“‘Why? Why? Why?’ is the question of the course”: Master’s of Public Administration students’ perspectives on their learning in a standalone ethics course and the implications for ethics education throughout the curriculum
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01447394231204697 |
| Author | Stefan A Perun |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Teaching Public Administration
2024, Vol. 42(3) 289–307
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/01447394231204697
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“‘Why? Why? Why?’is the
question of the course”:
Master’s of Public
Administration students’
perspectives on their learning in
a standalone ethics course and
the implications for ethics
education throughout the
curriculum
Stefan A Perun
Villanova University, USA
Abstract
This paper reported the findings from 18 qualitative interviews of students across two
sections of an elective, standalone ethics course in a Network of Schools of Public Policy,
Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) accredited Master’s of Public Administration
(MPA) program at a northeast university. The findings suggested that a survey of nor-
mative ethical theories and opportunities to practice applying those theories to case
studies in public administration led students to uncover the values upon which they stood
and consider the strengths and deficiencies of those values in practice. Students generally
described the value of this learning experience as developing the ability to identify and
systematically consider the reason and logic of their ethical perspectives, consider al-
ternatives presented by others, and take a principled stance. Implications of these findings
for embedding ethics education across the curriculum in NASPAA accredited programs
was considered.
Corresponding author:
Stefan A. Perun, Villanova Institute for Teaching and Learning, Villanova University, 106 Vasey Hall, 800
Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA.
Email: stefan.perun@villanova.edu
Keywords
Teaching ethics, ethics education, ethical competence, network of schools of public
policy, affairs and administration guidelines, Master’s of Public Administration curriculum
development, public service values
There is general agreement among scholars that ethical behavior can be learned and the
available evidence suggests that formal ethics education prepares students to exercise
ethical behavior in practice (Jurkiewicz, 2002;Jurkiewicz and Nichols, 2002;Kennedy
and Malatesta, 2010;Menzel, 1998;Perun, 2020;Peters and Filipova, 2009;Svara, 2015).
Accordingly, faculty in Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) programs bear a re-
sponsibility to teach public administrators the knowledge and practice of ethics, as well as
how to integrate the two (Jacobs, 2015). Inculcating ethical competence requires inspiring
commitment, imparting knowledge of codes, laws, theory, and teaching ethical reasoning
skills (Menzel, 2010), as well as a teaching students a “design approach”to use their
knowledge and skills to resolve ethical dilemmas (Cooper, 2012). Further, there seems to
be consensus that achieving these pedagogical aims requires integrating the principles of
normative ethical theories and relevant professional standards (e.g., Cooper and Menzel,
2013;Jacobs, 2013;Svara, 2015) in the application of case study deliberations (e.g.,
Jacobs, 2013;Jurkiewicz, 2013;Matchett, 2009;Menzel, 2009).
However, the NASPAA accreditation standards do not necessarily compel curricula
that explicitly achieves what the literature has demonstrated. Rather, the standards rely
upon the notion of public service values as opaque guiding principles for the development
of ethical competence in graduate students (King et al., 2021;Svara and Baizhanov,
2019). Indeed, according to the NASPAA Standards (Network of Schools of Public
Policy, Affairs and Administration [NASPAA], 2019)a“requirement”for ethics edu-
cation is only implied through precondition number two for accreditation, which states
that programs emphasize in all aspects of an accredited program Public Service Values,
including, but not limited to “acting ethically so as to uphold the public trust”(p. 2).
Moreover, the competencies graduates in an accredited program are to achieve as ar-
ticulated in the five domains of student learning do not include ethical competence per se,
rather ethical competence is implied vis-`
a-vis precondition number two, in domain 1, “to
lead and manage in the public interest”and in domain 4, “to articulate, apply, and advance
a public service perspective”(pp. 7, 8). The only explicit mention of something like
ethical competence is in the rationale for Standard 5 wherein it states that “Graduate
students should reflect upon the social and ethical responsibilities and the equity im-
plications linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments”(p. 8).
This all leaves considerable ambiguity about how, as a professional field of study,
faculty are expected to inculcate ethical competence in their graduate students. An
analysis of course offerings across accredited programs reflects the same. Jurkiewicz
(2013) reported that NASPAA accredited MPA programs offering a standalone ethics
course increased from 23% in 1981 to 74% by her analysis of curricula in 2011. (Of note,
in 2010, Brudney and Martinez’s (2010) survey of graduate programs across nonprofit
290 Teaching Public Administration 42(3)
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