Minimising discrimination: A case for excluding interviews from selection for social work courses

Substantial changes in the ways selection interviews are conducted have been the inevitable result of increasing awareness of equal opportunities issues and the requirements of the DipSW courses. The argument pursued in this paper is that interviews do not improve selection because intuitive judgements are inevitably poor and allow discrimination to enter the selection processes. This conclusion is based on a review of the dilemmas facing a University DipSW programme, and research findings from social psychology and equal opportunities research. It should be of interest to DipSW programmes, especially those considering the value of interviews as a method of selection.