How social educators manage conficts of values

This article sets out the results of a research study into how social educators deal with the conflicts of values they experience in their professional practice. We begin by describing the main characteristics of the social educator's activity, and go on to present the data, of note among which is the fact that value conflicts or dilemmas arising in professional practice tend to be addressed as if they were a private matter. Finally, we propose a number of alternative approaches by means of which this process of conflict resolution could be undertaken more openly with a view to ensuring greater well-being for professional staff and fairer decisionmaking for clients.