The pressure of objectives and reality: Social workers’ perceptions of their occupational complexities in a trade journal in 1958–1999

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 849-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Turtiainen ◽  
Ari Väänänen ◽  
Pekka Varje
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Job Dissatisfaction ◽  
Trade Journal ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nordic Welfare State ◽  
Institutional Boundaries

This article studies social workers’ occupational discussions on the complexities of their work in a Finnish social workers’ trade union journal in 1958–1999. The journal illustrates the flip side of social work; the quest for professionalization, the struggle for fair pay, and social workers’ perceptions of their occupational status and job dissatisfaction. We traced the significant turning points in their difficulties and challenges at work and identified the junctures at which the major occupational difficulties came to the surface, transformed and received an established position in the professional mindset. The four junctures identified are: the making of the profession (1958–1968), the politicization of social work and working conditions (1974–1981), a heightened awareness of work pressures (1982–1990), and the social work crisis (1991–1999). Our analysis leads to the conclusion that job complexities at work were related to the transformations in welfare policy and ideology. The historical periodization of the occupational complexities indicates that social workers collectively reasserted the profession of social work and its institutional boundaries into a broader rubric of the demands brought about by changing society and the development of the Nordic welfare state.

scholarly journals The Challenges of Writing Opinion Pieces in Social Work: A National Online Survey of Swedish Social Workers’ Experiences of Influencing Public Opinion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörgen Lundälv
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Treatment

Abstract Social workers have an important role to play and a voice to make heard in the public debate. They can make a difference both by working in preventive social work and by taking part in the shaping of public opinion. Being visible and active in the public debate about social work and social policy is a matter of democracy and participation, and provides many opportunities for social workers to explain different welfare terms, forms of support and new treatment methods. This article investigates the extent to which Swedish social workers make themselves visible in the public debate by writing opinion pieces in newspapers and social work journals. Publishing opinion pieces is only one alternative social workers have for contributing to public debate in society. A total of 1,583 social workers responded to an electronic online survey covering their experiences of active participation in the public opinion. The results show that only a limited proportion of these social workers participated in the public debate. Amongst those who had written opinion pieces, the emphasis was above all on the social workers’ own work environment and working conditions. Some of the survey participants had experienced disapproval, disparagement and threats directed at them.

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.

Reconfiguring professional autonomy? The case of social work in the UK

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chandler ◽  
Elisabeth Berg ◽  
Marion Ellison ◽  
Jim Barry
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

This chapter discusses the contemporary position of social work in the United Kingdom, and in particular the challenges to what is seen as a managerial-technicist version of social work. The chapter begins with focus on the situation from the 1990s to the present day in which this version of social work takes root and flourishes. The discussion then concentrates on three different routes away from a managerial-technicist social work: the first, reconfiguring professional practice in the direction of evaluation in practice, the second ‘reclaiming social work’ on the Hackney relationship-based model and the third ‘reclaiming social work’ in a more radical, highly politicised way. Special attention is devoted to a discussion about how much autonomy the social workers have in different models, but also what kind of autonomy and for what purpose.

Social Work and Public Social Services Practice: A Status Report

1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Gibelman ◽  
Philip H. Schervish
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Status Report ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
The Social

The authors review the current status of the social work labor force within the public sector by means of an analysis of the National Association of Social Workers member data base for 1988 and 1991, with additional data drawn from a 1993 member survey. Changes in the proportion and composition of the public social services labor force are documented, including education, experience, gender, and ethnicity. The decreasing professional social work labor force within public social services is discussed within the context of the realities of public social services practice and social work's historic place within this sector. The authors encourage debate about the implications of these trends, focusing on whether social work should influence labor-force trends or be influenced by them.

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