Ethical and cultural competence of social- and health care educators from educational institutions - Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The international mobility has increased cultural diversity in social- and health care. As such, ethical and cultural competence is an essential skill among educators. They are promoting the ethical and cultural competence and professional growth of students with diverse backgrounds and, therefore, must be ethically and culturally competent.

Aim: The aim of the study was to identify distinct ethical and cultural competence profiles of social- and health care educators and explore the associated factors.

Research design: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used to collect quantitative observational data in 2020-2021. Competence profiles were identified by K-means clustering based on answers to an instrument focussing on educators' ethical and cultural competence.

Participants and research context: Participants (N = 1179, n = 243) were social- and health care educators based at 10 universities of applied sciences and 10 vocational colleges in Finland.

Ethical considerations: The research adhered to good scientific practice. A research permit was received from each educational institution that participated in the study. The privacy of the participants was protected throughout the study.

Results: The analysis identified three profiles of educators (A, B, C) based on self-assessed ethical and cultural competence. Profile A educators demonstrated high scores across all three competence areas. Profile B educators had high scores for ethical knowledge and intermediate scores for other competence areas. Profile C educators demonstrated intermediate scores across all three competence areas. An educator's pedagogical education was found to significantly influence which profile they belonged to.

Conclusions: The educators generally evaluated their ethical and cultural competence highly. Educators understand the importance of professional ethics in their work, but they need additional support in developing ethics skills in their daily work. Among all educators, there is a need for developing international and culturally diverse collaboration.

Keywords: cultural competence; cultural diversity; education; educator; ethical competence; social- and health care; student.