W(h)ither the academy? An exploration of the role of university social work in shaping the future of social work in Europe

A controversial proposal to pilot the training of child protection social workers through an intensive work-based route in England is being supported and funded by the UK Government. Frontline, the brainchild of a former teacher, locates social work training within local authorities (‘the agency’) rather than university social work departments (‘the academy’) and has stimulated debate amongst social work academics about their role in shaping the direction of the profession. As a contribution to this debate, this paper explores the duality of social work education, which derives its knowledge from both the academic social sciences and the experience of practice within social work agencies. While social work education has traditionally been delivered by the academy, this paper also explores whether the delivery of training in the allied professions of probation and nursing by ‘the agency’ is equally effective. Finally, this paper explores the Helsinki model which achieves a synergy of ‘academy’ and ‘agency’. It suggests that there are alternative models of social work education, practice and research which avoid dichotomies between the ‘academy’ and the ‘agency’ and enable the profession to be shaped by both social work academics and practitioners.     

Ambiguous position of the child in supervised meetings

The paper addresses the ambiguous nature of supervised meetings between children and their non‐residential parent(s) which, according to the current legal idea, should serve the best interest of the child. In Finland the meetings between the child and the non‐residential parent can be ordered supervised if there are justified grounds for assuming that they constitute a risk for the child's safety. In many parts of Europe the need for such kinds of meetings controlled by outsiders has increased. The aim of the paper is to consider the child's position and the closely related issue of the child's interest in supervised meetings, based on the daily experiences of the supervisors. Data are gathered by focus group interviews and analysed qualitatively in terms of categorization analysis. As a result, the child's position is an ambiguous phenomenon with multiple interests. Obviously the child's interests will be met in some cases, although paradoxically it is mostly the interests of the parents and most often the fathers, which seem to demand more attention. Thus adult‐centredness, meanings of gender, time together with both the positive and possible detrimental outcomes for the child need further reflection.     

Ideology in Management Studies

Ideology is a core and contested concept in the social sciences, but also long deployed in management research to highlight the political, embedded and/or obscuring nature of ideas. Indeed, many would argue that management itself is inherently ideological in legitimating or privileging managerial interests and concealing other groups and ways of organizing. In the first systematic review of how ideology has been conceptualized in management studies, this paper explores its diverse and changing meanings in order to develop and sustain the concept. It is based on a heuristic review of 175 articles and 41 books published between 1956 and 2018. Further developing categories used in the social sciences around its role, we found views of ideology as: (1) domination; (2) legitimation; (3) interpretation; (4) integration; and (5) normative logic. In addition, emerging perspectives were identified where ideology was (6) an object of critique or (7) fantasy structuring social reality. We describe, illustrate and evaluate these often internally diverse and interrelated perspectives, as well as comparing them with sometimes competing notions within the management field, such as discourse, culture and legitimation. We also bring together the different approaches and argue for a pluralist, but not infinitely flexible, approach to the concept. In doing so, we identify research agendas for ideology within management and organization studies.     

The contemporary reconstruction of finnish social work expertise

Reflexivity has been one of the central themes in Finnish social work discussions in the 1990s. It can be seen as an effort to respond to the demands of post-modern society. This article concentrates on analysing fundamental changes in Finnish social work from the viewpoint of current trends in practical social work, academic training, and research practices. This process can be described as a breakthrough of reflexive professional practices compared to the previous phase of academization, which is also discussed. The present stage of development of Finnish social work provides an interesting example of, and a point of comparison for, the contemporary European discussion about various social work profiles. The demand for reflexive professional competence also increases professional responsibility and autonomy. Consequently it gives rise to new forms of state support for and control over the professions. In Finnish social work this means strengthening social work education and modifications in the respective legislation. Finnish social work education has been highly academic, providing an MA degree in social work since 1981. Within the present renewal process, social work is becoming a major subject area with its own chairs. All this opens new opportunities for social work research and practice developments. Three significant examples of recent Finnish social work research are summarized and questions of reflexivity in social work are also addressed.     

Voices in discourses: Dialogism, Critical Discourse Analysis and ethnic identity

In this article we attempt to combine the Bakhtinian, dialogical philosophy of language and critical discourse analysis (CDA) with our analysis of ethnic identity. The data we discuss are an interview with a Sami journalist who works in the Sami media. We analyse the interview from the points of view of dialogism and CDA to illustrate how identity must be understood as something which is both individual and social in nature. We reject the earlier essentialist interpretations of identity which see it as purely individual and psychological in nature. At the same time, we argue that those views of identity that see it as exclusively socially constructed can be misleading as well. We aim to illustrate our individual‐cum‐social viewpoint by discussing how identity is represented through a variety of voices and a variety of discourses. We discuss ethnic identity as related both to social level discourses that our subject drew on – such as the discourses of the journalistic profession or ethnicity and to 'voices' that bear witness to his experiences as an individual and his individual life course.     

Motives for and barriers to physical activity among older adults with mobility limitations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what older adults with severe, moderate, or no mobility limitation consider motives for and barriers to engaging in physical exercise. Community-dwelling adults (N=645) age 75-81 years completed a questionnaire about their motives for and barriers to physical exercise and answered interview questions on mobility limitation. Those with severely limited mobility more often reported poor health, fear and negative experiences, lack of company, and an unsuitable environment as barriers to exercise than did those with no mobility limitation. They also accentuated disease management as a motive for exercise, whereas those with no or moderate mobility limitation emphasized health promotion and positive experiences related to exercise. Information about differences in motives for and barriers to exercise among people with and without mobility limitation helps tailor support systems that support engagement in physical activity among older adults.     

Organization of work in interaction between the paramedics and the patient

The paper analyzes the ways in which the two paramedics organize their work activities in the courses of interaction with the patient. The paramedic-patient -interaction is generally based on question-answer -sequences where one paramedic asks a question to which the patient answers. The paper examines the organization of paramedics' institutional roles and responsibilities within these particular sequences of talk by conversation analytic means. Instead of leaning on any personal or psychological explanations, the paper aims to demonstrate how particular breaches or problems in the organization of division of labour become explainable and understandable through the detailed analysis of preceding interaction. The main research data consist of the videorecordings of naturally occurring interactions between paramedics and patient.     

Health promotional education: differences between school nurses' health counselling and teachers' health instruction in the finnish ENHPS

The purpose of the study was to describe school nurses' (N=24) and teachers' (N=25) opinions of how the health‐related goals in their counselling and instruction were attained and to find out the possible differences between the two groups in the Finnish European Network of Health Promoting Schools. The data were collected by a questionnaire and analysed statistically. Some significant differences existed. School nurses ranked non‐intoxicant use, human growth and development and life control highest in their health counselling, whereas teachers underlined health maintenance and well‐being, respect for other people and non‐intoxicant use. School nurses' health counselling covered disease prevention and treatment better compared to teachers' health instruction, whereas health maintenance and well‐being, environmental health, first aid and safety and respect for other people were covered better in teachers' health instruction. Teachers were more promotional and community‐oriented, while school nurses emphasised a more preventive and individually oriented approach.