Social Work After Tehan: Reframing the Scope of Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes the recent changes to Australian higher education funding in relation to social work education and practice in order to analyse the frames that situate their implementation. It documents various stakeholder responses to the proposed changes, demonstrating ways in which social work's scope of practice is susceptible to reframing by external forces. The analysis of stakeholder framings of social work in the unfolding chronology illustrates this vulnerability, identifying the alliances and compromises that underpinned the efforts to mitigate impacts of the proposed changes. This analysis reveals the need for social work to articulate its unique role across both sector and disciplinary boundaries, as both an academic discipline and a practice-based profession. IMPLICATIONS Recent changes to funding Australian higher education challenged the viability of social work education, with significant fee increases and reductions in Commonwealth contribution proposed. Advocacy in defence of social work education reframing social work as a branch of allied health succeeded, but no certainty regarding future funding arrangements for social work education was achieved. While the alliance with health did offer a protective frame for social work education funding, this was achieved at the cost of broader alliances within the human services sector.