etc. Similarly, you can make use of software tools to blur any identifying information in images or videos – see for example, how to do this with a YouTube video:
Professional codes of conduct.
Of course, if you are a member of a professional body such as the Health and Care Professions Council or the General Teaching Council for England, there is a mandatory requirement for you to follow a clear Code of Conduct for your profession. Such codes may serve as a useful checklist when evaluating your group’s recommendations on your collaborative web-space.
The ethics of nature-assisted practice
There is currently no regulatory body to set standards for the training, conduct and performance of STH practitioners in the way that the Health Professions Council does for occupational therapists. Neither is there a national organisation to represent and lobby on behalf of
STH practitioners, nor a national forum for them to discuss the future of their movement. The question of whether STH would benefit from professionalisation such as this is becoming pivotal to its development, and has been the focus of discussion at Thrive and Horticulture for All
conferences during the past decade.
Despite the establishment of the Association of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture Practitioners in 2012, little progress has yet been made in addressing the issues raised by Fieldhouse & Sempik in the quote above. Certainly, no formal code of practice has been developed for STH practitioners in the UK, such as those developed by the American Horticultural Therapy Association (or even the shorter code proposed by the Canadian HTA) and it unlikely that such will follow unless STH attains full professional status.
Similarly, although the AEE Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group have produced a series of ethical guidelines for use in adventure learning and therapy, these raise a number of additional issues and considerations with regard to best practice (please click here for further details). You are likely to find it useful to reflect on such issues when preparing your site and recommending how your intervention should be employed.