BC Social Workers: Training, Professional & Career Development for SW's

Majority of newly qualified social workers struggle to find time for training

Social workers at all levels have felt the impact of cuts to the number of support staff in their teams, according to the latest research. Meanwhile newly qualified practitioners are seeing a squeeze on their training and supervision.

Kirsty McGregor, December 11, 2012, Community Care.

Almost nine out of 10 newly qualified social workers find it difficult to fit training and professional development in around other demands on their time, a survey has revealed. Half of the 117 newly-qualified respondents to Liquid Personnel’s survey of social workers said their current caseload was “unmanageable”, while 88% said they found it hard to fit in training and 63% felt they did not receive enough supervision.

“We risk having a generation of practitioners whose development is stunted and who are more experienced at filling in forms rather than what they joined the profession to do – working with people,” warned Jonathan Coxon, managing director of Liquid Personnel.

The recruitment agency's wider survey, which received more than 600 responses in total, found 67% of social workers have seen cuts to administrative and support posts in their teams over the last 12 months.

“We still have the same amount of cases in our team, but less workers and less admin support,” said one local authority social worker, based in the Midlands. “The time we spend with families in direct work has reduced significantly. Now in essence we see them the bare minimum, just so the stats are ok.”

Among the managers who responded, 94% agreed that cuts to support staff had hindered their team’s ability to work effectively.

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Editorial Comment:

I've generally found the barrier to being able to attend training were managers (who were not social workers) approving the time and cost. Many of the systems we work in have been slashing their training and professional development budgets over the past few years.

Professional and career development and access to training is an important issue to all social service professionals. Currently, Registered Social Workers in BC are one of the only recognized professions that does not require its members to take a specific number of Continuing Education credits to ensure that registrants remain current and develop themselves as professionals.

There is a BCCSW internal committee that has been working on this issue for some time. It is a complex issue for a number of reasons. A large majority of RSW's in the province work for public sector employers and accessibility to training and professional development can be quite restricted in today's fiscally constrained organizations.

There is also a reluctance to give people time off to attend training because there is nobody to pick up the workload of an uncovered caseload. Sadly, I also think one of the problems is that there are employers who simply do not understand, or see the benefits and need for professional and career development for their employees.

For instance one Health Authority has made the decision to cancel a one day training event that an internal committee of volunteers has already been working on for Social Work Week in 2013. This sounds a loud and clear message to the SW's of that organization.

BC is also a vast place, geographically, so professionals working in rural and smaller communities do not have the same accessibility to training as those in more urban areas. Although I have to say, I've seen a lot of great training events put on in smaller communities that I wished I could attend.

There is also some truth to the notion that we may have a hard time trying to fit training into our schedule with the workloads already being carried. Many of us know the feeling of coming back to even more work and crisis when we are off with no coverage.

However most professionals I know thrive on being able to access training, information and having opportunities to develop our knowledge and skill base. We see training as an important way to develop both professionally and personally.

Perhaps in 2013 more of us will consider accessing the rights that have been bargained for us and letting our employers know that training, professional and career development are crucial to building our own capacity as employees in carrying out our duties, building organizational capacity with a well-trained and educated workforce and recruiting and retaining us as employees.

It's even been made difficult to get time off for training although many of our collective agreements actually have provisions for us to take training. Social workers and other professionals who work for the BC government are covered under Component agreements, in addition to the Master Agreement. The Social, Information and Health- Component 6 has Article 6 - Career Development (pg. 5), which states:

6.1 Purpose

(a) Both parties recognize that changing legislation and policy, improved equipment, methods, and procedures may create changes in the job structure of this Component's workforce. The parties also recognize the need to provide employees with the opportunity for career development.

(b) The provisions of this article are intended to assist regular employees in maintaining and improving skills, to assist them in preparing for promotion, and to improve the quality of service offered to the citizens of British Columbia.

6.3 Professional Development

(a) In order that each employee shall have the opportunity for an exchange of knowledge and experience with colleagues in the private and public sectors, regular employees shall be entitled to up to 10 days leave with pay per year for the following purposes:

(1) To attend conferences or conventions related to the employee's field or specialization.
(2) To participate in seminars, workshops, symposia, or similar out-service programs to keep up-to-date with knowledge and skills in their respective field.
(3) In the case of chaplains, professional development shall include activities of the employee's religious denomination which are necessary to the maintenance of the employee's credentials.
(4) A maximum of two (2) of the ten (10) Professional Development Days shall be available to undertake research of work related topics approved by the supervisor. Scheduling shall be by mutual agreement.

ARTICLE 17 - LEAVE - EDUCATION under the Health Sciences Association (HSA) Agreement states the following:

17.01 The employer recognizes the desirability of providing a climate for employees to improve their education level, to enhance their opportunities for advancement, and to enhance their qualifications.

17.02 Education leave shall be granted by the employer to regular employees requesting such leave, subject to the following provisions:

(a) The Employer shall grant one (1) day's education leave of absence with pay (at straight time rates) for each day that an individual employee gives of their own time. Education leave of absence with pay is not to exceed 36 hours of employer contribution per agreement year.

The Employer shall grant one (1) day leave of absence at straight time rates when an employee attends an approved educational program on two (2) consecutive days off. This one (1) day leave of absence shall be included in the "36 hours of employer contribution" of an agreement year.

(b) Premium pay does not apply under this article.

(c) Educational leave will be utilized for courses that relate to the employee's profession and are approved by the employer. It may also be utilized to sit exams for relevant professional courses.

(d) Such leave and reasonable expenses associated with the leave will be subject to budgetary and operational restraints. Reasonable expenses for all such leaves will not exceed $600 per employee per agreement year.

(e) Additional unpaid leave for education purposes may be requested by employees. The Employer shall not be responsible for any expenses related to such unpaid leave.

(f) Education leave is not accumulated from Agreement year to Agreement year.

(g) This article applies to expenses, but not to leaves-of-absence, for correspondence courses.

17.03 Application for education leave shall be submitted to the Employer with as much lead time as practical, with due consideration for the staffing requirements of the Employer.

The employee shall be informed of the Employer's decision within a reasonable period of time from the date of submission.

Public Sector Collective Agreements

BC Government & BC Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU):

15th Master Agreement; April 1, 2010 - March 31, 2012

PROVINCIAL AGREEMENT

between

THE HEALTH SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS BARGAINING ASSOCIATION

and

HEALTH EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION of BRITISH COLUMBIA

BCGEU: Community Social Services - Component 3