Which of the following is NOT one of the six core values of the NASW Code of Ethics?

Loyalty to the employing agency

Assertion (A): The ecological perspective in social work focuses on the goodness of fit between people and their environments. Reason (R): The ecological perspective treats the environment as fixed and directs change only at the individual. Choose the correct option.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Which of the following are among the nine principles of the IFSW–IASSW Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles (2018)? Select all that apply.

Maximising the agency's financial sustainability

Neil Thompson's PCS model, used in anti-oppressive practice, analyses oppression at which three levels?

Personal, cultural and structural

Psychological, clinical and statutory

Personal, cultural and structural

Primary, collective and secondary

Which of the following are among the nine competencies in the Council on Social Work Education's standards? Select all that apply.

Obtain a licence from a national social work council

Nature and Development of Social Work II: Social Work as a Profession in India, with its Values, Competencies and Codes of Ethics; Theories for Social Work Practice; the Changing Context of Practice; and Practice in Various Settings

This chapter completes the first unit. It takes the syllabus's last four items: social work as a profession in India, with the values, competencies and code of ethics expected of practitioners (the syllabus spells the word "Practioners"); the theories used in social work practice; the changing context, with emerging perspectives, trends and challenges; and practice in the settings the syllabus lists, from family and child welfare to disaster management. The theories are presented as a practitioner uses them, as lenses that decide what is looked at and what is done, and the settings are introduced here and developed in the practice chapters of Units IX and X.

1. Values and codes of ethics

Values are the profession's commitments about what is good and right; ethics translate them into standards of conduct. The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers in the United States, first adopted in 1960 and substantially rewritten in 1996, with later revisions including 2017 and 2021, is the most cited code. It rests on six core values, each with an ethical principle: service (helping people in need and addressing social problems), social justice (challenging social injustice), dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity (behaving in a trustworthy manner) and competence (practising within one's areas of competence and developing expertise). It then sets out responsibilities to clients, to colleagues, in practice settings, as professionals, to the profession and to the broader society.

Internationally, the IFSW and IASSW adopted the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles in 2018. Its nine principles are recognition of the inherent dignity of humanity; promoting human rights; promoting social justice (challenging discrimination and institutional oppression, respecting diversity, ensuring access to equitable resources, challenging unjust policies and practices, and building solidarity); promoting the right to self-determination; promoting the right to participation; respect for confidentiality and privacy; treating people as whole persons; ethical use of technology and social media; and professional integrity. In India, a Declaration of Ethics for Professional Social Workers was drafted at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences through a national consultation, and professional associations have adopted codes of their own, but no code is backed by a statutory council, so enforcement rests on employers, courts and the profession's own bodies.

Indian writers add values drawn from the country's own traditions: the Gandhian ideals of sarvodaya (the welfare of all) and antyodaya (the rise of the last person), ahimsa, truth and self-reliance, and the constitutional values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble. Values sometimes conflict, and ethical decision-making models help. Frank Loewenberg and Ralph Dolgoff's Ethical Principles Screen ranks principles in order: protection of life comes first, followed by social justice (equality and unequal treatment where justified), self-determination and freedom, least harm, quality of life, privacy and confidentiality, and finally truthfulness and full disclosure. Frederic Reamer's work on ethical dilemmas and risk management is the other standard reference.

⚠️ Confidentiality is not absolute

Every code qualifies confidentiality. It gives way where there is a legal duty to report, as under the POCSO Act 2012, which makes it an offence not to report a known or suspected sexual offence against a child, or where disclosure is needed to prevent serious, foreseeable and imminent harm. An option saying a social worker must keep everything confidential in all circumstances is wrong.

2. Competencies of the social work practitioner

A competency is the ability to integrate knowledge, values, skills and judgement in practice. The Council on Social Work Education in the United States frames social work education around nine competencies, set out in its Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (2015, revised 2022): demonstrate ethical and professional behaviour; advance human rights and social, racial, economic and environmental justice; engage anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion in practice (in 2015, "engage diversity and difference"); engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice; engage in policy practice; engage with individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities; assess them; intervene with them; and evaluate practice with them. The last four follow the helping process, which is why the list reads like the process itself.

In Indian practice the same competencies are grouped more simply as knowledge (of human behaviour, society, policy, law and methods), skills (communication, interviewing, relationship-building, assessment, recording, facilitation, advocacy, networking, resource mobilisation and research) and attitudes and values (empathy, acceptance, respect for diversity, commitment to social justice, self-awareness). Self-awareness deserves a separate mention: the worker's own caste, class, gender, religion and experiences shape what they notice and how they respond, and supervision and reflective practice, in Donald Schön's sense of reflection-in-action (The Reflective Practitioner, 1983), are how a professional keeps that in view.

ℹ️ Supervision in social work

Alfred Kadushin described three functions of supervision in social work: administrative (assigning and reviewing work, ensuring agency policy is followed), educational (developing the worker's knowledge and skills) and supportive (sustaining morale and helping with job-related stress). Field-work supervision in Indian schools of social work combines all three.

3. Theories for social work practice

Social work borrows and builds theory. Malcolm Payne's Modern Social Work Theory groups theories by what they want social work to do: reflexive-therapeutic theories seek personal growth and well-being; socialist-collectivist theories seek social change and empowerment of the oppressed; individualist-reformist theories seek to meet needs and improve services within the existing order. It helps to distinguish theories that explain (why a problem arises) from practice models that guide (what to do), and perspectives that frame (how to see the situation).

Systems theory, from Ludwig von Bertalanffy's general systems theory, sees a person as part of interacting systems with boundaries, inputs, outputs and feedback, so that a change in one part affects the others. Allen Pincus and Anne Minahan (1973) applied it to practice with four systems: the change agent system (the worker and the agency), the client system (those who sanction the work and expect to benefit), the target system (those who need to change for the goals to be met) and the action system (those the worker works with to achieve the change). The ecological perspective, in Carel Germain and Alex Gitterman's The Life Model of Social Work Practice (1980), focuses on the goodness of fit between people and their environments, on life stressors and life transitions, and on changing either side of the transaction. Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (1979) supplies the nested levels: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem.

Practice theories and models
Theory or model	Key names	What it directs the worker to do
Psychodynamic	Freud; Hollis's psychosocial casework	Understand unconscious conflict and past experience; use the relationship
Cognitive-behavioural	Beck; Ellis (REBT); Bandura	Identify and change distorted thoughts and learned behaviour
Crisis intervention	Lindemann (1944); Caplan	Short, active help while defences are open, to restore functioning
Task-centred	Reid and Epstein (1972)	Agree target problems and time-limited tasks
Strengths perspective	Dennis Saleebey (1992); Charles Rapp	Build on capacities and resources, not deficits
Empowerment	Barbara Solomon, Black Empowerment (1976)	Reduce powerlessness arising from negative valuation of a group
Anti-oppressive practice	Lena Dominelli; Neil Thompson (PCS model)	Challenge oppression at the personal, cultural and structural levels
Radical social work	Bailey and Brake (1975)	Link private troubles to structural causes; collective action
Narrative	Michael White and David Epston (1990)	Externalise the problem; re-author the dominant story
Solution-focused	Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg	Look for exceptions; the miracle question; scaling

🧠 Pincus and Minahan's four systems in one sentence

"The worker (change agent) is asked by someone (client) to change something or someone (target), and does it with others (action)." In a school attendance case the worker and school social work unit are the change agent, the parent who asks for help is the client, the employer who keeps the child at work may be the target, and the teachers and panchayat members who help are the action system.

4. The changing context of practice: emerging perspectives, trends and challenges

Since the 1990s the context of practice has shifted in several directions at once. Liberalisation and globalisation have reduced the state's direct role in some services and increased contracting to non-governmental organisations, the market and public-private partnerships. Mandatory corporate social responsibility under section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 created a large new employer and funder. Managerialism and the demand for measurable outcomes have brought evidence-based practice, logframes and impact assessment into agencies. The rights-based approach has moved welfare from charity towards entitlement, visible in the right to education (2009), the right to food (2013) and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016). Technology has created digital social work, telecounselling and new risks of surveillance and exclusion. Migration, urbanisation, ageing, climate change and disasters have created new client groups.

Developmental social work (James Midgley): linking social work with economic development, investment in human and social capital, and social protection.
Green or ecological social work (Lena Dominelli, Green Social Work, 2012): treating environmental degradation and climate change as social justice issues for the profession.
Indigenisation and decolonisation: questioning the transfer of Western models to India and building practice on local knowledge, as the 2014 Global Definition invites.
Critical, feminist, Dalit and anti-oppressive perspectives: locating individual problems in structures of caste, class, gender and power.
Challenges: the absence of a licensing law and council, low wages and poor recognition in the voluntary sector, dependence on project funding, and the gap between training and the demands of the field.

🎯 Why "NGOisation" is criticised

Critics argue that when social change is delivered through funded projects, organisations become accountable upwards to donors rather than downwards to communities, depoliticise issues into service delivery, and compete rather than build movements. The argument does not deny the value of NGOs; it asks the worker to notice whose agenda a project serves.

5. Social work practice in various settings

The syllabus names nine settings: family, child and youth welfare, industry, older persons, persons with disabilities, environment, women and welfare, healthcare and disaster management. In each, the social worker combines direct work with individuals and groups, work with communities, and work on policy and services, and in each a statute defines part of the role. The table gives one line for each; the fuller treatment is in the practice chapters of Units IX and X.

Settings of practice
Setting	Typical roles	A statute that frames the work
Family	Family counselling, family courts, domestic violence services	Family Courts Act 1984; PWDVA 2005
Child and youth welfare	Child Welfare Committees, child care institutions, adoption, youth programmes	Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015
Industry	Labour welfare officer, HR, CSR, employee assistance	Factories Act 1948 (welfare officers); Companies Act 2013 (CSR)
Older persons	Day-care, old-age homes, elder-abuse helplines, maintenance tribunals	Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007
Persons with disabilities	Rehabilitation, inclusive education, community-based rehabilitation	Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016
Environment	Community mobilisation, livelihoods, displacement and rehabilitation	Environment (Protection) Act 1986; Forest Rights Act 2006
Women and welfare	One Stop Centres, shelter homes, self-help groups, legal aid	PWDVA 2005; POSH Act 2013
Healthcare	Medical and psychiatric social work, counselling, discharge planning	Mental Healthcare Act 2017
Disaster management	Relief, psychosocial care, preparedness, rehabilitation	Disaster Management Act 2005

Key takeaways

NASW Code (1960; rewritten 1996; revised 2017 and 2021): six core values, service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. IFSW–IASSW Statement of Ethical Principles (2018): nine principles, including participation and ethical use of technology.
Loewenberg and Dolgoff's Ethical Principles Screen puts protection of life first and truthfulness last; confidentiality yields to legal duties such as mandatory reporting under POCSO 2012; Kadushin's supervision functions are administrative, educational and supportive.
CSWE lists nine competencies, ending with engage, assess, intervene and evaluate; Indian curricula group them as knowledge, skills and attitudes, with self-awareness and Schön's reflective practice (1983).
Theories: systems (Pincus and Minahan 1973: change agent, client, target, action), ecological life model (Germain and Gitterman 1980; Bronfenbrenner 1979), psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioural, crisis, task-centred (1972), strengths (Saleebey), empowerment (Solomon 1976), anti-oppressive (Thompson's PCS), radical (1975), narrative, solution-focused.
The changing context: CSR under section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, managerialism and evidence-based practice, rights-based welfare, digital practice, developmental and green social work, indigenisation; nine practice settings, each framed by a statute.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

Which of the following is NOT one of the six core values of the NASW Code of Ethics?
1. Integrity
2. Importance of human relationships
3. Service
4. Loyalty to the employing agency
Show answer
Answer: D — Loyalty to the employing agency
The six core values are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. Loyalty to the agency is not a core value; the code in fact expects workers to challenge agency practices that are unethical.
How many core values does the NASW Code of Ethics set out? Type the number.
Numerical answer — type the value.
Show answer
Answer: 6
Six: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. Do not confuse this with the nine principles of the 2018 IFSW–IASSW statement or CSWE's nine competencies.
In Pincus and Minahan's model, the people who need to change for the goals of the intervention to be achieved form the:
1. Target system
2. Client system
3. Change agent system
4. Action system
Show answer
Answer: A — Target system
The target system is whoever must change. The client system sanctions the work and expects to benefit, the action system is those the worker works with, and the change agent system is the worker and agency. Client and target may or may not be the same people.
The Life Model of Social Work Practice (1980), built on the ecological perspective, was written by:
1. Carel Germain and Alex Gitterman
2. Michael White and David Epston
3. Allen Pincus and Anne Minahan
4. William Reid and Laura Epstein
Show answer
Answer: A — Carel Germain and Alex Gitterman
Germain and Gitterman wrote the life model. Reid and Epstein developed task-centred casework (1972), Pincus and Minahan the four-systems model (1973), and White and Epston narrative therapy (1990).
Assertion (A): The ecological perspective in social work focuses on the goodness of fit between people and their environments. Reason (R): The ecological perspective treats the environment as fixed and directs change only at the individual. Choose the correct option.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: C — A is true, but R is false
The assertion is true, but the reason is false: because the focus is on the transaction between person and environment, the ecological perspective allows the worker to change either side, strengthening the person's coping or making the environment more responsive.
The strengths perspective in social work is most closely associated with:
1. Erich Lindemann
2. Florence Hollis
3. Barbara Solomon
4. Dennis Saleebey
Show answer
Answer: D — Dennis Saleebey
Dennis Saleebey edited The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice (1992). Solomon is associated with empowerment (1976), Lindemann with crisis theory (1944) and Hollis with psychosocial casework.
In Loewenberg and Dolgoff's Ethical Principles Screen, which principle takes the highest priority when principles conflict?
1. Truthfulness and full disclosure
2. Self-determination and freedom
3. Protection of life
4. Privacy and confidentiality
Show answer
Answer: C — Protection of life
Protection of life ranks first, which is why confidentiality can be breached to prevent serious harm. Self-determination ranks third, privacy and confidentiality sixth, and truthfulness and full disclosure last.
Which of the following are among the nine principles of the IFSW–IASSW Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles (2018)? Select all that apply.
1. Promoting the right to participation
2. Treating people as whole persons
3. Maximising the agency's financial sustainability
4. Ethical use of technology and social media
Show answer
Answer: A — Promoting the right to participation; B — Treating people as whole persons; D — Ethical use of technology and social media
Participation, ethical use of technology and treating people as whole persons are all among the nine. Financial sustainability of the agency is a management concern, not an ethical principle of the statement.
Neil Thompson's PCS model, used in anti-oppressive practice, analyses oppression at which three levels?
1. Psychological, clinical and statutory
2. Personal, cultural and structural
3. Political, communal and social
4. Primary, collective and secondary
Show answer
Answer: B — Personal, cultural and structural
P, C and S stand for personal (individual prejudice), cultural (shared values and norms) and structural (institutionalised social divisions). Each level is embedded in the next, so challenging only personal prejudice leaves cultural and structural oppression intact.
Which of the following are among the nine competencies in the Council on Social Work Education's standards? Select all that apply.
1. Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice
2. Engage in policy practice
3. Obtain a licence from a national social work council
4. Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities
Show answer
Answer: A — Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice; B — Engage in policy practice; D — Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities
Policy practice, evaluation and practice-informed research are all CSWE competencies. Licensing is a regulatory requirement set by jurisdictions, not a competency of the educational standards, and India has no such council.