Social Work and the Sociology of Knowledge

John Paley. Department of Social Policy, School of Policy Studies, Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL. Summary The research literature on social workers' use of theory suggeststhat social work, conceived as a form of knowledge in action,is amenable to a sociology of knowledge approach. This papertries to illustrate the relevant parallels, and uses both empiricaland philosophical themes in the recent sociology of scienceto identify a strategy for social work research.     

Competence and Discipline in Professional Formation

Correspondence to Dr C Clark, Department of Social Work, The University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL. Summary This paper argues that ‘competence’ is inadequateas the founding principle of professional knowledge, and consequentlythe attempt to build professional training on it is misguided.Besides the unresolved conceptual issues, the competence approachis radically undermined by the absence of an adequate researchbase necessary to validate concepts of competence and measuresof individuals' competences. Drawing on the author's researchon how practitioners use knowledge and theory in practice, itis shown that the attempt to reduce good professional practiceto a codified set of competences is mistaken; it does not properlyrecognize the constant need for creative solutions to poorlyunderstood problems. The idea of professional discipline isexplored, which, it is argued, better describes the characterof the knowledge and skills which practitioners should aim tomaster.     

Improving Social Workers' Knowledge Base in Child Protection Work

Correspondence to Dr Eileen Munro, 16 Aquarius, Eel Pie Island, Twickenham TW1 3EA, UK. Summary The present study was conducted to identify recurrent socialwork errors in the forty-five public inquiries held in Britainbetween 1973 and 1994. This article reports the findings relatingto the recurrent criticisms of social workers' knowledge base.The quality of investigations and assessments are repeatedlyfaulted. Also, many problems arise from social workers' failureto be explicit about what they are doing. The merits and shortcomingsof increased training and handbooks to improve practice arethen discussed. It is argued that social workers' widespreadpreference for a personal, private style of working is a majorobstacle to changing their use of theories and to evaluatingpractice.     

Social Work Tomorrow: Towards a Critical Understanding of Technology in Social Work

Correspondence to Bob Sapey, Department of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE Summary This paper makes use of theoretical ideas that have been developedto understand the impact of new technology on organizationsand applies them to its use within social work agencies. Thesedeveloping theories employ ideas that are familiar to socialworkers—organization theory, decision making theory, andcommunication theory. The paper therefore argues that socialworkers are in a good position to understand and influence theuse of computers within welfare agencies and do not need tobe inhibited by a lack of technological knowledge. It is furtherargued that, unless social workers do become involved in theways in which new technologies are used within organizations,they will fail to influence its impact upon their clients andmay further fail to control the way in which computers affectthe nature of social work itself in the future.     

Dreadful Moments: Existential Thoughts on Doing Social Work

Summary Dreadful moments often happen in social work. This is when theordinary, reliable, taken-for-granted world is called into questionby a calamitous or hopeless situation. In order to respond thesocial worker has to relocate himself after momentarily plunginginto a vortex of trouble that destroyed the client's and, fora short time, his own sense of relatedness. Existentialism,which focusses on the whole structure of personal and interpersonalbeing and the necessity to act in the knowledge of freedom andresponsibility, does help with this relocation. Two cases, basedon actual social work, are reconstructed dramatically in orderto illustrate the positive use of the idea of dreadful moments.These are ideal-typical examples of successful social work whichcould be a model for a general phenomenological-existentialperspective in social work in which the author is at presentengaged.     

Decision making in Child Protection: The Use of Theoretical, Empirical and Procedural Knowledge by Novices and Experts and Implications for Fieldwork Placement

Correspondence to Dr Julie Hudson, 89 Yorktown Road, Elizabeth Park, South Australia 5113 Summary This paper is concerned with the process of decision makingin child protection, particularly as it relates to the decisionwhether or not to remove a child from home. The study compareda group of novice social workers with expert practitioners,placing a particular focus on the types of knowledge that novicesdraw upon when making such decisions. A three-stage, qualitative methodology was employed to investigatechild protection decision making. All parts of the study utilizeda case vignette of a neglect scenario. This paper reports onsome of the findings in respect of the use of theoretical, empiricaland procedural knowledge. The findings suggest that novices tend to lack a clear understandingof the factors that are associated with child maltreatment.While they have a superficial awareness of the concept of riskassessment, they have an inability to weigh factors appropriatelyand to apply this to their practice. The implications of these findings are discussed in relationto field education.     

Professional Ideology, Middle Range Theories and Knowledge Building for Social Work Practice

Please address requests for reprints to Professor F. M. Loewenberg, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 52100 Ramat Gan, Israel. Summary More effective social work practice will require increased effortstoward knowledge building and theory development. Until a unifiedsocial work theory is available social workers will choose eclecticallyrelevant theoretical formulations from the large number of middlerange theories available to them from other professional disciplines.New middle range theories and innovative theoretical formulationsappear continually, resulting in a smorgasbord of theories,from which social work practitioners can choose. This articleexamines the effectiveness of an aclectic theory base for apractice profession. In the discussion of the findings noteis taken of the need for explicating social work's professionalideology as a next step in knowledge building.     

Letters from a Kangaroo: A Third Object Technique for Working with the Young Child

Summary The author looks at the use of letter writing as a third objecttechnique and considers its value in working with under fives.She also touches on early language development in the pre-schoolchild and the relevance of the theory for social workers.     

Constructivism in Social Work: Towards a Participative Practice Viability

Summary Social work has traditionally drawn upon an expansive rangeof social science research and theorizing as its claim upona ‘knowledge base’. Recent debates have exploredthe need for the profession to develop its own theory of socialwork knowledge arising from practice. This paper seeks to extendthe boundaries of these ideas through an operational and epistemologicalelaboration and critique of Sheppard's (1995a; 1998) notionof a practice paradigm. In an examination of the contributionof constructivism and the seminal work of George Kelly's (1955)Psychology of Personal Constructs, arguments are put forwardfor social work practice to focus upon the co-construction ofviable working relationships with service users as the basisfor an anti-oppressive and participative professionalism. Itargues that the sterile philosophical dichotomies between objectivism/realism-subjectivism/interpretivismand the equally unhelpful social work division between practice-theoryshould be integrated within a situated, participatory, constructivistapproach to knowledge creation in social work practice and continuingprofessional development.     

Consultancy to groupwork programmes for adult male sex offenders: some reflections on knowledge and processes

Summary This paper, drawing on the author's own experience, exploresthe role of consultancy in developing groupwork programmes foradult male sex offenders. It reviews models of consultancy andconsiders their applicability to this particular area of work.It considers what knowledge and experience are relevant to thisarea of work. It addresses issues relating to values, knowledge,gender and race both in developing programmes and in selectingconsultants. It considers how the focus and style of a consultancycan change during a period of work. Additionally, issues specificallyrelated to groupwork with sex offenders and how it may affectworkers are considered. In conclusion, the positive potentialfor this work is asserted.     

Social Work with Huntington's Chorea

Please address requests for reprints to Rosemary Yale, Association to Combat Huntington's Chorea, 108 Battersea High Street, London SW11 3HP Summary All professionals with knowledge of patients suffering fromHuntington's Chorea (HC) or their relatives, living in a definedgeographical area, were interviewed. Our findings show thatin spite of multiple psychosocial issues from time of diagnosis,and even earlier, social work was offered at a relatively latestage or not at all. Some important tasks such as genetic counsellingwere often ignored or mishandled. Lack of knowledge about theissues inhibited good practice. Professionals failed to communicateadequately and, like HC families, experienced feelings of frustrationand impotence. We conclude that HC requires a team approachif families are to cope with the complex problems they face,and we make recommendations for a better service.     

The Changing Conditions of Social Work Research

Summary This paper seeks to make a contribution to the current debateabout the changing nature and purpose of social work research.It identifies several approaches to social work research evidentin the UK and further afield and, in particular, examines differentways of engaging with research participants in the researchprocess. The changing role and relations of research arisingfrom the use of more inclusive practices are then considered;first in terms of the relevance of research for practice, andsecondly, in relation to knowledge claims in the developmentof social work theory and practice. With the ever-growing developmentsin information and communication technologies, where Westernideas and initiatives continue to dominate in relation to bothmodels of social work and research approaches, an argument ismade for dialogue throughout the research process, the centralityof negotiating skills and reflexivity, and a more creative useof conventional research skills. Dialogue, in the form outlinedhere, provides a means of encouraging a ‘connectedness’between research, practice and theory, at all levels—theparticular location where the research takes place, the widernational context and the international or global stage.     

Explanation and Education in Social Work

Summary Social work education has to confront the problem of workingwith students in developing an understanding of the range ofexplanations that exist in the social sciences and the differentbases of these explanations. One pedagogic approach is to explorea map of categories of explanation based upon different conceptionsof the nature of social science knowledge itself. Such a map,outlined in the paper, would distinguish between physical scienceparadigms and human science paradigms and identify the differentimplications for social work of the various viewpoints. Theteacher cannot remain neutral with regard to explanation inthe social sciences; the author therefore indicates that hisown account is based on a marxist perspective     

Prison Welfare and Voluntary After Care

Summary Some findings of a survey into the experiences of men releasedfrom prison are reported, where they relate to their use ofprison welfare and after care services. These are discussedin the context of issues such as through-care, rate of take-up,and the factors which may be influential in determining whethera man makes use of after care on release from prison. It isproposed that for more isolated men the probation service shouldadopt a ‘reaching-out’ strategy.     

On Teaching and Applying the Law in Social Work: It is not that Simple

Summary The teaching of welfare law to social workers has recently beenthe subject of critical scrutiny. Concurrently the relationshipbetween social work practice and the law, the place that legislationshould occupy in daily working practice, has been openly debated.This paper, based on our teaching and practice experience anda small evaluation exercise, criticizes the principal positionstaken in the debate on that relationship. It also evaluatestwo approaches to teaching law to social workers. We argue thatteaching law to social workers and using legal knowledge andprovisions in practice is not as simple and straight-forwardas some commentators allege. Rather, we argue that, for socialworkers to learn and apply the law effectively, both teachinglaw and any subsequent application of this knowledge must beconsidered in a conceptual frame of practice dilemmas whichconfront every practitioner and create role conflict, uncertainty,ambiguity, and insecurity.     

Values in Social Work: investigations of the practice of family placement

Professor Noel Timms, University of Leicester, School of Social Work, 107 Princess Road East, Leicester LEI 7LA. Summary This study explores values in social work distinguishing valuesat the levels of practice and of rhetoric A small scale projectwas undertaken in family placement work in two local authoritiesand four voluntary agencies. A pattern of activity was foundcommon to both voluntary and statutory workers engaged in familyplacements. Workers in both agencies rendered comparable accountsof a distinctive practice which stressed virtuoso skills inthe collection, appraisal and use of knowledge. The practicedepended on confidence in the ability to make good within theform of work known as family placement, and on the recognitionof what people are owed. The work was undertaken in a socialcontext which acknowledged—in the eyes of the social workers—theobvious (rhetorical) goods of the proper flounshing of children,and respect for rights. Beliefs about certain aspects of thesocial context, particularly in relation to religion, differedbetween the two groups, but such differences could not be seento reverberate in the practice.     

Using a Unitary Approach in Student Placements

Summary This paper is an attempt to think through the use of a unitaryapproach in the supervision of students, in particular withinstudent units. It considers separately the beginning phase ofany placement, first and second placements and develops theconcept of a team model by which to run the unit.     

Social Process, Space Usage: Reflections on Socialisation in Homes for Children

Summary This paper analyses the links between social processes and spaceusage through an examination of socialization and patterns ofspace use in local authority homes for children. Concepts of’family group‘ and ’responsibility‘are discussed using data from a participant observation studyas a basis, drawing attention to the relationship between socialpower and meanings attributed to architectural space.     

The Use of Autobiography in Social Work Education

Summary The article describes an experiment in writing autobiography,first with an extra mural group of trainee counsellors and thenwith social work students doing an elective in literature andsocial work. The value of such an exercise for developing self-awarenessis discussed and reference made to its use with clients.