'Tinged with Bitterness': re-presenting stress in family care

The provision of care within families, and specifically the difficulties within such relationships, has become the focus of much research, legislation and debate in recent years. This paper explores carers' and carees'[1] talk about 'stress', home-based care, and comments on how such talk is reflected in UK social policy. Carers' and carees' accounts are presented to theorise the construction of difficulties in the present relationship--focusing in particular on the taking up of or resistance to roles and responsibilities within the family. The way in which competing discourses and discursive strategies are deployed to achieve certain effects within the family, social services and other support agencies is also explored. Family care is re-presented with a focus on language, and a reflection on how such relationships can become tinged with bitterness.     

Advocacy in Practice: The Troubled Position of Advocates in Adult Services

This paper is a review, and critical appraisal, of the theoryand practice of advocacy. Advocacy is not social work, but itsprinciples and values resonate closely to those espoused bythe British Association of Social Workers (BASW, 2002). In thispaper, we interrogate the assumption that advocacy is necessarilyalways a positive and enabling experience. Indeed, we suggestthat the use of advocacy can be contested from the point ofthe view of the service user (the advocacy partner¹), the advocateand from professionals working with advocates (or positioningthemselves as advocates). Drawing on recent research that evaluated advocacy servicesin Nottinghamshire, we discuss some of the key tensions. Inparticular, we consider the reality of the advocate’srole, including where it relates to and differs from socialwork, and the issue of whether advocacy can be part of whata social worker does anyway. We also review, briefly, the dilemmasarising from professionals acting as advocates, especially inrelation to being independent of services.     

Readiness to practice social work in Aotearoa New Zealand: perceptions of students and educators

The readiness to practice of newly qualified social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand is a contested subject. In recent years, criticism by public figures including government ministers and the New Zealand government-appointed Children’s Commissioner have stimulated debate within the profession. Media critique of social work practice has highlighted many of the challenges faced by social workers. Significant policy developments, in particular a substantive government review of child protection services, have also increased the scrutiny of the capabilities of social workers.

A timely 3-year multi-phase project ‘Enhancing readiness to practise’ is the first large study of social work education to be funded in Aotearoa New Zealand. The findings reported here have been derived from data collected in a series of focus group interviews with social work educators and students, in which they reflected on curricula in their programs and explored their perceptions of readiness to practice. Overall, educators were positive about the preparedness of their graduating students but held concerns over the organizational environments they would enter. Students were more ambivalent about their readiness, but hopeful and committed to ongoing learning. Development of programs to support graduates to transition to employment is recommended.     

Change,Complexity, and Challenge in Social Work Education in Aotearoa,New Zealand

Abstract

Social work education in New Zealand is undergoing considerable change as new registration and education policies take effect. Within a complex environment, the major force is the implementation of registration since the passing of legislation in 2003. Parallel to this is considerable change in tertiary education policy. Both the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) and the New Zealand Tertiary Education Strategy (2002) will have considerable impact on social work education. The present article explores the challenges of this environment and briefly considers strategies to ensure that the perspectives of key stakeholders are sought in the development of responses to this complex situation. Students, practitioners, social work educators and researchers, agencies, and the communities we ultimately serve all have a stake in what we do in schools of social work, but have different roles. A review of the system and nature of social work education may be timely.