Which combination of ethical values reflects the core principles for school social workers?

• A. Confidentiality, self-determination, and client protection
• B. Self-determination, confidentiality, and client participation
• C. Judgement, confidentiality, and self-determination
• D. Self-determination, accountability, and client safety

Answer: (B)

In school social work, practice hinges on honoring students’ autonomy, protecting their privacy, and ensuring they have a voice in decisions about their services. The best combination reflects that by pairing self-determination, which supports empowering students to participate in choices about their lives; confidentiality, which builds trust and safeguards private information (while noting there are limits when safety or mandated reporting apply); and client participation, which ensures students and families are actively involved in planning and implementing supports.

The other options mix in concepts like protection, judgment, accountability, or safety. While those are important aspects of ethical practice, they don’t align as directly with the trio of empowering choice, maintaining privacy, and engaging the client in decision-making, which together capture the core ethical stance in school settings.