Even When No One Is Looking: Students’ Perceptions of Social Work Professions. A Case Study in a Northern Ireland University

Denise Macdermott

doi:10.3390/educsci9030233

Abstract

Public perceptions, increased scrutiny and successive governments’ reshaping and attempting to define what is and what is not social work has eroded the progressive and radical force of the profession. This article explores how students’ perceive the profession and presents evidence from a small-scale study conducted in a Northern Ireland University with 37 undergraduate social work students and 25 postgraduate student social workers (training-as-practice educators) on their perceptions of the characteristics of a professional social worker. A quantitative research design was used, consisting of a face-to-face survey distributed to respondents following an input on the Place Model, (Clarke, 2016). Respondents also shared their perceptions in relation to Freidson’s (2001) three logics: professionalism, bureaucracy and the free market, with Ternary graphs and word clouds used as a novel way to present this data. Several themes emerged as important characteristics of social work professionals including reliability, accountability, ethics and appearance. At the other end of the scale, respondents identified unprofessional, de-personalised and cynical as the least aspirational qualities of the profession.

Highlights

This paper is written by a professional social worker, a profession whose complexities are writ large in this parable which has become central to the author’s teaching and mentorship of students
Edmond and Price [44] posit that the definition of professionalism has a particular emphasis on the Edmond and Price [44] posit that the definition of professionalism has a particular emphasis on key aspects of a profession including status, pay, expertise, standards, values and ethics
Greenglass [60] identified two forms of coping ‘reactive’ when stress is managed following a stressful or traumatic event and ‘proactive’, whereby resources are developed for future use. Both sets of respondents in this study identified similar themes in relation to the least aspirational type of social worker they would want to be as unprofessional, de-professionalised and cynical

Summary

Introduction

This experience has stayed with me and it is one I share with my students. when we consider their career trajectories—this year, the discussion was provoked by a presentation of Clarke’s (2016)Place Model [4], focused around the question ‘What does a professional social worker look like even when no one is watching?’This paper is written by a professional social worker, a profession whose complexities are writ large in this parable which has become central to the author’s teaching and mentorship of students.The empirical data presented within this paper will focus on respondents’ views ofHow students perceive their profession; Differences between undergraduate and postgraduate professional values; Student’s perceptions on the relative importance of markets, professionalism and bureaucracy (Freidson’s three logics) [5].Clarke’s (2019) [6] definition of professional (trustworthy experts) was presented to the students to consider as were Eliot Freidson’s (2001) [5] three ‘logics’—professionalism, markets/capitalism and bureaucracy/managerialism. When we consider their career trajectories—this year, the discussion was provoked by a presentation of Clarke’s (2016). This paper is written by a professional social worker, a profession whose complexities are writ large in this parable which has become central to the author’s teaching and mentorship of students. The empirical data presented within this paper will focus on respondents’ views of. How students perceive their profession; Differences between undergraduate and postgraduate professional values; Student’s perceptions on the relative importance of markets, professionalism and bureaucracy (Freidson’s three logics) [5]. Clarke’s (2019) [6] definition of professional (trustworthy experts) was presented to the students to consider as were Eliot Freidson’s (2001) [5] three ‘logics’—professionalism, markets/capitalism and bureaucracy/managerialism.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion