Great news for our members: the record of your professional development hours you have tracked in your member profile now shows how many ethics hours you have completed since 2016. Please check your NSCSW member account to review your hours.
As you know, all active social workers associated with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers must complete five hours of professional development in social work ethics over a five year period. This is in addition to your annual professional development requirement (i.e. 40 hours for most members).
This requirement stems from a bylaw change at the 2014 AGM, and took effect in 2016. Any members who were registered before 2016 will have until December 2020 to complete their first five hours. Members who joined the College later will need to complete their hours within their first five years of registration.
You must meet this requirement before the deadline in order to complete your registration renewal. If completion of your hours is not documented in your member profile, your registration may be interrupted.
Where to find ethics PD
The NSCSW Council does not limit members to pre-approved options for professional development; each NSCSW member can assess which learning options available to them are appropriate to their practice, as long as they are specific to social work ethics.
The NSCSW Ethical Decision-Making Tool is always available to use in your practice; it can also be used for collaborative learning. For example, some social workers have formed small lunch-and-learn telepractice groups through their workplace. Your group can select an ethical challenge from the daily experience of your members, and use the Ethical Decision-Making Tool to guide your discussion. Everyone attending the session should keep a personal record of the event date, topic, and amount of time spent in discussion.
The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) offers many learning resources that are free for NSCSW members, including webinars and a full-text journal database. Members of our College can visit the CASW website to create an account and claim your free national membership.
We hope you will also find these selected resource links helpful as you complete your professional development hours:
- NSCSW Code of Ethics
- NSCSW Standards of Practice
- CASW Ethics In Social Work Webinar Series
- NSCSW & CASW webinar: Telehealth & Social Work Practice: Same ethical practice – different locations
- CASW webinar: Social Work Practice in a Digital and Electronic World: Ethical and Risk Management Challenges
- CASW webinar: Navigating Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice
- CASW guidance document: CASW Social Media Use and Social Work Practice
- IFSW Research paper: Ethical challenges for social workers during COVID-19: A global perspective
If you have further questions, please contact our Professional Practice Consultant, Annemieke Vink.
Hello I have completed the CASW – A Road Map for Ethical Resonses Midule 1,2 and 3. Could you confirm that my review , the completed slides, is captured and used as Social Work Ethics Training? They were suggested resources for Ethivs Training in an email. Could you reply to my email below ? Thank you
Hi there,
I completed the review , study of these Modules on Oct 5 and 6. 2020 as suggested. It was not a live webinar, It was slides and overview. Wanting to confirm that I am able to capture them on Social Work Ethics Training for the current professional development on renewal? Could you reply to my email below? Thank you
Hello Linda! Great question. Yes, readings about social work ethics can be counted towards your five-year requirement for ethics hours. However, I think I should let you know that the pages linked above for each module of that webinar series contain links to downloadable resources (which you found), as well as a link to a recording of each webinar (via the “Register Now” link higher on the page).
If you’re interested in watching any of the recordings for the CASW’s 2017 series on ethics in social work, you can head straight to YouTube (Module 1, Module 2, Module 3).