by Helen BonnickIn the two years of a Masters degree, or even the three of a first degree, there simply isn't the time to cover everything a practising social worker will be required to know or do. So often of late we have been reminded of this, whether it be with regard to the adult-children's services split, the impact of domestic violence in so much work, the challenge of working with agencies and professionals who bring a different emphasis in their training, or the need to develop skills to work with hostile carers.
On top of this limitation, I was intrigued to find that, 30 years after my own initial training, the social work degree still carries the reputation of "marriage wrecker". A course of study which demands that you metaphorically strip yourself naked, and closely examine all your warts, freckles and beauty spots, in the interests of professional integrity and personal insight, is going to take some casualties along the way. Some students see the focus within social work training on recognising and exploring personal culture, values and belief systems as liberating, but others think it is over-inflated and intrusive.
So why do a degree?
The answer can only be that, in the face of such knowledge overload, we need first to build strong and secure foundations. Everyone will have their own view about what should be included at the base, but there are, as with self awareness, some elements that cut across all fields of work: the role of relationship, for instance, as conduit of change.
The social work degree then builds on these blocks and, once students become professionals, there must be a clear, non-negotiable culture of continuing professional development that recognises the impossibility of either covering or digesting everything at the start. The recent SCRs may have identified the problem of hostility, but chances are the next will highlight something else. I believe that once we make the foundations secure, then the rest will follow.
Helen Bonnick is a social work practice educator
