Social work values and principles : students’ experiences in intervention with children and youths in detention

Abstract

A project with children and juveniles in a detention centre confronts social work students with their own perceptions and experiences of being direct or indirect victims of crime, with their own values and with integrating the values and principles of social work. Within an ecological perspective, past and present issues in the country’s context influence perceptions and personal values. The project challenges these perceptions and value systems. Feedback include that students realise they should not judge the young people; that these youngsters have dignity and worth in spite of where they come from and the crime they committed; that they deserve respect and should be accepted for who they are. The article discusses professional values and principles in social work and provides a case study of dealing with undergraduate social work students’ fears, emotions and prejudices in teaching and integrating social work values and principles.