3.8 Psychosocial theories of identity This section does not discuss theories of identity in detail. It is important to note, however, that the theory associated with Erik Erikson, a German psychoanalyst who worked in the USA from the 1930s, has been very influential in social work and continues to be so. Erikson (1950) proposed eight stages of life, from infancy to old age, and each stage had its own particular task in the development of an individual's identity. Erikson's theory is one of several and should not be regarded
3.5 Identity and identities So far in this extract we have considered the importance of people's individual biographies to an understanding of who they are. Such biographies play an important part in making us who we are and we will now explore some of the ideas that have contributed to social workers' understanding of the concept and importance of ‘identity’. These ideas are all examples of the kind of ‘knowledge’ or ‘theory’ that informs social workers' practice.
3.4 Case study 2 A widely used approach in child care was the ‘curative’ policy (Midwinter, 1994). This sought to treat those children and adults deemed deficient in some way in locations specially set up for the purpose. These institutions were often forbidding places, offering a harsh ‘cure’ to those unfortunate enough to be admitted to them. This was the fate of many disabled children in the course of the 20th century. Of particular relevance is Out of Sight: The Experience of Disability 1900–
3.2 Biography as history So far in this extract you have looked at your life and some of the main influences on you. This process of self reflection, if developed, could provide the basis of your life story. If you decided to ‘tell your story’, how would you structure it? Most probably, as a chronological account of your life, from childhood to adulthood. The chances are that you would do this against the backdrop of the social and political events of the time, and you would illustrate it with historical details.
2.8 References for Extract 1 Banks, S. (2001) Ethics and Values in Social Work, 2nd edn, London, BASW/Macmillan. British Association of Social Workers (BASW) (2002) Code of Ethics for Social Work, BASW, Dalrymple, J. and Burke, B. (1995) Anti Oppressive Practice and the Law, Buckingham, Open University Press. Howe, D. (1999) ‘Values in Social Work’ in Davies, M., Howe, D. and Kohli, R. Assessing Competence and
2.5 Component 3: Skills We all have considerable skills that we develop as we go through life. Many of them are so familiar to us that we probably don't think about them. For example, the reading skill which you are using right now is a highly complex and sophisticated one which took years to develop to this level. Our approach to skills is again to provide you with a framework to help with your learning and understanding. We use four categories of skill in our framework:
2.4.3 Ethics and accountability Ethics is one aspect of values. One way of understanding ethics is in terms of the resolution of professional moral dilemmas. Social workers frequently play an important part in resolving such moral dilemmas, for example when making decisions involving risk, protection and restriction of liberty. The way in which you act in these situations should be guided by something beyond your personal beliefs alone. You have to be aware of the publicly stated values of your agency and make skilful judge
2.4.2 What are social work values? Traditionally, one of the things that distinguishes a profession is that it has a set of principles to which its members have to be committed and must put into practice. Sarah Banks defines social work values as: a set of fundamental moral/ethical principles to which social workers are/should be committed. (Banks, 2001, p. 6) The British Association of Social Workers issued a revised C
2.4.1 Social work values You will have come across the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers when you looked at the Framework documents for your country. These Codes are the main documents relating to values in the framework documents. Before looking in detail at the different aspects of the code, it is helpful to look at what ‘values’ are, where they come from, and the context in which social work values have arisen and are being put into practice.
2.3.3 Law Another very broad area of knowledge is law. Social workers’ roles are bound by the law, even those who do not work for statutory organisations like social services. The law sets out what social workers’ duties and powers are, what they must do (a duty) and what they are permitted to do (a power). For example, social workers employed by statutory and voluntary agencies are bound by law relating to human rights and discrimination. You will find many other pieces of legislation in add
2.3.1 Aspects of knowledge in social work In the Aids to Practice cards you will see that there are 18 Knowledge cards presented in alphabetical order. Most of the cards relate to a specific approach to social work or theory about how to practise. While these cards are very useful prompts and reminders, they are not intended to provide a template of what you need to know without additional reading and support. For example, some of the information is extremely broad, such as the cards on Social Policy, Sociology and Psychology; these
2.2 The four components of good practice
Developing a knowledge base is only one aspect of learning. The knowledge you acquire will be assessed by the way in which you apply it to practice situations through your written work. Your practice and your reflections upon knowledge will be guided by your understanding and application of the four components of good practice: knowledge, skills, values and ethics, and the social work process. The Aids to Practice cards in this unit are organised under the headings of the four componen
2.1 Introduction The four components of good practice are introduced here and you will find references to them throughout your practice learning. The four components are: Knowledge Skills Values and Ethics The Social Work Process. 1. Approaches to social work
This unit introduces you to social work practice, and you will consider the meaning of ‘social work values’ as well as the different approaches to social work and the skills involved.
It is expected that your learning will involve reflection on what you have learnt, including time spent thinking about how knowledge, skills and values relate to social work practice.
This unit provides opportunities to apply theoretical learning to practice which makes the difference between Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: develop awareness of the underpinning knowledge relating to the key roles of social work; illustrate the application of knowledge, skills, values and processes through case study examples; demonstrate awareness of the skills required to build relationships with service users, colleagues and others through effective communication; introduce the social work service standards and codes of p Introduction Ever wondered what social workers do? This brief introduction gives you some insight into social work practice and the theory which informs the practice. This unit is made up of a series of six extracts. You are introduced to the four components to good practice and will look at the importance of the following approaches to social work practice: Biography The social context of social work Responding to children’s needs Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence References 1.2.2 Reviewing the research: how people understand ‘health’ Being a contested concept, ‘health’ is constantly being redefined and re-evaluated. Lay people do not necessarily accept biomedical definitions of health and illness uncritically. Instead they have a complex web of beliefs, constructs and understandings about health and illness. These inform people's health behaviour, including decisions about whether to self-manage, seek help within local or lay networks, or consult a health professional. Some lay people regard health as the absenc 1.5.9 Plagiarism Referencing is not only useful as a way of sharing information, but also as a means of ensuring that due credit is given to other people’s work. In the electronic information age, it is easy to copy and paste from journal articles and web pages into your own work. But if you do use someone else’s work, you should acknowledge the source by giving a correct reference. Taking someone's work and not indicating where you took it from is termed plagiarism and is regarded as an infringemen
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