Perceptions of Social Work from the U.K.

Busting the myths about social work

Large workloads, stress, long hours – there are plenty of preconceptions about social work but which are true?

Louise Tickle, Guardian Professional, October 2012.

Excerpts:

"I think the most popular myth is that social workers are child snatchers," says newly qualified social worker Charity Chaya, who has just graduated from Buckinghamshire New University. "From my experience, and my second year placement was in a children and family team, social workers do everything in their power to help families stay together."

Nobody is going to like someone they suspect of coming to break up their family. Chris Russell, an experienced social worker from the College of Social Work, says: "I think it'll be very different working with children and families from if you're working with adults. People value social workers because you have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives."

Ruth Cartwright, national officer at the British Association of Social Workers says how people regard social workers depends on circumstances. "There are some who are very appreciative. The problem with this time of cuts is when you have to go and tell people that there aren't services to help. Systems are quite uncaring. And when we're working in child protection we're having to be very direct and people don't like being told what to do."

Another worry for anyone contemplating a career in social work is that they'll be doomed to a lifetime of stress and exhaustion.

Russell says it's important to accept that the volume of work is never going to diminish, but it's how that work is managed which matters. "If you need a social worker then by definition you're in a position where there's a crisis or difficulty. So that brings a level of stress to the person dealing with it. When you work in a well run organisation it's do-able; when you don't it's difficult."

The preconception that there's a huge stack of paperwork to do is true. "Yes, there is paperwork, and you also have to be good at IT," says Russell. "The face-to-face is easily the best part of the work, but unless you can write what you've done, you're not serving the person properly. Munro [the report that said social workers should be freed from unnecessarily burdensome paperwork] hasn't kicked in yet."

One of the most damaging preconceptions of social workers is that they routinely demonstrate a lack of professionalism. "Certainly it's true that social work is not generally understood as a profession," acknowledges Cartwright. "The social work role is quite diffuse; we work round the edges and in between other professions, but are not inferior, and we are often the link between them."

The criticism is linked to an image of social workers being hopeless do-gooders. "That's actually not true. It's a degree entry profession and we have a lot of skills," Cartwright counters. "We are trying to work with people, which may lead to that impression, because if you want change you can't make people [do it], and I think that nuanced approach can lead to that impression."

Read the whole post here. Some very interesting comments below the post too.