Education and training for social work: A response to Tony Novak

Novak's proposal (1995) that student social workers should be taught on the basis of how social work should be practised rather than how it actually is being practised within the current market economy, is challenged as an unhelpful ‘head in the sand’ approach to current dilemmas in social work education. The revised Diploma in Social Work (CCETSW, 1995a) is defended on the grounds that it prepares social workers for the jobs they will have to do on qualifying; that it retains a user-centred anti-racist and anti-discriminatory value basis and that, in spite of serious political threats, it remains rooted in higher education and emphasises the importance of holistic assessment and critical reflection in practice.     

Supporting Care Leavers to Fulfil their Educational Aspirations: Resilience,Relationships and Resistance to Help

Most children in state care do not do as well in school as their peers, but the period of leaving care and transition to adulthood may offer a ‘turning point’ for positive change. Based on a small study of care leavers in England, this article employs the concept of resilience to explore the significance of supportive relationships in enabling this group of young people to make decisions about their future and encouraging them to overcome setbacks in educational attainment.     

Powerblindness

In the land of the blind, the one‐eyed man may be king. But positions of power may produce their own forms of blindness. This paper reviews multiple theoretical approaches to the concept of powerblindness and categorizes these literatures into five forms through which powerblindness operates: powerblind identity (failure to notice that one belongs to a privileged group), powerblind egalitarianism (belief that all groups are equal in power), powerblind hierarchy (emphasis on one's own subordinate position), powerblind exception (the claim that one is less privileged than others in one's group), and powerblind justification (belief that present‐day hierarchy is merited or inevitable). The paper identifies studies offering evidence for each, drawing on social‐psychological experiments, survey data, and qualitative research, suggesting that power and knowledge do not necessarily go hand in hand – some forms of knowledge about the social order may be more visible to people with less power than to people with more.     

Ground Zero: reflections on trauma,in/distinction and response

This essay traces practices of tourism and memory at Ground Zero in New York in 2001 in an attempt to understand the perceived significance of what had happened and what it was that had been seen as traumatic. It describes the endless circling of the site, and the need for people to see for themselves. It argues that what happened included not just the impact of the planes but the collapse of the twin towers and the wound to the cityscape that followed. This exploration leads the paper to propose a more all‐embracing view of trauma, not as an injury to the flesh, to the psyche, to the community, or to the built environment, but as the name for an event where the very distinctions between body, psyche, community and environment are called into question. Practices that took place after 9.11 reveal how visitors and rescue workers sought, for example by taking photographs and in their insistent search for remains, to reinstate distinctions that had been obliterated, and how they struggled not only against the use of victims as a means that took place that day, but the ongoing instrumentalisation of life that takes place anyway under contemporary systems of sovereign power.     

An analysis of variables affecting length of stay in foster care

The purpose of this paper was to find out whether the relationship between type of contact with agency and/or child in foster care and average number of contacts over time makes any difference in length of stay in foster care. Four types of contacts were examined: Family—Agency, Family Initiated—Agency, Social Worker—Initiated, and Family—Child. Results indicated that there were critical numbers for each contact type found to be statistically significant that would tend to reduce the length of the child's stay in foster care. The importance of contact during the first month of placement was emphasized.     

The relationship between criminality and home background

There are two extensive literatures which deal with this subject. One is that on criminality, defining the distinctions between morality and cultural definitions. The other is on how parents ought to influence their offspring. And there is also a smaller literative on the causal or statistical relationship between the two. This research tradition attempts to isolate particular hypotheses—like lone parents or genetics. What is missing is both a study of why certain influences are significant, and a connection between the actual cases of criminality and criminals' own experiences of their parents. For this purpose lengthy semistructured interviews with young offenders were carried out, exploring their memories and perceptions of home life and their attitudes to their parents and their subsequent experiences. This paper discusses the factors that the interviewees raised consistently, openly and articulately; violence in the home, neglect, laissez-faire: and turning to peer groups for alternative support. At the heart of the evidence lies a lack of dialogue and the perception of a lack of active interest in them by parents. The consequences are discussed, including the inability to develop normal social relationships, leading to frustration and the repetition of violence in the home in different circumstances.     

The interface between the child welfare and criminal justice systems in England

The development of government guidance can seem a mysterious process to those outside government. This paper, which draws on the author's experience, is intended to give some insight into how guidance in two areas—child witnesses and children involved in prostitution—was developed within the existing legal framework. Since that time, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has come into force in England and Wales and the Children Bill is currently before Parliament. The paper begins by setting out the key legislation, regulations and guidance that underpinned the child welfare and criminal justice systems as they related to child protection at the time the guidance was being developed. It then describes how the different guidance documents relate to each other and the implications for practice. The development of speci?c guidance is drawn upon to illustrate some of the tensions that had to be resolved during the drafting and the processes by which they were ?nalized for approval by the Government. A key area requiring careful consideration was the differences between the family and criminal justice systems. In the former, the welfare of the child is paramount when making decisions and in the latter, the court has a duty to ensure the defendant has a fair trial. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Smoker-Nonsmoker Conflict: Using a Social Psychological Framework to Understand aCurrent Social Controversy

Over the past two decades, state and federal restrictions of public smoking have become increasingly common. The resulting controversy has generally focused on the research evidence regarding the physiological effects of second-hand smoke while ignoring relevant psychological aspects of smoker-nonsmoker conflict. In this article I review the literature on the psychological consequences of smoker-nonsmoker interaction, interpreting these results from the framework of social psychological research on inter-group conflict. From this review I conclude that: a) smoker-nonsmoker conflict shares many characteristics of other ingroup-outgroup interactions; b) both groups are served by the legislated separation of these groups; and c) such separation can be successfully accomplished only when close attention is paid to subtle environmental cues. Finally, theoretical benefits of studying smoker-nonsmoker conflict from a social psychological perspective are discussed.     

Foodborne Exposure to Pesticides and Methylmercury in the United Arab Emirates

As part of a comprehensive environmental health strategic planning project initiated by the government of Abu Dhabi, we assessed potential dietary exposure in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to methylmercury (in seafood) and pesticides (in fruits and vegetables) above international guideline levels. We present results for the UAE population by age, gender, and body mass index. Our results show very low daily risks of exposure to pesticides in fruits and vegetables at levels exceeding WHO guidelines even under the conservative assumption that no pesticides are removed during washing and food preparation. Thus, exposure to pesticides on fruits and vegetables does not appear to be a major public health concern in the UAE. The chances of exposure to methylmercury in seafood are much higher; our model estimates a mean 1 in 5 daily risk of exceeding the FAO/WHO provisional tolerable weekly intake. However, great caution should be used in interpreting these results, as we analyzed only the risks and not the substantial benefits of fish consumption. In fact, previous studies have demonstrated that exposure to the n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish can increase IQ in developing children, and it can substantially decrease the risk in adults of coronary heart disease and stroke. Further research is warranted to compare the risk of Me‐Hg exposure from fish to the nutritional benefits of fish consumption in the UAE and to determine appropriate methods to communicate risk and benefit information to the UAE population.