Gate‐keeping for professional social work practice

Abstract

The profession of social work has difficulty terminating students for non‐academic reasons because of an inability to define suitability for the profession and to formulate concrete criteria. Although discerning who is, or is not, personally suitable to practice social work is bound to be challenging, there is a growing realization that this task must be undertaken. This study was undertaken in response to this challenge, and seeks to increase our knowledge base about the personal and professional dimensions of social work, which result in suitable and unsuitable practices among social work students and practicing professional social workers. This article examines data gathered on the subject of professional suitability from a focus group and a series of individual interviews with social work field instructors. The authors attempt to broaden our understanding of personal suitability for the practice of social work and to achieve greater operational specificity to guide decision making for social work educators, as social work educators ultimately must make the critical decision about who should be admitted to the social work profession. It is hoped that this study can serve as a building block for further research. It seems clear that the choices to be explored must meet our obligation to society in general, to social work employers, and especially to clients.