Dear Tim,

I appreciate the questions that you raise, and will try to respond.

The Association will aim to engage with two key questions:

1 - What are the key obstacles to delivering the bespoke support promised by the DSA scheme?

2 – How can we best resolve these issues for all concerned, students and practitioners?

Some of the obstacles arise from the logic of sector practices. Certainly, these are the obstacles that are most amenable to our efforts, and we need to be in conversation with those affected (whether practitioners or students) in order to find the best way through for all concerned.

Aggressive business tactics are part of the problem that needs to be treated, so that the logic of DSA funded support is not repeatedly distorted in favour of particular business models. When this happens, the process of delivering support to students is stalled both for students and for those businesses. The work doesn’t run smoothly and profits do not rise significantly, if at all.

This is where the Ethical is Practical comes in. It is a response to those businesses who justify their (less than best) practices as being forced on them by the competition.

Such business models lack efficacy; they do not serve either their own or students’ best interests. Real wealth creation has to be underpinned by ethics, otherwise it is not sustainable. The Credit Default Swaps demonstrated this in extreme form, resulting in a collapse of the global banking system.

It will take time and care to establish the trust and the operational efficacy that is possible, but this is our challenge. Moving to a mindset that better serves what we want to achieve is also a perennial challenge for each of us.

Moderation – the site will be moderated. The aim is to be fair both to students and to practitioners alike, not to sacrifice one to injustice in order to save the other. At the moment, the system relies on students to make a complaint, and many do not feel able to do so. Mediation is a much better way to respond to issues rather than a complaints system, as the latter places students and practitioners into a false and unnecessary state of antagonism.

The terms of the blog will allow situations to be reported without naming the parties (best or worst). The star rating will be a cumulative scoring based on a survey across a range of factors. This part will take longer to bring about in any case, so we have time to consider further refinements that don’t compromise on the aim of bringing to light both best practice and problems in realising it. There are legal limits to assist us, and we can learn from both the best and worst of other rating systems. If we find that something is not working well ethically, we will change it.

Consequences: These follow whether we act or don’t. The current issues on the ground that the Association aims to formally acknowledge are, in part, a cumulative consequence of our inability to respond to infringements and breaches of ethics and best practice across the lifetime of DSA. This is not a criticism, just a statement of perspective. The sector is better placed to respond now than it was in the past. We have an accumulation of experience as well as a better infrastructure to us; with the resources that both a major funding body is investing in working with DSA-QAG and sector organisations. What has been missing is institutionalised acknowledgement that sector practices are a key obstacle to the efforts of the many dedicated practitioners and students out their who are trying to do their best. This effort cannot succeed without the participation of either.

If there is anything else that you would like to discuss, please do join us when the services go partially live, probably within a couple of weeks.

Kind regards,

Penny Georgiou