The Dilemmas of Contemporary Social Work: A Case Study of the Social Work Degree in England

2020

Social Work Education

Over the past ten years, fast-track social work qualifying training routes have been introduced and rapidly expanded in England. These programmes justify their existence through rhetoric that implies their students are superior to other students, and therefore require special privilege -the "best and brightest". When evaluating fasttracks, the approach taken largely ignores their broader public impact, including how they impact on the majority of social work students who continue to qualify through mainstream university social work education. This exploratory study seeks to gain an understanding of the impact that these changes have had on mainstream social work students, and in particularly how these students see themselves in relation to fasttrack students. Based on the principles of democratic evaluation, brief and anonymous questionnaires were sent to all postgraduate social work students at two universities in England. The findings suggest that while mainstream students do not generally perceive themselves as being inferior future practitioners, they do recognise the financial and symbolic inequity they are subjected to, in particular as a result of their qualifying courses receiving significantly less financial support. Findings related to 2 participants' reasoning for not applying to fast-tracks, and how views differ based on demographics, are also explored.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Left behind: exploring how mainstream social work students see themselves compared to the ‘best and brightest’

2020

Social Work Education

“…ASYE social workers in local authorities have also been found to be more stressed than average social workers, further suggesting that employers are struggling to adequately support those they are tasked with developing and training in their early careers (Johnson et al, 2019). Moreover, research has found that social work practice settings can at times be hostile towards academic learning and theory for students (Higgins et al, 2016), and practice educators have described being afforded insufficient time and scope by their employers to adequately support students (Domakin, 2015). While there are myriad of complex reasons why employers can struggle to support their staff and students effectively, most notably the impact of a decade of austerity and under-resourcing (House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, 2019; Cromarty, 2019), as it is stands it remains questionable whether employers really have the capacity to take on this new lead role in social work education.…”

Section: Social Work Degree Apprenticeshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Better together: comprehensive social work education in England

Critical and Radical Social Work

2022

Prospective social workers in England are increasingly being segregated into different qualification routes. While the justification for this segregation relates to either academic achievement or the vocational nature of the course, students also end up segregated based on prior advantage, personal circumstances, context and experience. This article examines the three main routes into contemporary social work in England: fast-track training programmes, apprenticeships and mainstream programmes. It is shown that each of these approaches arguably have advantages and disadvantages, but that ultimately it is the segregation itself is doing the most damage to the profession. An alternative approach is suggested, based on comprehensive and social justice values, where the focus is on bringing students together, rather than splitting them apart.

“…Fisher identifies that capitalist realism leads to a sickness that there is nothing new and it may be that the social workers in that study experienced this malaise when they struggled to work out whether there were changes in social work. This illness can result in a loss of hope because no change, no alternative hopeful future, can be imagined (Higgins et al, 2016). From the aforementioned doctoral study (Higgins, 2013) there are two quoted examples of this sense of a loss of hope: 'I think it's just the same thing just sold in a different package basically .…”

Section: Proposing Change To Implement No Changementioning

confidence: 99%

A Fisher-eye lens on social work reform

McGrath-Brookes

Higgins

2020

Journal of Social Work

Self Cite

Summary Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, published in 2009, has been recognised as one of the most important contributions chronicling the rise, application and consequences of neoliberalism. However, Fisher’s ideas have until now only garnered passing mention in the study of neoliberalism in children and families social work in England, despite there being extensive research, argument and publication on the subject more broadly. This article attempts to rectify this gap and apply Fisher’s theory to the recent reforms in children and families social work in England. Findings The article applies Fisher’s commentary on the co-option of language, invoking crisis, bureaucracy and proposing change to implement no change, to the reforms in children and families social work that began with the implementation of Reclaiming Social Work in 2008. Since that time, the original architects of Reclaiming Social Work have gained significant positions of power and influence and been instrumental in introducing neoliberal reforms throughout children and families social work in England. Applications Through applying the approach and concepts of Mark Fisher, this article concludes that it is possible to determine that the current reforms are, at their core, neoliberal in nature and driven by an ideological imperative to transform children and families social work in England into a neoliberal edifice, with less public sector and state input and oversight and an increase in the influence of ‘not-for-profits’, charities and international for-profit consultancies.