The Nature of Social Work: A Critical Overview

Within this essay, a theoretical understanding of social work will be discussed and critically assessed, as well as social work values, ethics, and skills of social work practice. In addition, the role of a social worker in society will also be examined, and an understanding of social work will be critically evaluated. A case study reflects the knowledge, skills and values necessary for a social worker in practice, all references to service users will be anonymised to protect identification.

Social work covers a wide scope of human needs and social concerns. Social work as a profession has been built on the traditions of social responsibility for people who are at a disadvantage or may just need help. One of the many challenges of Social work is dealing with problems that many people in society would rather hide away from or do not like to think about, such as, poverty, family breakdown, drug abuse, mental health issues and deprivation. “The service that is provided is seen as the most contentious of all the human service professions” (Clark 2000 p1). Despite the work that social work involves, many people in society would question if there is a need for social work, this may be because social work covers such a large spectrum of society, there is no simple answer to ‘what is social work?’ Social work does share some of the same aims and goals as other health professions. In other health professions there is a universal perceptive of what is expected, such as the education system and the role of teachers, also the role of the police and the law. Social workers are not nurses, teachers or police officers, but they do try to improve the well being of individuals, they help people in thinking of new ways of dealing with issues in their lives, helping to sometimes change perceptions, or ingrained behaviours. They are sometimes called upon to enforce sensitive aspects of the law, for example in obtaining court orders to remove children from their current families, or in detaining people under the Mental Health Act. All duties performed and carried out by social workers, are done so in the best interests of those involved. Social work also promotes social justice, giving fair access to public services and benefits, equal treatment and protection under the law and to help meet basic human needs. Social work helps people to meet their personal needs and to reach their potential and to contribute to the creation of a fairer society. ‘The difficult position of social work is not only due to the perhaps depressing character of the problems it deals with. Crucially, social work sits directly on top of the fault lines of controversy of social values' (Clark 2000 p2). The communities that we live in and the world around us is in perpetual change, which makes social work even more challenging. The ethics, values, cultures, diversities, and minorities that contribute in making up societies differ greatly from one to the other, whether in the suburbs, rural areas, or the close proximity of life in the city, changes in all the above can be noticeable within different communities. Looking at generalised views of what society should be would differ vastly if we took a cross-cultural view of what society values are to that community in question. The values that our society holds are changing; many men now stay at home whilst the woman goes out to work. The Civil Partnership Act 2004(General Register office 2005) came into effect on 5 December 2005 allowing same sex marriages, and many people now live alone, without stigma, some by choice and some from necessity, this change within society covers such a large range of values that universal agreement is a near impossibility. This means that social work is not an exact science and never will be. There will always be an opinion that differs, personal values and ethics that don’t fit the norm, which is why when people access social services, they will not always be fully satisfied with the outcome, as there are always variables.

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Social workers deal with some of the most vulnerable people in society, at times of great need. They try to help people live more successfully within their local communities by helping them find solutions to their problems. In most circumstances, this will not be on a one to one basis; social workers must work not only with service users, but their families and friends as well, working closely with other health professionals and organisations. One of the many roles of a social worker is to help improve people's behaviours or circumstances, which may help them to once again play a meaningful role within their families and society. What makes social workers differ from other health professionals is the diversity of the role in which they are seen. Many social workers specialise in working with different groups of service users, these will include, child and family welfare, elderly care, people who have a mental or physical disabilities, substance abuse, young offenders, homeless people, refugees and learning disabilities to name a few. Even though a nurse may come into contact with the above service users, it is unlikely that they will visit them at their house, have to write court reports, implement a care package or remove a child from their family, looking holistically at the service users’ life to such a degree. The settings in which a social worker operates will also differ. Although many social workers are based in an office the majority will do fieldwork, where they will visit people in their homes or in a clinical environment, some may be based in twenty four hour care homes or visiting day care centres. All of these settings could involve social workers working with individuals, families or communities (Beckett 2006).

Beckett (2006) suggests that the role of a social worker can be put into three groups: Advocacy, Direct Change Agent and Executive. The advocacy role can be either direct or indirect. Direct change agent being counsellor or therapist, mediator, educator and catalyst, with executive role as almoner, care manager, responsibility holder, co-ordinator and service developer (Beckett 2006 p8).

The aims of social workers are to identify social pressures and needs in the community, to employ existing resources or to establish those that might be lacking. Communities may, for example, be in need of housing, improvement and development of the environment, day care for preschool children, after school clubs, facilities for disabled people, anti social problems and rehabilitation centres, amongst other needs.

As with all professions, social workers are involved in research and administration. This is to help identify the problems and needs of the service user and to explore the most effective way of preventing and resolving whatever problems there may be, and to address that need. In addition to interviewing service users at the social workers place of work or their homes, and contacting other significant persons in their social environments, social workers are also responsible for a large amount of office work. This includes the preparation of reports involving the service user for internal or external agencies, which could include court reports.

Knowledge, skills and values are three different things and should be treated as so. You can learn all the knowledge you need from a book, but this does not mean that you will have the skills to put that knowledge into practice. Once you acquire the skill and knowledge, if you have no value of them and they mean nothing to you, are then in danger of misusing that skill and knowledge.

Values of social work have to be put into two categories: social work values, and social workers values. Clark (2004) puts this into classification of “Institutional and Individual”. The British Association of Social Work (BASW) code of ethics states that social work is committed to five basic values: Human dignity and worth, social justice, service to humanity, integrity and competence. “Social work practice should both promote respect for human dignity and pursue social justice through integrity and competence” (BASW 2002). These values are requirements that social workers are expected to adhere to. They promote the rights to privacy, confidentiality, and protection, the right of choice, to help against discrimination and meet the diversity of service users. Social work has been descried as being “value based” (Clark 2004). Social work values may not differ from many western social values, but in an ever changing world, and a more diverse culture than ever before, conflicts of values cannot be ruled out. With this in mind, is it acceptable to for social work to follow a core set of values? Or do these values have to be worked around to comply with different moral and political beliefs.

Social work values and the values of a social worker should run side by side. Putting the values of social work into practice can sometimes cause a conflict of values. As well as looking after people who are vulnerable, social workers also deal with people who are seen as a threat to society. When dealing with a service user with mental health problems the social worker will be working with the interest of the service user in mind, making sure that their human dignity and worth are respected, that social justice is seen to be up held, and to do their job with integrity and competence. All these values, and at the same time, apply to people living within the community. If the service user was deemed to be a danger to the public then the social worker must see that social justice is done to protect the community, the service user may disagree with this and feel that their value of social justice has been compromised, and as their freedom has been taken away, and they have lost their human dignity and worth. Clark (2004 p44) concludes that “It is tempting to say that there is no such thing as social work values.” And that “The values of social work remain a powerful rallying cry”. Whereas Beckett (2007 p189) states “Almost all of the important decisions that are made by social workers have a value component.”

Having knowledge of a subject does not mean that someone as the skills or values that may accompany that knowledge. You can read all the books and have the knowledge on how to fly a plane, and know all the components, but to make it fly you need the skill to make all the parts work together. In most occupations what separates the professional from non- professionals is a specialised knowledge beyond the commonplace knowledge of ordinary members of the public. In social work this is not always the case, since much of the knowledge of social workers is common place, an example would be that it is common knowledge that bringing up children can be demanding, but social workers interact with parents whose understanding of this knowledge is so poor, that they are in danger of harming their children. This is not to say that all knowledge of social work is common knowledge, sometimes professional specialised knowledge is called upon. If a service user has mental health issues, then they may need to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. This would need the knowledge of a professional Approved Social Worker. This may include the intervention of a social worker to place a child into foster care, requiring specialised knowledge. Social work expertise is regulated by government and law, and therefore requires an understanding and a good knowledge of the relevant areas of law and of government policies and acts.

A collection of different skills is required for social workers to do their job with competence. These include being able to develop trusting relationships with service users and carers, without becoming emotionally involved; communication skills, including listening, speaking and writing; to be resilient and able to handle pressure from service users who feel vulnerable and may not understand what is going on; being aware of people's different needs and respect diversity; have patience and maturity, and be able to negotiate for their clients. There is also the need to develop office based skills, as well as skills needed for personal interaction. These will include, being able to work well in a team with colleagues and professionals from other agencies; the ability to manage a complex workload, sometimes working over caseweight; being computer literate with good keyboard, database and word processing skills; and have good management, time keeping and organisational skills. Most of these skills cannot be learnt from a text book and will take time and life experience to develop, mistakes can happen and inevitability will, but by being able to reflect, process and learn from our mistakes, then these skills can improve and get stronger.

The following case study shows how skills value and knowledge are put into practice; this is a true account while out on work placement.

A social work student (SWS) and a social worker (SW) went to see Mr and Mrs A. Mrs A has Schizophrenia and Mr A is 88, very hard of hearing and doubly incontinent. The SW warned the SWS that we may not get into the house as sometimes she will not let people in, and on the last visit they had been ordered out of the house. It took a while for Mrs A to answer the door, she was busy, reluctant to let them in, saying she had house work to do and had no time to talk to them. After a little persuasion by the SW she let them in and led them to a small room out the back which was very dark. Mr A was sitting in a chair said hello but did not speak much after that. Mrs A said she had no time to talk and went into the kitchen, the SW asked if she could talk to her in there and she said yes. The SW then offered to help in the kitchen so she could carry on talking to Mrs A, to which she agreed. She informed her of the assessment on Mr A, and that a decision had been that he should stay at home with her, which appeared to make her happy. After a while she did sit down and tell us how they where coping. The door then went again and two more care workers came in and a home help arrived. Mrs A started to become very agitated about so many people in the house, so the SW and SWS said their goodbyes and left.

The skills knowledge and values needed were present in the case study, the skill the social worker used to gain entry to the house while combining this with the knowledge of the service user and using subtle persuasion. Informing the SWS that they may not gain access shows the value of respect in informing the SWS about what they may face, and respecting the service user by leaving when too many people where arriving at the house, rather than waiting to be asked to leave. The skill and values of offering to help the service user in the kitchen, enabling the SW to carry on her work without the service user feeling that they are being intruded on.

The nature of social work within this essay has been critically discussed in depth. The role of social work and of social workers in society is a demanding one, the pressure and stress of dealing with so many aspects of society and differentiating cultures means that the challenges social workers face, on a day to day basis, will be hard but also very rewarding. With the correct training and education, social work skills, values and knowledge can help to improve people’s lives. The role of the social worker is one that will always be ever changing, how these changes happen is a matter for debate. Some changes in social work are welcomed and some are not. Hilary Searing (2000-08) states that “social workers are now little more than 'care managers' who simply mediate between the client and organisation”. Others would argue that this is not the case, and that social workers do more than just mediate. Whatever the future holds for social work and social workers, one thing is certain, with the huge diversity in social work and the ever changing roles social workers play in society, there will always be a place for social workers ensuring that social justice is delivered ethically and without prejudice.

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Reference list:

BASW Codes of ethics (2002) Available at (Accessed: January 22nd 2008)

Banks C (2000) Social Work Ethics, Politics, Principles and Practice, Palgrave, Hampshire

Beckett. C (2006) Essential Theory for Social Work Practice, Sage, London

Clark C (2004) Ethics, Accountability and the Social Professions, Palgrave, Hampshire

General Register Office (2005) Available at (Accessed February 20th 2008)

Hilary Searing (2000-08). The Crisis in Social Work: The Radical Solution. Available at (Accessed February 22nd 2008)