The six core values of social work, as the NASW Code of Ethics lists them, are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. Each one comes with an ethical principle that says what it asks of you, and the Code's standards turn those principles into rules for practice.
That list is the answer most people searching want, and for the ASWB exam it is where studying starts rather than where it ends. The exam does not ask you to recite the six, and it is written so that it cannot depend on NASW's wording alone. Below is each value with its principle, how it shows up in a question, what to do when two of them collide, and the Canadian code that sits beside NASW's in ASWB's reference lists.
The six values and the principle behind each
| Value | Ethical principle, in NASW's words | What it asks in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Service | "Social workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems." | Put the needs of the people you serve above self-interest. The Code also encourages some unpaid, pro bono work. |
| Social justice | "Social workers challenge social injustice." | Pursue change with and on behalf of people who are vulnerable or oppressed, on single cases and on policy. |
| Dignity and worth of the person | "Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person." | Treat each person with care and respect, mindful of difference, and support clients' self-determination. |
| Importance of human relationships | "Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships." | Engage people as partners. In the Code's words, "relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change." |
| Integrity | "Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner." | Act honestly and responsibly, and promote ethical practice in the organizations you work for. |
| Competence | "Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise." | Know the limits of your training, keep building skills, and refer when a need is beyond you. |
The values are the profession's foundation, the principles are the ideals, and the standards, numbered 1.01 onward, are the specific obligations. The Code was last revised in 2021, when NASW added language on professional self-care and gave more explicit guidance in its cultural competence standard.
Canada's code has seven
ASWB's exams are used in Canada as well as the United States, and ASWB's reference lists for all its exams cite two codes: NASW's (2021) and the Canadian Association of Social Workers' (2024). CASW launched its new Code of Ethics, Values and Guiding Principles in January 2024, calling it the first major overhaul in over 20 years. Its seven values, in its own titles, are:
- Respecting the Dignity and Worth of All People
- Promoting Social Justice
- Pursuing Truth and Reconciliation
- Valuing Human Relationships
- Preserving Integrity in Professional Practice
- Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality
- Providing Competent Professional Services
Set side by side, five of the values line up closely: dignity and worth, social justice, human relationships, integrity and competence. NASW has a value of service that CASW does not list on its own. CASW makes privacy and confidentiality a value in itself, and it adds truth and reconciliation, a commitment to the rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples.
Why the exam cannot test the list
This is the part that should change how you study. ASWB's guide for its question writers says:
For example, the NASW Code of Ethics or the CASW Code of Ethics can support a key when writing an item about ethical conduct.
If either code can support the correct answer, a fair question cannot turn on something only one code says: not a value only NASW names, not a section number, not a phrase unique to one document. What the exam can test is the ground both codes share, which is most of the six: what respect for a person's dignity requires when you disagree with their choice, what competence requires when a client asks for something you are not trained to do, what integrity requires when you are asked to cut a corner.
So memorize the six if a professor will ask you to. For the exam, learn what each one makes you do.
It is worth the effort, because values carry more of the exam than any other area. Values and Ethics is 35% of the Bachelors, Masters and Advanced Generalist exams and 36% of the Clinical exam, the largest of the three content areas on every one.
Each value in a question
These are short sketches of how each value tends to decide an exam-style question. They are written for this post, not taken from any exam.
Service. A long-term client loses insurance coverage partway through treatment. The answer that honors service explores options with the client, such as a reduced fee, a payment plan or a referral to a lower-cost service, instead of simply ending the work. The NASW Code allows ending services in fee-for-service settings for an overdue balance only when the financial arrangements were made clear, the client poses no imminent danger, and the consequences of nonpayment have been discussed with the client (standard 1.17(c)). The trap is the option that ends services at the next session.
Social justice. An agency offers intake only on weekday mornings, which shuts out clients in hourly jobs. The answer that honors social justice works to change the policy, by documenting who is excluded and taking it to the people who set the hours. The traps are doing nothing, or quietly bending the rules for some clients and not others.
Dignity and worth of the person. An 82-year-old client with capacity wants to keep living at home. Her adult children want her in assisted living. The answer that honors dignity supports her decision and works on what would make staying home safer. The Code limits self-determination only when a client's actions pose a serious, foreseeable and imminent risk to themselves or others (standard 1.02), and preferring a different choice is not that. The trap is siding with worried relatives.
Importance of human relationships. A client recovering from depression has drifted away from every friend he had. The answer that honors relationships treats rebuilding those connections as part of the work, not a distraction from it. The trap is an option that keeps all the change inside the sessions.
Integrity. A supervisor asks a social worker to record a missed appointment as a session that took place. The answer that honors integrity declines and raises the request through the proper channels. The Code says social workers should not participate in, condone or be associated with dishonesty, fraud or deception (standard 4.04). The trap is going along with it because a supervisor asked.
Competence. A client asks for a trauma therapy the social worker has never been trained in. The answer that honors competence is to refer to someone trained in it, or to provide it only after appropriate study, training, consultation and supervision from people competent in it (standard 1.04(b)). The traps are trying it after reading a book, and refusing without helping the client find it elsewhere.
When the values collide
The hard questions put two values against each other, and the Code says plainly that it "does not specify which values, principles, and standards are most important and ought to outweigh others" when they conflict. The exam still has defensible answers, because some patterns hold:
- Self-determination against protection. Respect for a client's choice wins, unless the choice carries a serious, foreseeable and imminent risk. Risk turns the answer toward protection; disagreement does not. The suicide risk post and duty to warn show where that line sits.
- Social justice against agency rules. Advocate for change through the agency's own channels, and keep following the rules while you do. Breaking them, or deceiving the agency, gives up integrity to serve justice.
- Human relationships against boundaries. Warmth and partnership live inside clear boundaries. The Code says social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients where there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm, and that where such relationships are unavoidable, the social worker sets clear and appropriate boundaries (standard 1.06(c)).
The Code also says that "Ethical decision making is a process," and that is what FIRST and NEXT questions test: the order of the steps, not only where they end. When you cannot tell which value should win, the question usually tells you through its qualifier: what to do FIRST is often to assess or to discuss, and what is BEST is often the option that serves both values at once. The one word that decides an ASWB question shows how that works.
How to study the values for the exam
- Read the Code's purpose and its values and principles section once, in full. It is short.
- Learn each value as a behavior, using sketches like the ones above, not as a word on a list.
- Practice on questions where two good options compete. Our six worked ethics vignettes are built that way, and what content area I covers sets the values in the context of the whole area.
- Read the free lesson on professional values and principles, part of a first chapter that is free in full with no account.
Sources, read October 15, 2026: the NASW Code of Ethics (2021 revision), from NASW's website; the Canadian Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics, Values and Guiding Principles (2024) and its launch announcement of January 2024; ASWB's Item Writing Guide for educators; and the reference lists in ASWB's Examination Guidebook (August 2026). Quotations from the codes are short and attributed. ASWB Master is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or approved by the Association of Social Work Boards.