scholarly journals Networks of power and counterpower in social work with children and families in England

2021 ◽  
pp. 026101832110347
Author(s):  
Joe Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Network Society ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Type ◽  
Manuel Castells

This article applies the work of Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells to contemporary children and families’ social work in England. Castells’ work suggests that the intractability of many of the issues facing the profession is the result of the new type of society that emerged around the turn of the millennium: the network society. Within this society, the interests and values of dominant networks are imposed upon those who are selectively excluded. Several challenges for the social work profession stemming from this analysis are posed, including in relation to challenging networks and promoting transparency. However, it is suggested that the most significant contribution Castells’ work has for social work lies in shifting the discussion from an analysis of dominant networks, as has been undertaken elsewhere, towards an understanding of how social workers can, and do, build networks of counterpower capable of effectively challenging dominant networks in the space they occupy.

scholarly journals “It’s about the most needy children”: A Foucauldian analysis of school social workers’ responses to need in post-earthquake Canterbury

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raewyn Tudor
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
School Social Work ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

INTRODUCTION: After the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, the provision of school social work was extended into a larger number of schools in the greater Christchurch region to support discussions of their practice priorities and responses in post-earthquake schools.FINDINGS: Two main interpretations of need are reflected in the school social workers’ accounts of their work with children and families. Firstly, hardship-focused need, which represented children as adversely influenced by their home circumstances; the interventions were primarily with parents. These families were mainly from schools in low socioeconomic areas. Secondly, anxiety-based need, a newer practice response, which emphasised children who were considered particularly susceptible to the impacts of the disaster event. This article considers how these practitioners conceptualised and responded to the needs of the children and their families in this context.METHOD: A qualitative study examining recovery policy and school social work practice following the earthquakes including 12 semi-structured interviews with school social workers. This article provides a Foucauldian analysis of the social worker participants’ perspectives on emotional and psychological issues for children, particularly those from middle-class families; the main interventions were direct therapeutic work with children themselves. Embedded within these practice accounts are moments in which the social workers contested the predominant, individualising conceptualisations of need to enable more open-ended, negotiable, interconnected relationships in post-earthquake schools.IMPLICATIONS: In the aftermath of disasters, school social workers can reflect on their preferred practice responses and institutional influences in schools to offer children and families opportunities to reject the prevalent norms of risk and vulnerability.

The Challenge to Social Work

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Hollows
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
New Era ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Professional Judgement

The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families signifies a major achievement in the development of a coherent approach to promoting the welfare of children while safeguarding them from harm. In this article, the aspirations of the Framework are considered, with particular focus on the challenges posed by the Framework, not only to the practice of social workers but also to the status of the social work profession. The area of professional judgement making is discussed, along with the threats to the effective implementation of the Framework. The author concludes that the Framework could bring about not only a better deal for children and families service users, but a new era of professional respect for social workers.

scholarly journals Pandemic and Social Work: Exploring Finnish Social Workers’ Experiences through a SWOT Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Harrikari ◽  
Marjo Romakkaniemi ◽  
Laura Tiitinen ◽  
Sanna Ovaskainen
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Adaptive Governance ◽  
Thematic Content Analysis ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
New Type

Abstract This article addresses the experiences of Finnish frontline social workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Two questions are addressed. First, ‘what types of challenges social work professionals faced’ in their everyday, ‘glocal’ pandemic setting and, second, what types of solutions they developed to meet these challenges. The data consist of 33 personal diaries that social work professionals created from mid-March to the end of May 2020. The diaries are analysed by a thematic content analysis and placed within the framework of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. The results suggest that the pandemic challenged social work at all levels, from face-to-face interactions to its global relations. The pandemic revealed not only the number of existing problems of social work, but also created new types of challenges. It demanded ultimate resilience from social workers and a new type of adaptive governance from social welfare institutions.

Satisfaction with the Social Work Profession: A Ten-Year Analysis of Undergraduate Students' Perceptions

1997 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Hanson ◽  
James G. McCullagh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Career Choice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
High Satisfaction ◽  
The Social

A 10-yr. study of 746 social work undergraduates' perceived satisfaction with seven factors related to their career choice suggested high satisfaction with social work as a career; with the purposes and functions of social work, and the students' initial volunteer experience. There were no significant changes in satisfaction over the 10-yr. period, which findings parallel those of other studies in which similar methods have been used with practicing social workers.

Social workers, critical theory and the political sphere: addressing political misrecognition and marginalisation in the Republic of Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Irish Politics

Despite the traditional social justice mandate of social work, and critical and radical theoretical traditions that pursue egalitarian and just societies, the engagement of the social work academy with Irish politics has been underwhelming at best. While there are abstract analyses that address sociopolitical theory and ideological wrongdoings related to neoliberalist rationality, attention in social work academia to the nuts and bolts of everyday political life in Ireland, such as democratic party politics and electoral representation, leaves much to the imagination. This article therefore pursues a more grounded reading of social justice in Irish politics for social workers. The supporting proposition is that to effectively interject in political misrecognition and marginalisation, social workers must understand the present political state of play. Towards achieving this, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition aids thematic critical commentary on the literature.

Social work education in action: How studying for the profession facilitates the adaptation of internationally educated social workers in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Marion Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Work Skills ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theory Project ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Adaptation Processes ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article presents the results and theorization of a 4-year Grounded Theory project that sought to understand the processes and dynamics involved in the professional adaptation of internationally educated social workers now practicing in Canada. In-depth interviews with 66 participants, who undertook social work education outside of Canada and have subsequently settled to practice in the country, were conducted. Results highlight that the social work educational background of the professionals not only offers key conceptual, theoretical, and analytical foundations needed to adapt knowledge and skills to practice abroad, but also provides tools to navigate and negotiate professional adaptation processes as a whole. We conclude that ultimately, social workers may adapt well to their new work contexts because of the transferability of social work skills, knowledge, and values to new practice settings, thus facilitating interventions with services users and also their own process of professional adaptation.

Head Start and Social Work

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur J. Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Service Component ◽  
Work Involvement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Head Start Programs

The author states that the social work profession is not sufficiently involved with Head Start. Data from a representative sample of Head Start programs shows the minimal role professional social workers play with Head Start even when ample financial resources to hire BSWs or MSWs are available. Evidence suggests, however, that Head Start is open to increased professional social work involvement. The author presents reasons social work professionals are underrepresented in Head Start and recommendations for increasing professional involvement and influence. The author also discusses the history and current status of Head Start, including a thorough description of Head Start's social service component.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Beddoe ◽  
Allen Bartley
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Service Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
Country Specific

This chapter summarises the recurring themes and lessons from the preceding substantive chapters and reflects upon their implications. It draws together the different issues, laws and culture in social work across the five countries examined, and compares the country-specific challenges raised in the chapters. The editors make recommendations for how the social work profession can take a more active role in the transition of Transnational Social Workers, and highlight good practice in preceding chapters. Finally, they comment on the need for more research in the area, including with service users.

Readiness and regulation: perspectives of Canadian stakeholders on the labour mobility of internationally educated social workers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Brown ◽  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Kate Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Labour Mobility ◽  
Cultural Adaptations ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
Regulatory Bodies

This chapter synthesises the data from two knowledge exchange fora where the findings of a four-year research study funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) were shared with, and subsequently responded to by, social work employers and provincial regulators as well as internationally educated social workers. The key themes of knowledge, values, and skill transfer, cultural adaptations, and understanding of the Canadian social welfare system align with the priorities of migrant social workers themselves (Pullen Sansfaçon et al, 2014), suggesting a congruence of central concerns. At the same time, tensions exist between the actual, lived experiences of the social workers and the expectations and practices of the stakeholder group. In this chapter we analyse these points of convergence and divergence, shaped as they are by Canadian social welfare’s prevailing neoliberal ideology and its structural manifestations brought to bear on social work service employers, supervisors, and regulatory bodies.

State regulation of the social work profession: an example from Poland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazimiera Wódz ◽  
Krystyna Faliszek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
New Members ◽  
The Social ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
And Control

This chapter examines how regulation from the state can shape conditions and practices for welfare professions. New members of the European Union, such as Poland, often lack a tradition of social work as an integral part of the welfare state. Challenges for these countries are both to educate social workers and to create legislative solutions stipulating the responsibilities and professional jurisdiction of the social work profession. In the chapter, it is argued that strong regulation and control from the Polish government has resulted in the standardisation of social work. This has curtailed professional autonomy in a manner that is unfavourable to social workers as well as to clients.

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