Professional Identity and Social Work

Abstract

Issues of professional identity in social work have been vexed by conceptual ambiguity, lack of consensus about core attributes and problems in identifying what counts in the constitution of identity. Studies have tended to focus on the following matters: social workers’ professional identity formation; the framing of key tensions around social workers’ professional identity; issues which convey the narrative represented by social workers in talking about their role, values and work; and the context in which professional identity is formed in preparation for front-line practice. This muddled terrain is further complicated by the fact that several competing theoretical perspectives have been deployed to help make sense of matters of professional identity. At a practical level, the extent to which front-line workers have to fulfil a narrow set of socially coded values, regulated by a professional body, as part of identity maintenance has been a troublesome and much debated matter for social work. As will be shown in this chapter, it is fair to say that issues of professional identity in social work are contestable. A mix of competing rationalities and values are involved in attempts to locate the specificities of front-line practice, social work education and policy which make up professional identity for social work.