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Experienced Social workers

Values and Ethics

Apply social work ethical principles and values to guide professional practice.

Social workers have an obligation to conduct themselves ethically and to engage in ethical decision-making, including through partnership with people who use their services. Social workers are knowledgeable about the value base of their profession, its ethical standards and relevant law.

Practitioners at this level should:

  • Demonstrate confident and critical application of professional ethical principles to decision-making and practice, supporting others to do so using a legal and human rights framework.
  • Model and support others to reflect on and manage the influence and impact of own values on professional practice.
  • Provide guidance and support to analyse, reflect on and work with ethical dilemmas.
  • Demonstrate confident application of an understanding of the benefits and limitations of partnership work, support others to do so, and promote service user and carer participation in developing service delivery.
  • Promote and advance wherever possible an individual's right to autonomy and self-determination, providing support, guidance and challenge to others.
  • Demonstrate skills in the sensitive exploration of issues of privacy and information-sharing in complex or risky situations, offering support and guidance to colleagues in managing such dilemmas.

Evidencing your capabilities:

At this level the case you choose to discuss will have to be more complex. You will be required to show that you can critically weigh up competing demands when it comes to decision making. You should be prepared to show how you have prioritised competing demands or perhaps where you have given greater weight to some information over others. In addition, there is more emphasis at this level on your ability to model good practice for others and support others to explore practice dilemmas.

Case work examples are probably the best type of evidence for this domain, particularly where there are competing demands. You should also situate yourself in the examples, so it is appropriate to discuss how you experienced the dilemma and how you drew on your social work values to find a way forward. Evidence of your confidence in dealing with more complex problems should shine through. There is a relationship with critical reflection which is likely to have been an important element in considering the issue.

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