What is troubling, though, is their responses when we ask what they see as key current issues affecting social work. With no sense of self-pity, many highlight short resources and unmanageable caseloads, but they seem to take this in their stride. But what they frequently also highlight is the stigma and scapegoating that they see social work facing from the media and policymakers. They aren't surprised and they aren't fazed, but it's clearly the elephant run riot in the room.
Lately, it's not just social work that's been under attack, but specifically social work education. The government commissioned not one but two reviews to explore the state of social work education, The Narey and Croisdale-Appleby reviews (pdf), making clear that this was seen as wanting.
Perhaps, as an educator myself, I would say this, but as I travel around the country seeing other social work education departments, I continue to be massively impressed and reassured by the levels of dedication, enthusiasm and skill that abound – even in these difficult times for higher education.
Truth to tell, if there is a problem in social work, as both the Munro inquiry(pdf) and the Social Work Task Force found, it is the over-bureaucratised, under-resourced and managerialist nature of many statutory departments, where face-to-face time with service users is inhibited and the development of expertise discouraged by difficult conditions of work.
Sadly, for many graduating social work students the problem is statutory placements that don't always do justice to the principles of social work, and unhealthy and unsustainable workplaces that struggle to maintain humanity and efficiency for both their staff and service users.
Of course what is most interesting is why this particular focus on social work and social work education at this particular time. If two key, modern child protection tragedies – the cases ofBaby Peter and Daniel Pelka – tell us anything, it is that this has to be the wrong focus. A key finding from both cases was that other services and policies, notably the police, education and schools, health and hospitals, have been found wanting and there is a serious issue of inter-departmental/agency policy working which all need to be tackled more effectively.
By focusing on social work and social work education, in isolation, neither of these reports is able to deal with this key finding from these and other tragedies. And this relates to adult safeguarding as well as child protection.
Significantly, in her minority report on one of the first of these modern child care tragedies, the death of Maria Colwell, the late Olive Stevenson, a pioneer of social work education, highlighted the importance of improved interprofessional and interagency working.
Yet sadly it seems that the message has continued to go unheard. Again, we have to ask ourselves why. Is it, as many fear, because social work is seen as an easy target – a lot easier to control and put down than the police or medicine? And is it part of a broader political strategy to privatise social work and bring it in line with current ideological agendas – as has already been happening to the once magnificent but now seriously damaged probation service?
If so, there is real reason for us all to worry, but especially the many people who value the help and support social work gives them in getting their lives back on track.
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