by Bronagh MiskellyThe decision by the GSCC to invite Sun agony aunt Deidre Sanders to speak at it conference was inevitably going to be controversial, it would have been foolish to expect anything else.
I should know - the decision to ask Sanders to take part in Community Care Live in May was not received with universal approval. Neither was her appointment to the Social Work Task Force.
But there are legitimate reasons to engage with Sanders.
Community Care was in the vanguard of those condemning The Sun's biased and aggressive coverage of social work over the last year, leading a campaign against its activities.
But given Sanders role on the taskforce we believed that we should take opportunities to give the profession the chance to engage with the "enemy" so to speak.
By inviting Sanders to conferences social workers have the opportunity to gauge her views and her input into the taskforce process as well as share their concerns on her employer's attitudes and approach. A protest against her presence makes one point about this - questioning Sanders in a public forum presents opportunities to make others.
Opening dialogue is more likely to change views. And given that we can not turn back time and remove Sanders from the taskforce, it is important that we understand her views and what input she has had on this body, the work of which will influence the shape of the profession on the years to come.
More opinion
Read Deidre Sanders own views on her appearance at the GSCC conference
But given Sanders role on the taskforce we believed that we should take opportunities to give the profession the chance to engage with the "enemy" so to speak.
By inviting Sanders to conferences social workers have the opportunity to gauge her views and her input into the taskforce process as well as share their concerns on her employer's attitudes and approach. A protest against her presence makes one point about this - questioning Sanders in a public forum presents opportunities to make others.
Opening dialogue is more likely to change views. And given that we can not turn back time and remove Sanders from the taskforce, it is important that we understand her views and what input she has had on this body, the work of which will influence the shape of the profession on the years to come.
More opinion
Read Deidre Sanders own views on her appearance at the GSCC conference
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer..!
Why was Deidre invited to sit on the taskforce?
Its never good to isolate people with influence, in any walk of life. It just serves to isolate their thought processes, and skews them further. Its important to 'educate' rather than vilify one whose opinions do not coincide with ours, however unpalatable they may be.... to an extent.
Deidre was invited onto the Social Work Task Force by Moria Gibb - Moria told us at one of the regional Task Force workshops that it was her idea to invite Deidre. I don't think we should be taking Deidre or the SUN to task on this one but instead to question the spineless leadership of the Task Force and the GSCC who are courting the Sun in the first place and have failed to stand up to the right wing media. We should also ask ourselves what the real agenda? More likely its to do with New Labour's election stratergy and getting the Sun to back them. By co-opting Deidre, bless her cotton socks, onto the task force, was part of Ed Balls's stratergy to ensure the Sun's support at the next election. Well that's all backfired since last Wednesday as the Sun has now ditched Brown for the Tories. Who would want to go to the GSCC conference anyway at £170 a throw and loose a days leave to listen to another New Labourite Julian Le Grand who also knows even less about social work than Deidre.
It worries me that the profession is taking such extreme views. For a profession that relies on tact and diplomacy, where is it now?