International Organisations and the Politics of Migration

The last two decades have seen major shifts in the way international organisations (IOs) address migration. While state sovereignty remains central in the politics of migration, IOs are increasingly developing their visions regarding how the cross-border movements of people should be governed (or ‘managed’) and, in some cases, they have become important actors in the design and implementation of migration policy. Research on the role and functions of IOs remains scarce, however, and there are major uncertainties, concerning not only their actual influence, but also the political context in which they operate and the outcome of their initiatives. According to their advocates, the involvement of IOs would enable greater international cooperation, which would lead to policies that pay greater attention to human rights and development imperatives. Yet, at times, interventions by IOs seem to reinforce existing imbalances, as these organisations primarily tend to align themselves with the interests and agenda of developed receiving states. In addition, the work of IOs is embedded in a complex institutional setting, characterised by sometimes-problematic institutional relations between them, as well as between IOs and other international cooperation mechanisms.     

Service Users,Social Work Education and Knowledge for Social Work Practice

This paper explores the implications of service user contributions to social work education in the light of historical critiques of disability research. The paper reflects on the authors' dual service user and academic perspectives as well as their dual disability studies and social work disciplinary affiliations. Referring back to early critiques of disability research, it argues that isolated user involvement in social work education can be problematic, particularly where that involvement is under the control of the academy. Drawing on feminist critiques of traditional social science, the authors present arguments for the collective involvement of service users in research and underpinning knowledge for social work as well as in social work education.     

The challenge of post qualifying child care award teaching: reflexivity and the role of books and biscuits

Based on an ethnographic study, this paper seeks to examine some of the challenges presented by the delivery of the post‐qualifying child care award in one particular geographical area. This exploration will be placed within the context of the dynamics of ‘reflexivity’ and the different types of knowledge that are required for practice, and will draw on both attachment theory and an understanding of unconscious processes in organisations. Aspects of the teaching experience will be described together with an analysis of some of the dynamics that were generated. Barriers to the absorption of material will be considered and evidence will be presented of the institutionalised attack on thinking, reflection and systematic analysis that has taken place in child care social work over the last decade. It will be argued that unless organisational defences against knowledge and understanding are addressed and thinking space made for candidates to engage in such training, its aims will be sabotaged and child social workers will continue to feel undervalued and ill equipped to deal with the increasing complexity of their work.     

A case of mistaken identity? Debating the dilemmas of street-level bureaucracy with Musil et al.

Lipsky's Street-level Bureaucracy (Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1980 Lipsky, M. 1980. Street-level Bureaucracy: The Dilemmas of Individuals in Public Service, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.  [Google Scholar]) has exerted a strong influence on the study of public service organisations. There has been a growing interest in using this perspective to understand the organisational context of social work and Musil et al.'s article in the EJSW (2004, ‘Do social workers avoid the dilemmas of work with clients?’, European Journal of Social Work, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 305–319) reflects this interest. Musil et al. argue that it is possible to identify two forms of practitioner response to the constraints of street-level bureaucracies: adapting working practices in ways that disadvantage service users or challenging working conditions in order to achieve more professionally acceptable practice. Their contribution to the debate is helpful, particularly with regard to their identification of responses by practitioners that seek to advance the interests of service users. However, we view their approach as constrained by lack of consideration of the construction of social work roles within particular street-level bureaucracies. We suggest that Lipsky's work should be approached as a tentative analytic framework, rather than as a fixed model and we argue that a productive approach to research on social workers as street-level bureaucrats is conjunctural analysis. Such analysis examines the contexts, circumstances and statuses of practitioners and how these factors shape the specific forms of street-level practice that operate in particular organisational settings. We illustrate this in our discussion of the factors that are likely to have had a bearing on the two practice settings used as case studies by Musil et al.     

Encombrantes victimes. Pourquoi les maladies professionnelles restent-elles socialement invisibles en France ?

Except for wage-earners suffering from asbestos-related forms of cancer, the casualties of work-related accidents and illnesses are still invisible in public health discussions in France. This is even more surprising since the victims of collective risks in many other sectors have mobilized to draw public attention to their cause and seek legal redress. To shed light on the reasons for the invisibility of occupational pathologies, the difficulties are presented that an association of the victims of a toxic substance very frequently used in occupational settings (glycol ether) encountered. The integration of this organization's actions in the broader framework of the labor movement spawned contradictions that were resolved by “marginalizing” the victims.     

Who runs the mill? The distribution of power in Swedish social service agencies

The aim of the article is to describe how significant actors in Swedish social service agencies perceive their own and other groups' influence over central areas of their agencies, and also to investigate the correspondence between these actors' perceptions of influence and what is said about the distribution of influence in the legislation and in the literature on social service organisations. The investigation is based on a questionnaire sent to politicians, managers and social workers in Swedish municipalities.

The analysis shows a concordance between the actors' own perceptions of their influence, and the ‘real’ distribution of influence, as perceived by the same actor groups. The general picture is that the politicians feel they have a strong influence on policy, delegation and, partly, also on organisational issues, but it is noteworthy that the top managers feel they have a stronger influence over all these areas. Social workers' influence is limited to the choice of working methods and operational procedures. The results indicate that some core elements of the New Public Management (NPM) model of governance exist in Swedish municipalities and seem to be generally accepted among significant actors. However, the results raise important questions about who should be held accountable for neglect and mismanagement and for failure in implementation of reforms in the social services.     

Do social workers avoid the dilemmas of work with clients?

This article is devoted to Lipsky's suggestion that the purpose of street-level policies is to establish and justify patterns of behaviour that enable street-level bureaucrats to avoid the dilemmas provoked by uncertain working conditions. Based on a review of relevant literature as well as on case studies in the culture of social work service organisations by the authors, the article suggests that two kinds of street-level policies are described by the research. The first one is consistent with the aforementioned idea by Lipsky and follows the wish of social service workers to avoid the dilemmas of their work with clients without trying to change those uncertain conditions that provoke these dilemmas. The actors of the second kind of street-level policy try to negotiate with relevant partners and to change uncertain working conditions that are at the roots of their dilemmas. Both kinds of street-level policy are described by means of empirical examples and their substantive features are summarised.     

Les infortunes de la vertu. Sociologie d’un répertoire d’action patronal

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the sociology of employer organisations, by combining input from work recently conducted in France, with research — notably in the field of Science and Technology Studies — on lobbying and public relations activities pursued by companies to repudiate or downplay the dangers to health or the environment posed by their activities or products. Drawing on a study focused on the Comité des salines de France, an organisation that represents French industrial salt producers, we explore the strategies that industrial firms employ to defend their reputation and that of their products when doubts are cast on their safety. This enables us to demonstrate the existence of a common repertoire of strategies — both trans-sectorial and transnational — employed by these actors.     

Practice Learning and the Development of Professional Practice

The development of professional practice is based on practice learning, yet there is no consensus about its definition. The currently evolving use of the term ‘practice learning’ provides us with an opportunity to consider the nature of learning for professional practice at initial entry through to post qualifying stages of development. A number of streams of thought are influencing the understanding of practice learning and we aim to consider some of these and how they inform those involved in supporting and guiding practice learners at different stages of their professional development.

In presenting our conceptualisation of practice learning we argue against oversimplified dualities of classroom‐based academic learning concerned with theory and workplace‐based practice learning concerned with practice. Additionally we make explicit the career‐long nature of practice learning which is as embedded in continuing professional development as it is in the requirements for qualifying programmes.

Having established what we mean by ‘practice learning’ we consider the impact of organisational learning theory on the management of practice learning. The consideration of the characteristics of organisations which learn leads to a brief examination of approaches to teaching and learning which promote knowledge creation in a way which is meaningful to practitioners. We will argue that the development of understandings of organisational learning and knowledge creation should become part of the knowledge base for those supporting and guiding practice learners, in addition to the traditional knowledge base of adult learning theory.

Before exploring the nature of practice learning it would be helpful to consider briefly what we mean by professional practice for which practice learning is preparing people.

Professional practice in social work is a complex set of activities which involve direct work with service users, and their families, as well as work with other professionals and agencies. A range of knowledge and skills are used with a firm value base which recognises diversity and oppression as key elements in UK society.

Such professional practice is learned and developed in a range of ways over time through training, practice, understanding, analysis and reflection. However, the nature of just what practice learning is and where it occurs has become a focus of debate in the UK as a result of recent developments in initial professional education and training for social work.     

Service-user participation in developing social services: applying the experiment-driven approach

ABSTRACT

Participatory approaches are needed in Finland for service users to participate in designing and developing social services. New collaborative methods are the focus of this research, as this pilot case-study analyses the experiment-driven design approach and its consequences on service users’ agency and participation. This practitioner research belongs to the pragmatist research tradition. The data comprises transcribed focus group and individual interviews of service users and social workers in group operations in a Finnish municipal adult social service organisation. The data are evaluated by content analysis. The experiments with service prototypes allowed the service users to observe the consequences of their actions in practice. Instead of only being heard and consulted, the service users found they could influence the practice in concrete ways. The professionals and organisation shaped the service users’ participation and agency by operating as gatekeepers in sharing power. The service users reported that collaboration with professionals and participation in the group gave them a sense of renewed citizenship, improved social skills and helped to manage with personal illnesses or daily struggles. The research concludes that experimentation can provide a way to utilise experiential knowledge in developing social work collaboratively.