We are The College of Social Work and we hold the new professional standards for England.

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Silver Sage Posted: 9 Jan 2012 5:33 PM

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This is the end of opening paragraph of the home page of the College of Social Work.

We are The College of Social Work and we hold the new professional standards for England.  

Can anyone tell me one it means? Are they locked up in a vault? Surely once they are printed, then everyone can "hold them" or are they like "The Conch" in Lord of the Flies....only "the holder" can speak and everyone must listen; they have power, but....... not to be shared!!?

Seems a bit "Lord of the Rings"-ish to me....."And one ring to rule them all" But who can bear it?

The theme continues later on down the page where it says ;

"We exists (sic) to uphold the agreed professional standards"

Uphold? Isn't that a regulatory body function? As the police uphold  law and order? Can I report sub-standard social work to them and have it remedied?

Surely they can only tell their members what standards are and exhort them to comply as professionals?

But then, so can a whole range of agencies and organisations. And if indeed the college is "the members", then presumably the members individually must determine that they will work to those standards, but will be neither inspected nor struck off the register by "The College" ( Yet!)

So it would be hard for The College to "uphold" the standard of its members, never mind the whole profession

I was a bit bemused by the way the co-chair of the College ( Maurice) was unable to vocalise what the College would actually do when cross-examined at the education select committee....but with a bit of prep, I would have looked for a bit more clarity and concrete substance from the website.

Well, I'd better get out of here before the Aukses getses my scent!

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Rupert M replied on 9 Jan 2012 6:10 PM

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Social work is the ‘safety net’ of society 

Trained and qualified social workers intervene in private and/or family life in order to: 

• protect individuals from harm to themselves or to others
• promote human development and security, social inclusion and participation across the lifespan.

Social workers have core values for carrying out their work.  These values are: 

• to respect, promote and uphold the human, legal and civil rights of the child and adult
• to respect and uphold the equality, worth and diversity of all people, respecting their individuality, privacy and dignity
• to protect people from discrimination and prejudice
• to enable people to have personal autonomy, independence, choice and control.

So can we fully expect the College to CHALLENGE inequality and oppression - given that the Government funds it?

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Silver Sage replied on 9 Jan 2012 7:06 PM

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“The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human
relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being.
Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the
points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and
social justice are fundamental to social work”4

(Definition of Social Work from the International Federation of Social Workers).

BASW is a long standing and very active member of IFSW but I wonder if TCSW is?I  It would have to sign up to the above.

It is to be expected that there will regularly be a conflict of interests between government and social work remit, during which we should be able to depend on theProfessional Association/College to speak out about any govenment action or initiative which, either directly or indirectly is incompatible with social justice.

There have been several deafening TCSW silences on certain subjects already!