How do your own values fit with the professional value base?

Learning Objectives

After considering this resource, you should be more aware of how your own values can sit alongside those of the professional value base, and the help available to you to manage conflict, which may arise.

The professional value base is an important anchor in your practice as a social worker. These values '...can be distinguished from personal values in that personal values may not be shared by all members of an occupational group.' (Banks, 2012, p.8). How can your personal values sit alongside the professional values of social work though?

In the following video, Sarah Leigh, a lecturer and former practitioner, and Nicola, a child protection social worker, discuss how they manage the relationship between the different value bases.

Download: Video transcript

Reflective Questions

  1. How do you feel your own values sit alongside the professional value base? Do you feel this relationship has evolved as you have moved through placements?
  2. Do you feel there is any conflict between your personal values and the professional value base? If so, how have you managed this conflict? Is this strategy successful? What, if anything, can you do to improve it?
  3. Is it ever right to prioritise your own values over the professional value base? Discuss this with your practice educator in your next supervision session.

Reference:
S Banks (2012) Ethics and Values in Social Work, 4th edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

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