Mac-social work: The routinisation of professional activity

Abstract

A number of historical trends have led to the routinisation of statutory social work practice in the UK, despite a rhetoric from legislators that appears to value traditional social work approaches. Predominant among these trends has been the defensive bureaucratic control of professional workers in Social Service Departments, and the substantial shift to the right in the political consideration of welfare issues. These trends are evidenced by the way in which the Community Care reforms have · been implemented and by a defensive reaction from statutory agencies to criticism. More recent trends that might mitigate these effects are noted, together with some suggestions for social work educators seeking to widen the horizons for their students. A conclusion suggests the future is bleak unless social work returns to its more radical roots.

In this paper it is argued that social work practice in Local Authority Social Service Departments (SSDs) in the UK has become routinised, the social worker's role has become that of a technician, and that this impacts on the rights of service-users. Within a context of political change, four historical trends are identified as leading to this situation:

1. The use of the term "social worker" as a Local Authority job title;
2. Pressures to increase the control of professional workers in SSDs, in particular through the

use of forms;

1. The disjunction between practice and theory;
2. The emergence of counselling as a separate profession.

Visiting students on placement and working with part-time students in the classroom, I have been struck in recent years by the restricted view social workers appear to have of their role, and by the way in which they see their work as increasingly constrained by form-filling. It is nothing new for social workers to complain about paper-work, lack of resources or the attitude of their managers, but this seemed to have been compounded by the way in which reforms to social services for the old, sick and disabled (Community Care) have been implemented, and by a defensive reaction from agencies to enquiries and criticism. This paper seeks to outline the issues on which further research might be based and to identify how qualifying programmes might seek to broaden the horizons for their students.