Title: What is Social Work
1 Introduction to the ProfessionWeek Three What
is social work?
SWP 11 ITP Coordinator Dr Trish McNamara
2Housekeeping
- 1.First Assignment due Wednesday March 28th
- 2. Course notes access
- Username swsp
- Password socialwork
- (p.20 Student Survival Guide)
- These are Confidential not to be passed on to
others outside the Course. - 3. Library session Wednesday March 28th. Meet
your Tutor at the Library as directed. After the
session you should try to practice the skills
taught eg. Exploring databases etc .
3What is Social Work?
- Not simple or straightforward
- The answer will always be ambiguous and debated
its boundaries will always be in negotiation.
Payne, 1996 p185 - Ways of describing
- Different perspectives from Payne 1995, 2006
(see Reading Pack) - What influences
- Characteristics
- Brainstorm Your views of social work since
commencing the course? Has anything changed? - What does the man in the street think about
social work?
4What does social work involve?
- Professional Activity
- knowledge
- skills
- values
5What knowledge does a social worker need?
6 Knowledge
- Theories of what social work is
- Theories of how to do social work
- Theories of the client world
7What skills does a social worker need?
8Skills
- Assessment
- Intervention
- Report writing
- Liaison and networking
- Teamwork
- Group leadership
- Community work
- Advocacy and social action
- See BSW Fieldwork subjects course outlines
9What values should a social worker hold?
10Social Works mission
- Acceptance
- Non-judgmental
- Confidentiality
- Social justice
- Empowerment
- Equality
- Access
- Anti-discrimination
- Individual personal development
- Social improvement
- See also International Federation of Social
Workers (IFSW) Mission Statement www.ifsw.org
11Practical ways of describing Social Work
- Look at job ads for the following
- With whom or what do social workers work?
- Organisational base and broader context
- Fields of Practice
- Type of Knowledge and Skills
12Hidden Dimensions Ideas
- Purpose, essence, roles for society
- Social control
- Band-aid
- Dependency creating
- Altruistic concern for disadvantaged
- Potentially appropriate/ inappropriate
- aspects of these roles?
13More ideas
- Perspectives
- Social order
- Sustaining social order and providing services
- Personal empowerment
- Helping people attain or regain personal
fulfilment - Transformation
- Stimulating change to promote freedom from
oppression
14Social Order - Individual Reformist
- Sustaining social order and providing services
- provide efficient social services to meet the
needs of members of the public, sorting out their
practical and emotional problems, getting other
services to respond better to their needs and
perhaps raising problems which affect a lot of
people to improve the administration and
provision of services Payne 1998, p125 - Individuals and their social environment
- Individual adjustment, inadequate social
provisions - Understand, seek goodness of fit, services
- Accept existing social order
- Other positions seen as unrealistic
15Personal Empowerment Reflexive-therapeutic
- Helping people attain or regain personal
fulfilment and power over their lives - helping individuals (and perhaps groups and
communities) to achieve personal growth , self
actualisation and personal power over their
environment, that is to, identify and fulfil
satisfactorily their human wishes and needs
(Payne, 1995) - Enhance personal and social functioning thus
improve the quality of life for everyone - Interpersonal helping relationships, mutual
interaction, downplay services - Ignore the generality of the social for the
humanity of the personal
16Change Socialist-collectivist
- Stimulating change to promote freedom from
oppression - rather than helping people to adjust to
society to deal with their problems we should
change fundamental structures in society which
are the origins of most peoples problems - Social change at both the individual and societal
level - Causes of social problems identified within
social and econ structures of society - Social action, individual empowerment
- Doesnt accept current social order
- ? Difference social/political action and SW
17One definition..
- Social work is a profession committed to the
pursuit of social justice, to the enhancement of
the quality of life and the development of the
full potential of each individual, group and
community in society.
18One definition (continued).
- Social workers pursue these goals by working to
address the barriers, inequalities and injustices
that exist in society, and by active involvement
in situations of personal distress and crisis.
This is done by working with individuals towards
the realisation of their intellectual, physical
and emotional potentials and by working with
individuals groups and communities in the pursuit
of equitable access to social, economic and
political resources. - Social workers also pursue their goals through
involvement in research, policy development,
consultancy and management. - Australian Association of Social Workers (1997)
- www. aasw.org.au
19Influences on the nature of Social Work
- Not determined in isolation
- Social environment controls, constrains and
directs - Role in relation to other social institutions
- Vary across countries and cultures
- Eg western, individual, self direction
- Eastern, interdependence, directive
- Defined and redefined by interaction with others
- Interests of powerful groups
20Political-social-ideological context
- Policy and legal context (community development
or advocacy out of favour in 80s 90s,
rediscovery of community) Why? - Human rights legislation shape provision, eg
disability - Welfare regime, approach to welfare
- Role in general welfare
- Connection with service provision
- Distinguishing role from other professions (
nursing, occupational therapy, psychology etc)
21Characteristics of social workers
- Non judgemental, protect and assist all citizens
(rights and citizenship) - Benefits and services are a right, need effective
planning - Collective provision of society not just an
individual - User participation
- Not external expert
- Choice, values, respected, own solutions
- Stakeholders in services.
- Social model of explanation
- Social origins of problems, not individual
- Social influence on and impact of problems
- Focus on family and community involvement
- Integration of individuals with family and
community
22Social works claim
- social improvement can be achieved by
interpersonal influence and action, that social
change can be harnessed to individual personal
development and that carrying out these two
activities together should be a profession. - Payne,2006
23Dimensions to Social Work
- Diversity
- Genericism and Specialisation
- Context of Welfare State
- Secular
- Integration knowledge, values and skills
- Normative (Ife, 1997)
24Understanding the person in social context
25(No Transcript)
26Person in social context
- Microsystem
- Mesosystem
- Exosystem
- Macrosystem
- Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979)The Ecology of Human
Development
27Microsystem
- The individual within her/his immediate social
systems (the nuclear family, the school, the
workplace, the neighbourhood ) important to
consider the strength and nature of the
connections
28Mesosystem
- Nature of the connections between family, school,
workplace, neighbourhood and community ( church,
recreational groups etc) microsystems
29Exosystem
- Systems in which the individual does not play a
direct role but which impact on the individual
e.g. fathers workplace ( retrenchment?), local
government and non-government institutions,
health, mental health and welfare services
30Macrosystem
- Overarching cultural, sub-cultural and
institutional systems that impact on lower order
systems e.g. dominant beliefs re unemployed
people or children with behavioural problems
31The Webbers
- Clive -Father
- Amanda - Mother
- Joanna- 9years
- Andrew -5yrs
(BBC training tape)