Is Social Work A Learning Profession?

I recently conducted a poll on LinkedIn; the question I asked participants is, given your experience of social work, 'would you encourage a loved one to become a social worker?'

Participants were requested to answer in the following way: yes indefinitely, no, or yes, but for a short time only.

The poll was open for a two week period and attracted 431 votes. Out of the 431 participants, the vast majority of whom were social workers 22% (94 people) voted that yes that they would indefinitely encourage a loved one to become a social worker.

12% (50 people) voted that they would encourage a loved one to become a social worker, but only for a short period of time.

67% (287 people) voted that they would not encourage someone they loved to become a social worker.

Now, I should mention that a number of voters on all sides of the debate were extremely passionate about their views in connection with this topic; with some people arguing forcefully 'why would they subject someone they love to the experience of social work?'

Whilst others, clearly committed to the profession, were very disappointed that the vast majority of the voters were expressing their unhappiness and dissatisfaction related to their experience of the profession.

The point of the poll though was not to be divisive by highlighting the divergent views of social workers, but it was instead to gain a sense of something I have long suspected - that the majority of social workers are unhappy or dissatisfied with their experiences.

Okay, so we now have a fairly clear idea about how most social workers feel...and the outcome was, or seemed to be the same irrespective of whether the client group were children or adults.

The question is what can and should be done about it?

My view is that I have zero faith or expectation that the government, Social Work England or local authorities, have any will or desire to make changes that are likely to improve the experiences of those on the 'front line,' and team managers. If they had any genuine concern or desire to do so, they would have done it by now!

Now some may argue that social workers are there first and foremost to safeguard vulnerable children, young people and adults, and that their feelings and views about the job are of secondary importance.

The problem with this way of viewing the situation is that if no one, or too few people, care about how those providing the service to clients feel about their work; then this inevitably will have a deleterious impact on the quality of the service provided to clients.

I would argue that it should not be necessary to explain to those who demand a high quality service to the vulnerable groups of people we work with, that this can't be consistently guaranteed day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year; when those delivering the service continue to have unsatisfied needs.

And if we do not care about the needs of workers then how can anyone honestly say they care about the needs of the most vulnerable in our society?

There may soon come a time when those offering the service, do not have the needs that humans do. Artificial Intelligence will likely at some stage take over most positions, as A.I. becomes more and more sophisticated.

But in the meantime, it is a massive failing on the part of authorities to recognise that if you want to maintain and improve the services offered, that this cannot be secured without empathising with those delivering the service, and actively being engaged in taking action, which improves the experiences of social workers.

Social Work as a profession does not appear to me to be a learning one, and a consequence, we are losing social workers, there are delays impacting negatively on the safety and wellbeing of clients and additionally those still engaged in providing the service are also suffering.

I have already made clear that no one in positions of authority are going to improve in any way the experiences of social workers. Given the circumstances, it is incumbent on social work professionals to support themselves and their colleagues as best we can.

I think a fundamental step in supporting yourself is by being clear about why you entered social work in the first place, and once identified, deciding upon whether this is still what you want to do?

For some people becoming clear on why they entered the profession in the first place, may reveal an awful lot about themselves and their earlier life. For others this reflection may help to identify what they now want for their future...and what they are crucially no longer willing to compromise on or tolerate.

We pay social work England a certain amount each year for the privilege of them providing us with social work standards we have to demonstrate we have met each year. Although there is a clear reduction in the numbers of social workers wanting to renew their registration, there is little sense, I am aware of, in which it can be argued that they and the government show any sign of recognising their need to demonstrate their ability to learn, empathise and improve their understanding of the impact social work has on most social workers, and crucially how this plays a part in jeopardising the outcomes vulnerable clients receive.

I suspect the difficulty many social workers experience is that once they have been a social worker for a number of years they don't know where to turn, or what they can become after leaving social work. But the tasks involved in social work encompass so many skills and attributes that if you take the time to identify them, you will find you have a plethora of vital transferable skills for any future businesses or areas of employment.