Reflexivity, Ethics, and Divergent Perspectives: A Transformational Journey of Social Work Educators

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Heather Howard ◽  
Mary LeCloux ◽  
Dana E. Prescott ◽  
Katherine Walbam
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
National Association ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Minority View

Using classroom vignettes, this article portrays the experiences of four White social work educators with minority-view inclusion and conflict management that is a result of divergent perspectives in the classroom. The use of reflexivity is explored as a strategy for understanding educators' biases and assumptions in teaching. In addition, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics is applied as it refers to helping social work students learn to think critically to meet the needs and rights of clients and to address social inequalities, diversity, privilege, and oppression. The authors provide recommendations based on their experiences and reflections.

Beyond the Code of Ethics, Part II: Dual Relationships Revisited

2002 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 483-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Freud ◽  
Stefan Krug
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Dual Relationships ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Social Work Practitioners

The authors, both social work educators, serve on an ethics call line committee that provides insights on how the provisions of the (United States) National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (NASW, 1996) interface with the ethical dilemmas encountered by the social work community. In this paper, the authors highlight aspects of social work practice that they consider ethical, yet not easily accommodated by the provisions of the current Code. They also question the 1996 introduction of the concept of dual relationships into the Code and suggest that the Code adopt the less ambiguous term of boundary violations. Also recognized by the authors is the need for clear boundaries for the protection of clients against temptations that might arise in a fiduciary relationship, and for the legal protection of social workers. But, the authors argue, social work practitioners in certain settings, with particular populations, and in certain roles, inevitably face multiple relationships as an integral aspect of their work. The authors conclude that social work's adoption of the psychoanalytic constrains of anonymity, neutrality, and abstinence has detoured the profession from its original double focus on individuals and their society.

scholarly journals What Social Workers Should Know About Ethics: Understanding and Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

10.18060/124 ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine P. Congress
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Dual Relationships ◽  
Personal Agency ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Social Work Practitioners

Recognizing ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in professional practice is crucial for social work practitioners, educators, and students. After a discussion about the limited, although growing, literature on social work ethics, the ten main tenets form the most current NASW Code of Ethics are presented. These topics include limits to confidentiality, confidentiality and technology, confidentiality in family and group work, managed care, cultural competence, dual relationships, sexual relationships, impairment and incompetence of colleagues, application to administrators and relevance to social work educators. In addition to understanding the Code of Ethics, social workers can use the ETHIC model of decision making for resolving ethical dilemmas. This easy to use five step process includes examining personal, agency, client, and professional values, thinking about ethical standards and relevant laws, hypothesizing about consequences, identifying the most vulnerable, and consulting with supervisors and colleagues. A case example involving confidentiality, HIV/AIDS and family therapy demonstrates how social workers can use the ETHIC model.

Porcelain ethics: a critical linguistic analysis of the treatment of race in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
National Association ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Social Work Ethics ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
White Hegemony

The linguistic treatment of race – or lack thereof – in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics upholds hegemonic whiteness, the cornerstone of racialisation and attendant ideological and material violence of myriad forms. The Code: endorses and deploys language that renders race an ahistorical, decontextual commodity to be possessed; forgoes rigorous engagement with defining race as a situated and historically harmful social construction; and narrates the prescription of ostensibly universalisable social work ethics from a position distinctly influenced by and beneficial to hegemonic whiteness. This article delineates these propensities evident in the language of the Code and recommends a shift by social work practitioners, educators, researchers and scholars towards racial ethics that resist closure, embrace unsettlement and validate incommensurability in an effort to subvert white hegemony and actualise more authentic and comprehensive racial justice.

scholarly journals Towards Soft Skills Framework for Social Work Educators

2019 ◽  
pp. 1091-1096
Author(s):  
Fuziah Shaffie ◽  
Ruzlan Md-Ali ◽  
Fahainis Mohd Yusof
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Professional Socialization ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Helping Skills ◽  
To Come

Social workers must be competence with their helping skills and need to be guided to acquire relevant soft skills. Hence, Social Work students need to have significant role models that they can look up to in order to become professionally and socially competent. Within the formal Social Work Education at the higher institutions, they can actually learn much from their lecturers or educators as their role models. This paper discusses conceptualizations of the soft skills which educators, currently as well as in the years to come, would need in order to sustain their competence as educators. In an exploratory study recently carried out, a Social Work expert was asked to describe the experiences of and viewpoints on, soft skills as part of the professional socialization of Social Work educators to become professionally and socially competent. It is important to raise awareness of soft skills competencies among Malaysian Social Work educators to help them in assessing themselves, and identify where and how they could actively improve themselves as educators within the context of their workplace. Embedding the soft skills competencies into their career as social workers is assumed as one of the effective and efficient method of achieving both professional and social competence. The propose soft skills, perhaps, provide early ideas and initiatives towards the construction of a ‘soft skill-framework for Social Work educators’, which can serve as guideline when facilitating and guiding future qualified social workers in Malaysia.

Military Social Work

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelli Godfrey ◽  
David Albright
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Association ◽  
History Of ◽  
Army Air Force ◽  
Connected Populations

Although there are many definitions of military social work, this article primarily focuses on social work by uniformed personnel within the United States military. Social work with military and veteran-connected populations is also done by civilian professionals. The history of military social work in the United States is rooted in the civilian professional social work community and is a microcosm of that sector. Military social work has a rich history of providing services to military men and women and their families during periods of peace, conflict, and national crises. Military social workers have been involved in humanitarian operations and have participated in multinational peace-keeping operations. Social work in the Army, Navy, and Air Force is tailored to the mission of their particular service. However, joint operations between the services are becoming more frequent. Military social workers adhere to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) code of ethics while providing service to an institution with its own unique culture, standards, and values. The role of military social workers has expanded since the Global War on Terrorism began, in 2001. Military social work encompasses a wide variety of skills, performed by social workers who are both civilian and military, ranging from crisis to working with families. Military social work is unique and often faces ethical dilemmas even though military social workers still follow the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics. The history of military social work dates back to the early 1940s, but has evolved with the needs of military members and their families. The Army, Air Force, and Navy all have social workers, both civilian and those who wear the uniform. Due to the number of veterans and military families living throughout the United States, and seeking care in community settings, recommendations to establish competencies for social workers working with military and veteran-connected populations is underway.

Unions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Karger
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
National Association ◽  
Professional Issues ◽  
Mixed Messages ◽  
The Impact

This article deals with the goals and tensions between professionalism and social work unionization. This article addresses obstacles to the unionization of social workers, such as the mixed messages about unionization inherent in the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, the incipient antiunion sentiment within social work (which partly explains the dearth of social work strikes when compared with teachers’ strikes), the impact of privatized social services on unionization, and the chilling effects of a business union perspective on professional issues that concern social workers. This article calls for a fusion between union and professional concerns.

Veterinary Social Work: How Undergraduate Social Workers Can Make a Difference

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-158
Author(s):  
Ann Callahan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Remote Area ◽  
Southern State ◽  
Learning Opportunity ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Graduate Social Work

The provision of veterinary social work has traditionally required training only available to graduate social work students and professionals. As social work educators continue to define core competencies required for veterinary social work, they must consider how to train undergraduate social work students in this emerging field. Remote Area Medical (RAM) provides such an opportunity. This article describes the experience of baccalaureate social work students at a university in a Southern state in the provision of veterinary social work services at five RAM spay and neuter clinics. The ways in which social work educators might use the RAM model as a service learning opportunity for their students are also explored.

How religious women students of social work in Israel experience academe

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087282094002
Author(s):  
Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail ◽  
Rebecca Ranz
Keyword(s):  
Women Students ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Religious Women ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
Israel Experience

Although the values of pluralism and diversity are enshrined in social work’s Code of Ethics, the literature indicates that religious students will experience hostility within social work schools. This qualitative study explores how religious Jewish and Arab-Muslim social work students in Israel experience the secular academic context, in light of the profession’s values. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted over a 6-month period, starting in January 2018, with third-year women students of social work at the country’s largest public college – a microcosm of Israeli society in terms of ethnic, religious, and national affiliation. The participants were 20 women (10 Jewish and 10 Arab-Muslim) who self-identify as religious, in a secular academic setting. Analysis of the findings yields a broad and varied picture: the main themes include the initial encounter with the physical, social, and intellectual college environment; questioning whether academe is really liberal; and the feeling of being outsiders. These findings, which contribute to an understanding of the social and educational needs of the student who is the ‘other’, are relevant to social work educators worldwide. The other is everywhere.

Beyond the Code of Ethics, Part I: Complexities of Ethical Decision Making in Social Work Practice

2002 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 474-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Freud ◽  
Stefan Krug
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
National Association ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Ethical Implications

The authors have acquired experience in, and opinions on, ethical decision making while serving on a (U.S.) National Association of Social Workers (NASW) peer consultation ethics call line. The authors agree with scholars who view all human perceptions and activities as shaped by values, with the concurrent need to become more self-conscious about the ethical dimension of our daily life and professional practice. It is argued that our social work code of ethics is a necessary but insufficient tool for ethical decision making. The Code of Ethics (National Association of Social Workers, 1996) is frequently used as a risk management tool, offering guidelines for practice which may or may not be compatible with the goals of social justice for which social work ideally stands. Additionally, the unique and unexpected ways ethical issues emerge in clinical practice work against attempts to apply the Code as a rule book. Distinctions between ethical, legal, and clinical issues are difficult, given that the two latter domains have inevitable ethical implications. The authors urge readers to supplement a model of purely rational, ethical decision making with their emotions and intuition as shaped by our culture and our profession. Ethical judgments are best made in small groups where members bring different perspectives and intuitions to the process while agreeing on basic humanistic values.

Social Work Students’ Experiences of Ethical Difficulties in Field Placements: A Qualitative Study in China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wu ◽  
Yunong Huang ◽  
Qiang Chen ◽  
Yu Shi
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Field Staff ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Field Placements ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Supportive Environment ◽  
In The Beginning

Abstract Field placements provide social work students with opportunities to learn to handle ethical difficulties in a professional manner. In many developed countries, field staff are generally employed to supervise social work students’ field placements. ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents have also been developed to guide students’ professional activities. However, there is a lack of field staff, ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents in China, which may lead to ethical difficulties amongst students during their field placements. Based on the interviews of twenty-four social work students who completed field placements in 2016 at a university in China, this research revealed that students encountered many ethical difficulties in field placements. They tried to handle the difficulties in the beginning, but gradually adapted to the difficulties passively due to the lack of support. Most students also reported that they adhered to social work values and ethics in field placements and learned from field placements. The findings suggested that social work profession associations, Departments or Schools of Social Work, social work agencies and social work academia in China need to collaborate to create a more professional and supportive environment for students’ field placements.

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