Conclusions

In the preceding chapters I have discussed a range of theoretical perspectives on medical ethics education. However this has not been offered as a singular ‘grand ‘theory’ of medical ethics education but, rather, it amounts to a number of overlapping and interlinked theoretical lenses that can be used to illuminate the subject from a number of directions. I have given shape to the topic through two chapters focused on the history of medical ethics education in the UK. In these I focused on how the development of medical ethics education relates to changes that were contemporaneously occurring within medical education itself. This included the (global) development of the reflective paradigm as a signature pedagogy of medical and professional education (Shulman 2005) as well as the introduction ‘outsiders’ (or ‘insider-outsiders’) to UK medical education. Just as these have became embedded within medical culture so has the practice of medical ethics. This has modulated the critical function of medical ethics, a fact that is indicative of its success.