Ethical Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real SSW practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ethical Practice flashcards as text
A school social worker is asked by an administrator to write a report that exaggerates a student's disability to secure additional funding. The ethical response is to:
Answer: Refuse and explain that falsifying records violates professional ethics and law
Falsifying professional records violates the NASW Code of Ethics, professional integrity standards, and potentially constitutes fraud.
Cultural humility in school social work practice is best described as:
Answer: An ongoing self-reflective process of recognizing one's own cultural biases and limitations
Cultural humility emphasizes lifelong learning and critical self-reflection about cultural assumptions rather than claiming complete cultural competence.
Which of the following situations would most clearly require a school social worker to break confidentiality?
Answer: A student reveals a specific plan to seriously harm a classmate
A specific plan to harm an identified person creates a duty to protect that requires breaking confidentiality to warn and protect potential victims.
The principle of 'nonmaleficence' obligates school social workers to:
Answer: Avoid causing harm through actions or inactions
Nonmaleficence means 'do no harm' and requires practitioners to avoid interventions or actions that could damage client welfare.
A school social worker learns during a session that a student's parent has been arrested. The student does not know. What is the most ethically appropriate first step?
Answer: Assess the student's safety, explore support needs, and consult with appropriate staff about next steps
A thorough assessment of student safety and support needs, followed by consultation with appropriate colleagues, guides the appropriate ethical response.
Social work's commitment to social justice in the school setting means the school social worker should:
Answer: Advocate for equitable access to resources and challenge discriminatory practices affecting students
Social justice is a core social work value requiring advocacy for equitable systems, policies, and resources that affect students and families.
A parent requests access to notes a school social worker made during private therapy sessions with their child. Under FERPA, these records are:
Answer: Potentially exempt as 'sole possession records' if kept privately and not shared with others
Sole possession records—personal notes kept solely by the maker and not shared or accessible to others—may be exempt from FERPA's parent access provisions.