Becoming a Trustworthy Profession: Doing Better Than Doing Good

A National Survey of Australian Social Work Field Education Programs: Innovation with Limited Capacity

“…However, we acknowledge that the review of the standards is influenced by more than the evidence of what might be good practice in field education. Social work as a profession needs to uphold "profile and sustainability of the discipline within the academy, research capacity and the building of the evidence and knowledge base of the discipline" (Connolly, 2017, p. 9) and faces pressures from government on the profession to demonstrate outputs and outcomes (Healy, 2017). It is possible that ground-breaking changes, such as investigation the pedagogical evidence for the required placement hours or trialling alternative placement models, just seemed too difficult or controversial.…”

2015 Norma Parker Address: Being a Self-regulating Profession in the 21st Century: Problems and Prospects

“…Time after time, those before these inquiries have highlighted the tendency of powerful groups, whether in the clergy or in the human service professions including nursing, midwifery, medicine, and social welfare occupations to serve their own interests rather than those of the most vulnerable with whom they are practicing (Healy, 2015). In the context of these multiple failings, public confidence in the capacity of health and human service professions to effectively regulate themselves is low.…”

Transactional Analysis Approaches within Social Work Management

“…Social workers frequently work as practitioners, where they excel in their field before moving through the managerial hierarchy in which they are working, with training specifically tailored at their identity as a social worker, rather than a manager (Lonne, Harries, & Lantz, 2012). Even at a masters level, social work qualifications do not cover the fundamental challenges of managing a team, nor provide insight into how to manage this in line with the Australian Association of Social Worker Ethics and professional practice frameworks (Laird, 2013;Healy, 2015). Many social worker managers find the integration of corporate values and attitudes contradictory to professional social work values and frameworks (Gibbs, 2001).…”

“…This is particularly important in industries such as child protection, which employs a large number of recent graduates who may not be emotionally prepared for the level of work which they are undertaking which could trigger child behaviour roles being adopted by these staff members (Harrison & Healy, 2015). In these circumstances, where managers are unable to examine the situation through the lens of transactional analysis they may not be able to understand how their own behaviour, that of adopting the parent role when invited, is contributing to the poor management of the staff member (Healy, 2015). Ideally, individuals would be able to approach one another within the adult behavioural role which would encourage equal shares of power and collaborative decision making which aligns with both corporate expectations and traditional social work values.…”