Social Work Practice Framework

The NASW Code of Ethics is the guideline for social workers in regards to professional conduct and practice. The Code of Ethics is divided into four parts: “The Preamble,” “Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics,” “Ethical Principles,” and “Ethical Standards.” These sections educate social workers on what their mission is, and how they complete that mission with true morality. Within the Code, there are six values presented which are also used in regards to helping and practicing with clients honorably. These six values are: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These six values are the principles that drive social work practice, and are used by social workers everyday.

There are three political ideologies that are addressed by Cullen and Gilbert (2012). The first one is the conservative ideology. Conservatives place their main emphasis on traditional values, and tend to have issues when someone tries to change tradition. According to conservatives, maintaining social order is an important way to protect society as a whole. Individuals are on their own when it comes to the ideology of conservatives. They have the assumption that individuals are responsible for their own actions, good or bad. Conservatives will protect innocent citizens, but will focus on the punishment of guilty one rather than rehabilitation.

Social work is a profession which has the objective to improve the quality of life of other individuals. The NASW code of ethics is used as a guideline for social workers and the interaction they have with their clients. In addition, within the code of ethics, there are six values, which include service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Therefore, going into the social work field it is important to understand that your

Social work takes its values from various sources, including – Kantian, Utilitarian, Common Morality and Professional Codes of Conduct. Both the Kantian and Utilitarian theories cannot provide social work practice with a complete set of values and ethics. Both the theories have their limitation and strengths. Kant saw the world in black and white, even if a lie could prevent a greater evil the act of lying is fundamentally wrong. Utilitarian theory justifies actions by the end justifying the means. Social work concerns “respect for the person”, this idea originates from Kant, an eighteenth century German philosopher. Beauchamp (1996) defines the principle as a fundamental standard of conduct on which many other standards and judgements depend, a principle that provides an essential norm in a system of thought or belief. Common morality is the idea that all humans have an inbuilt awareness of certain moral norms e.g. murder is wrong, stopping a child running into the road is right. Western philosophy has been debating ethics and morality for thousands of years and still has not formalised a definition for them, so how can anyone truly understand? Furthermore, if the greatest philosophers throughout history have been debating ethics and morality, how can the common man truly understand it?

“Ideology is a cluster of ideas about life, society or government, which originates, in most cases, as consciously advocated dogmatically asserted social, political or religious slogans or battle-cries and which through continuous usage and preaching’s gradually become the

A career in Social Work requires conviction to personal values that reflect and uphold the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Professional ethics are the foundation of social work, as the trade has an innate obligation to endorse ethical principles and basic values to advocate for the wellness of others. The core values adopted by all social workers, as distinguished by NASW, are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. As a Clinical Social Worker, I will honor the NASW Code of Ethics in addition to my personal values of respect, self determination, responsibility, motivation, and wisdom. My personal values complement the NASW Code of Ethics and will resonate in my work as a social worker.

It is part of the human condition to have a tendency of going through drastic measures to obtain an ideology that has been accepted as a “natural fact.” Through Anthem, Ayn Rand warned of the dangers of blindly and unquestionably following an ideology; the dangers to society that loyalty to a belief system pose are strict limitations on personal comforts, lack of individualism, and the formation of an irrational government.

Social work is a very unique profession. The other professions that are in the same realm as social work are very specialized, however, social workers must have a broad range of knowledge in order to help their clients. This is where multiple agencies come together to make sure professionals are properly trained and knowledgeable. In the field of social work, ethics and values are the key principles that provide the basis for the mission. It is these principles that guide the decisions and actions of everyone in the profession. Without a clear set of guiding principles, social work professionals could do more harm than good. This profession sees people during highly emotional times in their lives, and that can be extremely challenging. The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics not only sets the standards, but also guides a social worker through dealing with ethical dilemmas. As we evolve as a society, so have the guiding principles and values for the social work profession.

My understanding of the social work profession and its core values is that social workers are caregivers, they provide assistance to people in need, and they address social problems. The social worker goal is the improvement of society to ameliorate the lives of individuals in need. The social work profession mission is to enhance the well-being of people and to assist them in meeting their basic needs, with particular emphasis on the needs of the poor, and the vulnerable individual. The Social Work profession has six core values. These core values are the foundation of the social work profession. The social worker incorporates these core values into his daily practices. Service to others is one of the fundamental values of social work. Social workers goal is serving others and putting the needs of their clients ahead of their own. Social justice is another core value of social work. Social workers aim at improving the lives of the disadvantaged, vulnerable people who are less fortunate or unable to advocate for themselves. Social workers understand the essential value of every human life, regardless of ethnic background, cultural differences or religious beliefs. Their goal is to respect the dignity and worth of every person. Another key value of social work is integrity. The social workers conduct themselves in a trustworthy, honest, and responsible manner at all times. Competence is another important core value of the social work profession. The

In my research, the information suggests that there is a strong associating with biological and psychological theories can be argued that the ideology can connect some sociological and economic theories. The review of the theories provided a wide range of possible leading variables, methodologies, ideologies that could be argued as political. Furthermore, political theories can be categorized as the political ideology for political

The social work profession is based off of six core values, which are the foundation of social work’s mission. Each of these values has been utilized by past and present social workers. The six core values are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. Each of these core values also has ethical principles associated with them. These ethical principles help set the ideals, which social workers should strive to reach.

Major life events may also affect a person’s political ideology such as marriage, children, loss of loved one, and war. Military service can be a major factor in a person’s ideology such as belief in fighting a war or becoming an isolationist.

One of the core values of social work is dignity and worth of a person. As social workers we have to be able to treat each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity. Therefore, values include knowledge and appreciation of your own worldview, cultures, and beliefs systems. Diversity is a source of empowerment that allows people to establish their own self determination.

Social workers should aspire to work on values of social justice, dignity and relationships. Worth of the person must always be looked at with integrity and competence for all service users (BASW 2012)

An ideology can be defined as having a set belief of ideas and ideals with regards to how the world operates. Having a strong ideology is beneficial in multiple ways; with an ideology, one has a vision for how they think life should be. Because of this, one could assume that if a person has an ideology, then they automatically have a sense of purpose. There is little to no no evidence to support this assumption, in fact, the opposite is often true. The search for a purpose is often hindered by one’s own ideologies; if one wishes to truly obtain a sense of purpose, then they must open their mind to the possibility that their ideology and way of life may be flawed. If one is unwilling to learn outside of their own ideology, then they will forever be trapped in a constant search for purpose. Examples of this can be found in The Stranger by Albert Camus, Ellison’s Invisible Man, Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, and in modern politics.