Who is to Control the Practice of Social Work?

Abstract

In this paper we note some of the problems surrounding the conflicted issue of social work student placements. We argue that, although on an espoused level fieldwork is considered to be at the ‘core’ of social work education, there appears to be increasing difficulty in acquiring suitable and sufficient fieldwork placements. The extent of this difficulty suggests the existence of a contradiction between espoused views about social work education and the reality. We suggest that this contradiction cannot simply be explained in terms of the pressures on individual agencies or fieldwork teachers, but rather symbolises an ongoing power struggle (at a covert level) over who, or which interest groups, are to control the practice of social work. We conclude by advocating the need to debate the issues raised in our paper in open forum.