Features
People of many different backgrounds and ages are being drawn to a career in social work, Kate Hilpern finds out why, in the first of a new series of monthly articles by The Independent for UNISON
Diversity that benefits all
Gone are the days of a job for life. Now, it seems, a career for life is also becoming less common, with a fast-growing number of people entering social work as a second or even third career. The average age of social workers on qualification is now 32 and many are in their forties and fifties.
“There are a lot of people who have established careers elsewhere, particularly in business, and decide they want to do something more socially useful,” says Owen Davies, national officer for social services at UNISON.
“We're seeing an increased dissatisfaction with supposedly ‘prestigious’ careers, whether they be in the professions, media or corporate finance,” confirms clinical psychologist Oliver James. “Social work provides the social rewards that such people are looking for and an escape from the ‘loadsamoney’ culture they are beginning to loathe.”
The second type of “career changer”, says Owen Davies, are those who start out in junior roles - such as typists or secretaries - in social services departments. “They get a sense of what the social worker’s job is about and decide they want to move into it. A large number of our members have done this.”
They see for themselves what a difference a social worker can make to people’s lives and how challenging and varied the job is, Davies believes. Media coverage tends to focus on social workers and child protection issues, but other client groups and areas of work include families, older people, people with mental health problems, learning disabilities, HIV/AIDS and drug and alcohol dependency. Employers are also diverse. Most social workers are employed by local authorities, but voluntary agencies also provide jobs, including well-known and less well-known charities.
The third group of more mature people entering social work are those who return to work after raising a family, many of whom have had no formal education. Cynthia Appleby, a 53-year-old social worker from Manchester, says: “I’d fostered children while bringing up my own children and when they left home, I decided I wanted to become more deeply involved in social services rather than going back intosecretarial work, which is what I'd done previously.”
Recruitment crisis
Because social services departments nationwide are facing a recruitment
crisis, they’ve started offering people interested in a career change
opportunities to shadow social workers. Michael Leadbetter, president
of the Association of Directors of Social Services and director of social
services in Essex, says: “We recently enabled a variety of people
- including a chartered accountant and a pharmacist - to shadow a member
of Essex’s disability, older people and fostering team. It was enormously
successful. A few said that if they’d realised that’s what the
job was like, they’d have seriously considered it years ago.”
Also aimed at enticing the older social worker are the growing number of flexible working arrangements and provisions for childcare. Romi Bowen, assistant director of social services in Southwark, says: “We’ve set up some workers with lap-tops, a telephone line and phone/fax and the internet and it’s been really successful.”
One participant from the nine-month pilot project says: "Returning to work after two children and a long period of time, I found the flexibility very helpful with my childcare. I could start recording case notes at 8.30pm when the children had gone to bed. I could fit my work load around my children if they were sick It was a perfect re-introduction to work.”
The problem is, however, that people wanting to become social workers face a number of concerns, the first of which is affordability. To become a qualified social worker, people must either study for the diploma in social work (DipSW) or do a post-graduate degree in social work. As from next year the degree in social work will also be available, eventually replacing the DipSW. For many people, particularly those who have a family to support, course fees and the cost of living while studying can be tough.
Funding available
But the good news is funding arrangements are increasingly available.
Nongraduate trainees may be entitled to a means-tested student loan and
postgraduates maybe entitled to a means-tested bursary from the General
Social Care Council. Financial incentives are increasingly offered by
employers to newly qualified social workers. Progression is also good,
with social workers able to move into management far quicker than in many
professions.
Not surprisingly, many people decide to apply for an unqualified post in social services and persuade their employer to contribute to, or even fund, their training. The Department of Health supports employers so that they are able to offer this option.
In Tower Hamlets social services department, 10 unqualified people a year are put through a secondment programme to DipSW courses. “The costs of the scheme have been considerable,” admits director Ian Wilson, who moved into social work from a career in biomedical engineering. “But we see the investment as a long-term strategy.”
UNISON is helping to make the work-based route to qualification a more common picture with its work-based DipSW scheme in partnership with Ruskin College, Oxford. Suffolk Council started the first pilot of this scheme in 1999 and other local authorities are following suit.
Open University also offers distance learning courses that employers increasingly fund. Mark Peel, director of social work studies for OU, says: “Many of our students are career changers and this route suits them perfectly, particularly as they can take it over a five-year period - although most do it in a shorter time.”
Opportunities for women
The other main concern for people is the academic nature of the training.
“The DipSW can scare people for this reason. The degree can appear
even more intimidating,” says Davies. "What’s more, many
assume that they must need an impressive list of qualifications to even
get onto a course."
In fact, social work has a very good record for enabling people with a range of educational and vocational backgrounds to train. Jill Manthorpe, reader in community care at the University of Hull, says:
“Obviously for postgraduate courses applicants need a good first degree. But for undergraduate courses, we get a large number of people without A levels. We also get people who have done other professional qualifications like nursing and we certainly value that. The point is it’s not prescriptive and each person is considered separately. All we want to know is that they can cope personally and professionally with the course and the job.”
Many women, in particular, have gained communication, caring and problem-solving
skills through bringing up a family which are highly transferable into
the field of social work.
“Some people, particularly those with no formal education, enjoy
the opportunity to do some pre-qualification training,” says Owen
Davies. “UNISON recognises this and offers relevant courses, including
‘Return to Learn’ - designed for people who left school early
and feel unconfident about learning.”
On-the-job training
Programmes are also being set up specifically aimed at unemployed people
interested in working in the social care sector.
“Our Introduction to Care course is integrated education and on-the-job training and gives people a step up before moving to university or accessing a guaranteed interview within the social care area,” explains Jan Watson of Langside College, Glasgow.
Once you’re ready to train professionally, courses are offered both full- and part-time allowing people to learn at their own pace. And although 50% of the course is academic - including psychology, sociology, social policy, law, human development and diversity issues - students are constantly relating their theoretical studies to practical issues.
For those with little or no experience in the world of academia, there’s plenty of support. All students are allocated a personal tutor for the duration of their course and there are also support service staff - specialists in the field of learning who are employed to help people in ‘how to learn’. They cover areas such as time management, how to find references in the library and how to make the best use of learning material for essays.
As for the new degree, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is among the many social care professional organisations welcoming it. Ian Johnston, director, says: “There’s too much for people to cram into the two-year diploma. The three-year degree is far more manageable. It will also be helpful in attracting younger applicants. It’s not as if social work only welcomes more mature workers.”
This article appeared in The Independent Social Work supplement on
Tuesday 28 May 2002.
© The Independent
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Case study: Hilary Mee, 41, moved from a career in nursing to social work five years ago. She now works with adults with physical disabilities for Essex social services. “I had an 18-year career in nursing and was a district nurse for the last few. I got to a point where I could do my job with my eyes closed and needed a new challenge. The only way to move any further up the ladder in nursing was to move into management, but the problem was I really enjoyed client work. “In my role as a district nurse, I had a lot of contact with social workers and in my practice teaching training for district nursing, which was a joint award with social work, I was also in contact with many of them. I became increasingly impressed with the wider role of social work - the way in which practitioners evaluate how society impacts on the individual they’re working with. Nursing, on the other hand, has become more and more medically focused. So I decided upon a career change. “I got a job in Essex social services, working with 18- to 65-year-olds with physical disabilities. I enjoyed it immediately. The idea is for clients to be provided with someone who assesses their needs in terms of care management and then facilitates a package of care. Because we take a broad, holistic look at their needs, some of this work can involve referring them onto other agencies. “The critical point of the work is that we’re looking at how the disability affects the client’s life as a whole. If you’re in a car accident and you have a traumatic amputation of your leg, for instance, then you’ll need some facilitation to re-start your life again. That’s where we come in. It’s about enabling people to empower themselves. “Not long into the job, I was funded to do the DIpSW which I’ve almost completed at Suffolk College. It’s been really interesting and not too difficult because much of the work crossed over with what I’d done in nursing. Life experiences also helped me get through it and for that reason, I’m glad I waited until I was a bit older to train. "I wouldn’t change my career back for anything. On the other hand, I’m glad I waited until now to do it. The best thing of all is to be able to say, hand on heart, that I really enjoy my job.” |
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