To ask what people think a social worker's job role is?

[filee777]

I am intrigued. I know this is in AIBU and its not really that sort of question but I want diverse and interesting opinions.

So what do you think a social worker does? What do you think a social work should do?

Hi favourites I am afraid I didn't see it like that, similarly I didn't see her last two posts as anything but passive aggressive. I really just wanted to know what people's opinions on social workers in general are, rather than having some sort of dissection of my course, the material or my ability to be a social worker. A lot of people have answered my question which I am grateful for.

I think I would probably have been more responsive to certain things had they been about the subject topic, rather than what I perceived to be a dig at my course or abilities.

Thanks littlemiss

I was wondering if I brought up the fact that we do a whole section on Karl Marx would just cause people to go into panic stations ;)

I think you're the only one who did see it like that, and the fact you won't acknowledge that isn't a good start really. The way you perceive what people say is a very important part of your future job role.

You seem to be glossing over what you don't want to take on board. I suggests you work n this before your first placement otherwise it will even more uncomfortable than it will already be.

I wouldn't bother cant. She just wants to see what she wants to see.

I can just see it now.
Service user: get out of my house you useless piece of
Filee: no I'm not, what would you know. I didn't ask for your opinions on me....

though I found my first practice educators far more challenging than any service users I encountered! but do you know she prompted me to learn more about my self and my own mind than any course units or text I had so far used.

Talk about sticking the boot in FutThe.

Why is it so important to you to drag the OP down?

She doesn't have to agree with you or see it how you think she should.

It's a bit rich you calling her a know it all when you've come across as nothing but.

It's nothing to do with dragging the OP down. She's been nothing but chippy to all but those indulging her on this thread. People like Mrs DV who have a lot of experience in this field and she has just been rude and played the victim.

filee On the subject of your fellow students. You will come across many different personalities in your class. Some will spout drivel at the drop of a hat, some will turn up late for class and not pay attention, some will be quiet to the point they never say anything. However, you may find that as the course twists and turns and things get hard you will all find a common point and find ways to support each other.

When i did my qualification i was a mature student with small children as were others in my class and initially we stuck together. Others who were pretty much right out of school seemed immature and 'typical' students. Other had very radical views and spoke out constantly. What happened eventually was that we really bonded as a group. The older students like myself could 'mother' the younger ones if they were struggling. The young one took us oldies out to the union and made us dance and have fun. I would say keep an open mind. I loved my group even though we were all so different.

Filee, yes, this is where the bad name comes from!

In summary id say these things i believe would make you a really good sw:

• law knowledge
• record keeping
• a questioning mind
• analytic skills
• the ability to listen without defensiveness
• and for bonus points, the ability to 'manage upwards' and be persuasive about putting your case.

And then what I'd regard as the basics but are probably the hardest:

• never put your job above the people (ie keeping in with your boss so carry out their instructions to lie)
• always remember that you are dealing with humans, who deserve your politeness and respect, and your competence

LittleWhiteBag I realised I'd split my posts over two as waa getting too long, so without the first the 'rules' wish list would be a bit random. Hadn't realised they'd got split by other posts in between so would have been hard to follow. I've had three years of this awfulness, and if one person walked through my door having learnt my basic 'rules', I would probably kiss them (well, not literally!).

MrsBW may I please borrow one of your better social workers just for a few weeks?! and thanks, yes I do now know sw cannot walk out with my child, but thanks for telling me - I wish I'd told anyone when the threats were at their worst, as I could have been put out of my misery a long time ago.

Thing is, I was too scared and too ashamed of what was happening to dare tell anyone. I thought it was my fault for being too ill and not handling them right, I thought that they could take him away as I was disabled and that I was 'lucky' they were letting me keep him. This is what I was told and I think one of them genuinely believed that disabled people were only allowed to keep their children if ss said so. (rather than being allowed the same rights & respondibilities as a 'normal person'.

I baked them biscuits and gave them presents trying to make them like me so I could keep my baby. It was like I was trapped in a nightmare and all I could do was obey the rules and hope. But they pushed it once too far and I told someone and then found out the truth. Great way of controlling someone though. Worked for over a year.

A social worker, whatever their field, should have the capacity to attain the situation best for their charges interests quickly, efficiently and with empathy.

I think a starting wage of 26k p.a. is very good looking on paper, especially as a fresh-out-of-uni wage and definitely for a graduate without children or a parter or a mortgage, but personally I don't think the aptitude to be a social worker and I wouldn't enrol when I know I can earn more money doing things I am better at.

You seem to have gotten a bit hung up on the whole regulatory body thing, OP. Can I just say, it doesn't really matter. Yes, you need to know who regulates you, you need to know how the absorption of one body into another changed framework and guidelines, but it's background knowledge.

You should be aware of it and not much more, just as I am aware that my institution is the research department of a larger body but it has no impact on my day to day practice.

I know the book is a sore point by now and no, you shouldn't chuck it. There's probably very good information in there but I wouldn't recommend using it as a reference for your essays nor as a guideline for your practice, when it comes to that.

If you still want to do so and you think the information can still be applied to modern social care, by all means go ahead, but don't be surprised if you are pulled up on it. You should of course cross reference it with modern material but I don't know if that will be enough as the book is so out of date.

I know you said it's core text of your course, do you mean the first print was in 04 and you have a newer edition? That would make more sense.

My advice would be to remember that you are responsible for someone's wellbeing, no matter what field you practice in, so always listen, react appropriately and be empathetic as well as getting the job done.

Anyway, best of luck with the degree

OP you will need to learn, and learn fast, to drop judgemental attitudes and develop an calm sympathetic listening ear. Arrogance will not endear you to a family under stress.

I wish you well in your studies but please drop the self righteous holier than thou attitude

Yes, there are definitely different personalities! The loud ones aren't even the young ones, they are just loud and don't seem to have a great deal to add.

I'm aware that may change and a friend on the course told me when the first assignments start to come back, people tend to pipe down and learn a bit.

I will quietly look forward to that.

canthisonebeused Me too! My first practice supervisor pulled me up by my bootstraps and made me start to think critically. She was a fearsome woman but i have a lot to thank her for as the way i practice now is due to her persistence and analysis of every little thing i did.

It's a week in as you said yourself and you are sat judging who has nothing to add?
Your arrogance is absurd.

Every one willing to talk has something to add OP. Maybe not valued by you but it is something important to add.

Thanks for the advice old I am certainly not hung up on regulatory bodies, I am sure we will learn all that in my course and don't see it as some terrible omen that I don't know it right now. Or rather, I didn't know it yesterday.

Honestly, the book, I don't know, it might well be a later edition, I used it to clarify a point in my essay and it mentioned the GSCC, it's not an essay about regulatory bodies and it was a quote being used to clarify something wholly different, so it's not something I went into particularly.

I am sure they will clarify everything in the classes, for all I know they clarify it in the book, I haven't gone back and looked yet.

On nee to know it now!!! You need read it off your own back today.

What essay have you been given to write? Only a week in to your course! That's hardcore (but v. exciting!) What's the topic?

soured I already deal with families under stress in my job role and thought I am sure it is very different, I have some experience there.

Definitely a huge learning curve which I will embrace!

Before we started the course we were asked to prepare a 1500 word essay on 'what is social work' it's due in on the sixth. I did my best with the limited resources I had and then when the college library opened to us I did some more exploring and honed it down a bit, added lots of references etc.

IME of SW (having a severely disabled child) they're often off on stress - wrong audience for that really.

Having said that I have had 2 excellent social workers (including the current one) who have been in to panels, stood up for ds1 & the rest of us & got things sorted.

Social work assistants in comparison are on the whole hopeless. Not particularly their fault - they just have no power, are not listened to, are not able to use their discretion. They're just sent round to dish out management service decisions.

Sorry, seventh.

A social worker's job is to be the whipping post and take the blame for other peoples gross stupidity, negligence, cruelty, fecklessness etc, so that naice people don't have to get their hands dirty and can crtiticise from their armchairs.

I reckon no one should ever criticize a social worker, teacher, nurse etc until they have done one of those jobs and seen how crappy people can be at first hand.