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Disrupting the grassroots narrative of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand

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INTRODUCTION: The Aotearoa New Zealand social work professionalisation project disrupted underpinning grassroots narratives of the profession and led to decades of debate and conflict. Social work emphasises egalitarian approaches and, during the 1980s and 1990s, social workers responded to internal and external challenges of elitism, racism, and sexism. However, the ongoing professionalisation project has been at times, at odds with social justice imperatives and undermined by neoliberal drivers.METHODS: This research investigated how political, sociocultural and economic dimensions impacted on the development and initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) and how key actors at the time were affected. A qualitative realist research methodology has been utilised, analysing qualitative interviews with 22 participants, policy documents and archival data to clarify discourses of power and capture the voices and rich stories of those involved in the debates at the time.FINDINGS: A sociological lens was utilised to focus and frame the coalescing political, socio-cultural and economic forces that contributed to the problematising of social work professionalisation and the determining of the need for registration. Insight from some key actors at the time, including educators, the profession, tangata whenua, employers, practitioners, the State, and the public were considered.CONCLUSIONS: Examining these forces behind the professionalisation project provides a platform to consider if social work in Aotearoa New Zealand has been strengthened with registration. There are ongoing challenges and threats to the independence and social justice focus of the profession that grew alongside the grassroots of social work.
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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Disrupting the grassroots narrative of
social work in Aotearoa New Zealand
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The Aotearoa New Zealand social work professionalisation project disrupted
underpinning grassroots narratives of the profession and led to decades of debate and conflict.
Social work emphasises egalitarian approaches and, during the 1980s and 1990s, social
workers responded to internal and external challenges of elitism, racism, and sexism. However,
the ongoing professionalisation project has been at times, at odds with social justice imperatives
and undermined by neoliberal drivers.
METHODS: This research investigated how political, sociocultural and economic dimensions
impacted on the development and initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act
(2003) and how key actors at the time were affected. A qualitative realist research methodology
has been utilised, analysing qualitative interviews with 22 participants, policy documents and
archival data to clarify discourses of power and capture the voices and rich stories of those
involved in the debates at the time.
FINDINGS: A sociological lens was utilised to focus and frame the coalescing political,
socio-cultural and economic forces that contributed to the problematising of social work
professionalisation and the determining of the need for registration. Insight from some
key actors at the time, including educators, the profession, tangata whenua, employers,
practitioners, the State, and the public were considered.
CONCLUSIONS: Examining these forces behind the professionalisation project provides
a platform to consider if social work in Aotearoa New Zealand has been strengthened with
registration. There are ongoing challenges and threats to the independence and social justice
focus of the profession that grew alongside the grassroots of social work.
KEYWORDS: Social work professionalisation; social work regulation; Aotearoa New Zealand;
social worker registration; social justice; neoliberalism
CORRESPONDENCE TO:
Sonya Hunt
sonyahunt@xtra.co.nz
AOTEAROA
NEW ZEALAND SOCIAL
WORK 32(1), 45–60.
Sonya Hunt, Barbara Staniforth, Liz Beddoe, University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
Me hoki whakamuri, kia ahu whakamua,
kaneke
In order to improve, evolve, and move
forward, we must reflect back on what
has been
This Māori whakatauki/proverb considers
the importance of remembering and critically
reflecting upon our past in order to progress
effectively.
It is useful to begin examination of this part
of the history of social work in Aotearoa
with an exploration of professionalisation,
a process by which an occupational group
aspires to professional status – shared
internally and recognised externally
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(Beddoe, 2013; Evetts, 2006; Hunt, 2016,
2017; Olgiati, 2006). Internationally
and in Aotearoa New Zealand over the
decades up to the early 2000s, social
work professionalisation projects gained
traction (Weiss-Gal & Welbourne, 2008).
These projects were politically charged,
requiring strategic alliances, the evidence-
based demonstration of social workers’
technical knowledge and competence,
the development of ethical standards,
and differentiation of social work from
competing and overlapping groups.
Many actors became involved, including
the profession, education providers,
the State, employing organisations,
practitioners and the public. In Aotearoa
New Zealand, indigenous people
and corresponding Treaty of Waitangi/
Te Tiriti O Waitangii obligations
also played a part. Together, the
professionalisation and regulation
projects in Aotearoa New Zealand
appeared to disrupt the social work
narrative of grassroots social justice
strategies in local communities (Munford &
Walsh-Tapiata, 2006). The projects remain
open to critique because of the risk of
undermining core grassroots social
work values and ethos, along with the
autonomy and creativity of service and
education providers (Beddoe, 2018; Hunt,
Staniforth, & Beddoe, 2019; O’Brien,
2005; van Heugten, 2011). In this article,
we consider different political, socio-
cultural and economic dimensions that,
together, determined the direction of the
professionalisation and regulation
projects, from the perspective of some
of the participants at the time of the
development and implementation of
social worker registration.
Methods
The research was conducted as part of a
doctoral study project that aimed to answer
the following question:
In what ways have political sociocultural
and economic dimensions impacted on the
development and initial implementation
of the Social Workers Registration Act
(SWRA) (2003) in Aotearoa New Zealand?
Qualitative realist research methodologies
were utilised, analysing interviews, policy
documents and archival data to explore
discourses of power and enable the voices
of the stakeholders from this time to be
articulated and recorded. The combination
of qualitative methods used served to offer
validity of the analysis through the processes
of crystallisation (Richardson, 1994) and
triangulation of qualitative methods (Cohen,
Manion, & Morrison, 2011). Themes from
the data were conceptualised, coded, and
analysed utilising NVivo software and a
recursive process of theme development
(Braun & Clarke, 2016). Several ethical
considerations were managed including
the researcher’s insider role, and the
identification of the inaugural Social Workers
Registration Board (SWRB) members. These
10 participants consented to being identified
in the research and are named in the article,
while the other, unnamed, participants
were assured their identities would not
be revealed. Ethics approval was obtained
from The University of Auckland’s Human
Participants Ethics Committee.
Findings
The research found that grassroots
approaches to social work in Aotearoa
New Zealand were gradually disrupted
over decades. Many forces together
problematised and determined social
work professionalisation in Aotearoa
New Zealand. Problematising as opposed
to problem solving, is the regrading of a
phenomenon into a problem requiring
a solution and is integral to critical
consciousness providing sites of resistance
and hope (Giroux, 2015). Participants close
to the action at the time of social work
registration development described their
lived experiences, including the ‘toing
and froing’ of the journey, the ambivalence
of some and the outright opposition of
others, due at least in part to issues within
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social work in Aotearoa New Zealand that
first required addressing alongside changing
socio-cultural, political, and economic forces.
The forces that problematised and
determined social work professionalisation
are summarised thematically and within
each theme chronologically in Table 1:
Aotearoa New Zealand social work
professionalisation project brief timeline
(see below). They are then discussed in
more detail following the same outline.
Table 1. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Professionalisation Project Brief Timeline
Early days Pre 1840 &
Te Tiriti o
Waitangi (1840)
Ma¯ori models of welfare in context of wha¯ nau, hapu¯ and iwi (Durie, 1997; Nash, 2009)
expressed in practices associated with tikanga and kaupapa. English and Ma¯ori language
versions of Te Tiriti o Waitangi signed 1840, providing protection & governance but not
(according to Ma¯ori version) ceding sovereignty (Fleras & Spoonley, 1999; Beddoe, 2018).
Late 1800s &
1900s
Developing western models of social work in a colonial state, reflecting British education,
policing, child welfare, criminal justice & mental health systems (Beddoe, 2018; Nash,
2001; Tennant, 1989).
Collective occupation,
burgeoning profession
1964 New Zealand Association of Social Workers (NZASW) formed providing a collective
social work professional identity & linking regional branches; membership voluntary;
consideration of who is a social worker.
1970s & 80s Social workers’ internal ambivalence re professionalising apparent within NZASW.
1976 Biennial Conference moved that the Association “accept the principle of registration
and further investigations be carried out into this matter.”
The Christchurch branch Working Party on Registration Report (1977).
1984–86 NZASW conferences in Christchurch (1984) and Turangawaewae, Waikato (1986),
challenges of racism leading to constitutional change.
1988 Professional drive for best practice & accountability–competency based membership and
self-regulation process for members through formal complaints mechanism.
1994 NZASW re-considers models of regulation (Blagdon, Taylor, & Keall, 1994).
1999 31 May: Registration Project Team Terms of Reference finalised with following purpose
“On behalf of Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW)i to develop
policies on registration for social workers and to implement planning steps and strategies,
within association policy, towards ultimate achievement of registration for all social work
practitioners on Aotearoa New Zealand.”
2000 Groundswell in profession supporting registration including tangata whenua members
(Corrigan et al., 2000).
Growth in education &
training
1949 Establishment of first formal tertiary social work education & training in Aotearoa New
Zealand at Victoria University of Wellington, School of Social Science.
1973 Establishment of social work training and education accreditation with
New Zealand Social Work Training Council (NZSWTC) (est. June 1973);
1986 New Zealand Council for Education and Training in the Social Services (NZCETSS)
(est. December 1986);
1995 Industry Training Organisation Te Kai Awhina Ahumahi (TKA) for National Diploma in
Social Services (Social Work) and National Diploma in Social Work (est. 1995);
New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for degree programmes awarded by
Polytechnics, Colleges of Education or Private Training Establishments;
Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP) – degree and diploma
programmes;
2003 ANZASW Course Approvals process combined with CUAP or NZQA.
1996 Linking of social work educators through an Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social
Work Educators (ANZASWE) later to become known as the Council for Social Work
Educators Aotearoa New Zealand (CSWEANZ).
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Political dimensions 1990 Fourth National Government elected with general anti-profession ethos. Minister of Social
Welfare, Roger Sowry, convinced regulation of social workers necessary and money
allocated to DSW budget for development.
1991 ‘Mother of all budgets’ – result of growing neoliberal, market-driven environment in
Aotearoa New Zealand that developed from the fourth Labour Government 1984–1990.
1990s Increasing loss of faith in social work by State and public as a result of growing public
scrutiny of failures in child protection.
Regulation viewed by the State as a safety net.
1999 Labour Party manifesto pledged to establish a system of professional registration for social
workers (New Zealand Parliament, 2003).
5th Labour Government elected, political sponsorship for registration secured (Maharey,
1998).
2000 State steps in with discussion paper on registration of social workers (Ministry of Social
Policy, 2000, 2001).
2002 Social Workers Registration Bill and select committee process (Social Services Select
Committee, 2002).
2003 Social Workers Registration Act (2003): providing for voluntary registration of social
workers with purpose outlined in (s.3) to protect the public; create a framework for
registration of social workers in NZ establishing a board & tribunal; promote the benefits of
registration of social workers; enhance the professionalism of social workers.
Employer challenges:
DSW
1/4/72 Department of Social Welfare (DSW)ii formed from the amalgamation of the Social
Security Department and the Child Welfare Division of the Department of Education.
1984 Department of Social Welfare (1984) Institutional Racism in the DSW Report.
1988 Department of Social Welfare (1988) Püao-te-A
¯ta-tü: The Daybreak Report, identified
structural inequality & racism in DSW, leading to sweeping changes in child welfare &
youth services & the Children Young Persons & their Families Act (1989).
1990-00s Environment of growing aversion to risk, public shaming and apportioning of blame for
poor practice and child abuse tragedies, and corresponding growth in audit and control.
1992 Mason Report (1992) noted dangerously low levels of professionally trained social workers
in DSW.
1990s Margaret Bazley (Director General DSW) facing issues of under-competence in her
organisation promoted regulation to Minister of Social Welfare, Roger Sowry.
1990s DSW workforce professionalising policy – targets never met.
1990s DSW establish an internal competency programme in lieu of registration.
1996 New Zealand Children & Young Persons Service (CYPS) documented professionalisation
strategic goal (New Zealand Children and Young Persons Service, 1996).
2000 Mick Brown report (Brown, 2000) recommending that registration of the Child Youth and
Family Service (CYFS) workforce be given urgency.
Employer challenges:
Health
1990s Rapid growth in health social work with drive to employ qualified staff & align with
multidisciplinary health professionals.
1990s Development of Health Social Work Leaders network.
Practitioner voices 1980s Tangata whenua practitioners lead challenges of racism in practice and in the profession.
Issues of registration, professionalism and racism become intertwined (Fraser & Briggs,
2016).
1990s Rapid growth of NGO sector including Iwi Social Services.
NGO and State sector developing bicultural frameworks for practice referencing Te Tiriti O
Waitangi as baseline for services.
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Early days
Durie (1997) outlined early Māori models of
welfare in the context of whānau, hapū and
iwi and expressed in practices associated
with tikanga and kaupapa that operated
effectively prior to the arrival of new settlers
from Britain. English and Māori language
versions of The Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o
Waitangi, signed in 1840, provided protection
and governance but did not (according to
Te Tiriti version) cede sovereignty (Fleras &
Spoonley, 1999). With growing colonial
settlement, western models of social work
developed from the mid- to late-1800s in
response to the limited social and economic
capital of the new arrivals, reflecting, to a
degree, British education, policing, child
welfare, criminal justice and mental health
systems (Beddoe, 2018; Nash, 2001; Tennant,
1989; Younghusband, 1981).
A collective occupation and
burgeoning profession
Nash and Miller (2013) note the
establishment of a professional body
(alongside the development of education
and training which is discussed in the next
section), signalled the emerging profession of
social work. This history of the New Zealand
Association of Social Workers (NZASW) was
recalled by a participant who had been in
practice during this time:
When I started my service in 1960, the
people we now call social workers were all
individual groups of either Government
workers or non-Government workers,…
child welfare officers, boys’ welfare
officers, probation officers.... It was after the
[Department of Social Welfare] Act, (1971)
that created the Department and defined
social worker for the first time, that we
began to think of ourselves as belonging to
a larger group of collective people doing
pretty much the same sorts of things as us
but in different practice areas…earlier, Merv
Hancockii moved to get the Association
going. [And we had] the beginning of
social work training at Victoria University
under Professors Minn and McCreary.
(Participant C, February 21, 2017)
The topic of registration was raised at the
outset of the establishment of a professional
association in 1964 (NZASW, 1984b, June)
and revisited throughout the decades with
many different views.
Merv Hancock talked about registration
right from when the Association started,
and successive presidents have talked
about that…it was around the profession
growing up and being independent of
sociology and psychology. A way of
doing that is to have its own regulatory
environment (John Dunlop, June 13, 2016).
Following a proposal by the NZASW
National Executive in 1974, that a
membership register of individual members
be developed (Nash, 1998), the Christchurch
Branch of NZASW established a working
1999-2000s The concept of registration of social workers to embed bicultural practice as determined by
Ma¯ori was re-introduced by tangata whenua leaders in the profession while remembering
the historical journey and hard-won battles.
2000s Pasifika practitioners view registration as pathway to recognise and embed Pacific models
of practice.
i NZASW changed its name in 1998 to Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) to reflect its bicultural priority.
ii Statutory child protection and welfare services in Aotearoa New Zealand have undergone a number of reviews, Ministerial reshuffles,
rebranding, and name changes. Since 31 October 2017, it is known as Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children. Previously it was known
as the Ministry for Vulnerable Children (Oranga Tamariki) (April 2017–October 2017); Child Youth and Family (CYF) (2006–2017); Child
Youth and Family Services (CYFS) (1999–2006); Children and Young Persons Service (CYPS) (1992–1999); Department of Social
Welfare (DSW) (1972–1992); Social Security Department (1939–1972) and the Child Welfare Division of the Department of Education
(1925–1972).
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party in 1977 to consider registration. Their
report recommended immediate steps be
taken towards registration of eligible social
workers, acknowledging implementation
would require a staged approach, or failing
this, that a new body be established to
undertake registration (Christchurch Branch,
NZASW Working Party on Registration,
1977). The recommendations were debated
at the 1978 NZASW Special General Meeting
alongside the Biennial Conference where
the keynote speaker, Ivan Illich, focused on
the disabling professions, arguing against
professionalism (Illich, 1978). Despite the ‘Illich
effect’ (M. McKenzie, personal communication
March 26, 2019), and following revisions from
the original recommendations, a motion that
“the Executive of NZASW establish a register
of qualified social workers and determine the
criteria by which Association members be
admitted to the register” was carried: 69 for,
34 against (NZASW SGM meeting minutes,
August 9, 1978).
However, Kendrick (2004, p. 12) recalled:
…at the 1978 conference in Palmerston
North, with its guest speaker Ivan Illich, a
strong debate took place on a registration
proposal which had been worked on
during the past year. I recall this debate
as emotionally charged on both sides, and
the word “elitism” featured prominently.
The [original] motion was lost, but
looking back on the nature of the time,
that was not an unexpected outcome.
Buster Curson (July 12, 2016) similarly
recalled that the original proposal developed
by the committee “ultimately lost favour
because it was regarded as being elitist”.
Within a few years, another branch was
pushing for registration and the NZASW
Professional Standards Committee included
many members of this branch.
… there was a very strong group in
Hawkes Bay…that was very pro-
registration…wanted qualifications,
wanted registration…in the 80s.
(Liz Beddoe, May 18, 2016)
Nonetheless, the professional body
needed to focus on other internal issues
in order to retain and grow membership.
These included challenges of elitism due
to access to training, feminist challenges
around misuse of power, and challenges
of racism within the profession including
recognition of the profession’s colonising
role. Following on from the Human Rights
Commission (1982) ‘Race against time
report into institutionalised discrimination,
NZASW established a working party
on racism in 1984. The same year, nine
women employed by DSW as social
workers made public issues of institutional
racism in DSW in Tamaki Makaurau in
the Women against Racism Action Group
(WARAG) report stating “the institutional
framework of the Department, staffing
training, legislation, policies, reflects
a relentlessly Pākehā view of society,
which oppressively and systematically
discriminates against the interests of
consumers and staff who are Māori and
Pacific people” (Berridge et al., 1984, para
1.2.). This report was a forerunner to,
and acknowledged in, the seminal
Pūao-te-Āta-tū: The Daybreak Report
(Department of Social Welfare, 1986).
Fraser and Briggs (2016) document turbulent
times in the profession in the 1980s where
“issues of registration, professionalism
and racism became intertwined” (p. 44)
culminating in 1986 at the NZASW
conference at Turangawaewae Marae,
Waikato. Here, a draft Bi-cultural Code of
Practice developed by the NZASW Standing
Committee on Racism along with the
Association itself were rejected by Māori
social workers who did not speak but turned
their backs and walked out. Later, in 1987,
the tangata whenua caucus announced
their decision to “stand alone and gather
their strength and resources before looking
at partnership … in NZASW” (Fraser &
Briggs, 2016, p. 46); the caucus did not
return to NZASW until 1989. In response,
NZASW developed a new bicultural
structure and a Qualification in Social
Work Practice (QSWP) (later becoming the
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ANZASW Competency Certificate), where
full membership required assessment of
competence to practise and not qualification
(Beddoe & Randal, 1994). The competency
assessment was available through two
parallel pathways, with tangata whenua
members developing the Niho Taniwha
competency process:
[we] had already discussed the name of
it with John Bradley, and he said, Niho
Taniwha...he said it’s about the teeth…
Niho Taniwha was given to ANZASW
so that Māori could use it, to use their
own culture when they look at the 10
standards and that was the strength of it.
(Participant D, July 11, 2016)
Registration to enhance the safety of the
public, increase the status of the profession
and promote accountability for all social
workers, whether they were members of
the association or not, was again ready
for reconsideration by the Association
and social work sector. The Association
set up another working party to consider
types of registration of social workers
and information was collated on types
of occupational regulation to encourage
informed debate and develop terms of
reference (Blagdon, Taylor, & Keall, 1994).
The ANZASW Registration Special Project
Team, formally established in May 1999,
found that statutory regulation was the
preferred option as it would include all
practising social workers and reduce the risk
to the professional body as the accountability
of its members would be removed from its
mandate (Corrigan et al., 2000).
The profession had for many years been
pushing for a regulatory body and …
I think that was around them not wanting
to have to be the quasi regulatory body
by doing all of the complaint procedures
and having to hold social workers to
account; which was an intensive task and
given the litigiousness within our society
…it was better for the Association not to
have to be that body. (John Dunlop,
June 13, 2016)
A major matter of contention was deciding
who could claim the title of social worker
in the diverse social services sector.
People held a range of qualifications from
social-work-related diplomas and degrees
through to work and life experience. It was
acknowledged, through professional and
organisational competency processes, that
grassroots life experiences usually resulted
in ‘good work’ in many communities.
However, claiming the title of social worker
by some workers was clearly a public and
professional safety issue. The following
quotes demonstrate the complex issues
regarding the assurance of recognised
qualifications, while respecting the
practice of longstanding, but unqualified,
practitioners.
There were issues that required the
profession to be regulated because
there were a number of practitioners
without the skills and knowledge…and
that was having adverse impacts on the
population…[them] calling themselves
social workers was one of the biggest
issues for the profession. (Participant H,
April 30, 2017)
… there was that need for having a
vehicle for social workers to claim
their profession and for there to be
mechanisms and the structure for
the public to know what that means.
(Shannon Pakura, August 8, 2016)
…because we were a profession, and
we had cowboys coming in and doing
shoddy practice,…but we were also
saying “what does that mean to our
nanas who have been working in
the social services?” (Participant L,
November 6, 2017)
We had earlier discussions about
professionalisation and whether this
is a good thing, whether it’s culturally
relevant, elitist, and of course in Aotearoa
[with] the very strong emphasis on
de-colonising practices...there was [much]
discussion about what does social work
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represent?, how do we respond to the
client groups that we were working
with?, how do services ensure that
practice is consistently good?,
questions of quality. (Participant B,
January 25, 2017)
While protecting the public from poor
practice was the driver for registration
for many stakeholders, for the profession
itself, registration provided a pathway for
professional validation.
They [saw the need] for the profession
to stand up and be seen as being equal
to other professions… to be seen as
strong and influential, not just a ragbag
of people wanting to do good things.
(Shannon Pakura, August 8, 2016).
[ANZASW saw registration as an
opportunity to] to validate the status of
the profession … that’s the bottom line.
The Association’s driver was more
about validation than protection.
(Buster Curson, July 12, 2016).
the purpose, from [ANZASW’s] point
of view, was to align social work as
a profession with other regulated
professions, I’m not too sure that the
safety of the public was the prime
driver at that time (Robyn Corrigan,
September 23, 2016).
Growth in social work education
and training
Educators were at the forefront of debates
considering the professionalisation of social
work from the instigation of the first social
work qualification, the Diploma in Social
Sciences at Victoria University (Nash &
Miller, 2013). The process for social work
training and education accreditation changed
over the decades with the establishment
of the New Zealand Social Work Training
Council (NZSWTC), later replaced by the
New Zealand Council for Education and
Training in the Social Services (NZCETSS),
and then Te Kai Awhina Ahumahi (TKA)
(Beddoe, 2014). These organisations
expanded social work education and
strengthened the view that social work
was a generic occupation, albeit with
specific fields of practice.
At the same time ANZASW was
becoming stronger, Te Kai Awhina
Ahumahi…linked alongside, and social
work became to be seen as something
that was generic because Presbyterian
social workers were no longer seen as
completely different from Departmental
social workers; if they were doing
their job well. Yes, so that is where the
registration came [from]. It is a natural
development isn’t it? (Participant F,
November 14, 2016)
In 1996, social work educators set up a
body providing a unifying voice for social
work educators, initially the Aotearoa
New Zealand Association of Social Work
Educators (ANZASWE), later the Council
for Social Work Education of Aotearoa
New Zealand (CSWEANZ)/Kaunihera
mo ngā Mahi Mātauranga Toko I te Ora.
The society met to promote, among other
things, the scholarly pursuit of teaching,
research and publication within social work
programmes in accordance with Te Tiriti
O Waitangi. Further it aimed to promote
and support collaboration across social
work, social services and community work
education, maintain close relationships
within the social work sector including with
professional bodies and advocate for the
needs and resourcing of the education sector
(CSWEANZ, 2014).
Educators considered different models of
registration including whether it may have
been better for the profession, mandated by
the State, to be the regulator to avoid the
risk of capture of the profession by State
imperatives.
…we also had a discussion about whether
it should have been ANZASW who were
mandated by Government to form the
Registration Board...because [we] had
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experience with the Australian scene
where it was the profession who did
the approvals [of programmes].
(Participant K, December 1, 2016)
The educators were generally supportive
of a measured introduction to mandatory
registration recognising that many practising
social workers did not have formal social
work qualifications.
… in general, the educators were
in favour of registration…we had
discussions with senior [Ministry] people.
They were anxious about registration
because they had so many people who
were unqualified...so we were for a slow
implementation and for that special
clause [section 13] where…people who
had other qualifications plus experience
and references, could get [registered].
Underlying our comments always were,
let us try and find a way of making this
mandatory but not instantly mandatory.
(Participant K, December 1, 2016)
With the implementation of the Social
Workers Registration Act (2003),
consultation with educators regarding base-
line qualifications and the required standard
content across the range of qualifications was
required (Hunt et al., 2019).
It raised challenges for educators of
social workers to buy into the notion of
professionalisation…what is an initial
social work training? where does that
lead to? what is an adequate body of
knowledge? That was a big problem for
educators…because when you’ve got
a semi-profession you have a wildly
different approach to what constitutes a
fully trained person. (Participant G,
July 11, 2016)
Political dimensions: State voice
With the very public exposure of practice
issues relating to child abuse deaths, and
reports that criticised social work practice
(for example, Brown, 2000; Mason, 1992),
there was a growing awareness by the State,
employers, and public that social work was
not a regulated profession with expected
minimum standards. While child protection
social work represented one field of social
work, the media focused on blame following
child abuse tragedies and a corresponding
loss of faith in social work developed for the
State and public. Some politicians and their
chief executives sought professionalisation
opportunities for social work in order to
reduce risk for their portfolios, as well as to
protect the vulnerable.
One of the purposes and justifications
for the SWRA (2003) is that it’s a bullet
proof vest for the Government. That
when tragedies occur, when things
go wrong and social workers are at
the heart of what’s been happening,
whether their practice is exemplary or
not, the social workers are registered...
the Act [would] provide Ministers with
a ‘get out of jail’ card. (Shannon Pakura,
August 8, 2016)
…it was a political response to the
unfortunate deaths of children; there
was criticism of social work,…this is
not peculiar to New Zealand,…because
[it] is so…socially difficult, emotionally,
morally, politically, ethically contentious.
(Liz Beddoe, May 18, 2016)
The political environment in the 1980s
and 1990s was complex – with ideological
debates mixed with pragmatism. In 1990, the
fourth National Government was elected that
was generally anti-professions; however, the
Minister of Social Welfare, Roger Sowry was
convinced that regulation of social workers
was necessary:
…while [the National Government] had
[an] anti-registration ethos...Roger Sowry
got money for [social worker registration]
and it would be in the budget of that
following year. Steve Maharey [Labour
Minister] gets a lot of the credit...he
[should] for the law because he was the
Minister [of Social Services 1999-2005]
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when the law was passed, but...he
shouldn’t get the credit for accepting
that this was the right thing to do in the
face of National’s own policy. I think you
can put a lot of the credit on Margaret
Bazley [Director General, DSW] and
her persuasive powers. (Participant C,
February 21, 2017)
The opposition Labour Party supported
social worker registration as part of its
manifesto (Maharey, 1998) but:
…social work was pretty much a battered
child during the 1990s in the sense that it
became a football and was rundown and
underfunded and became a very difficult
place for people to work. [There were]
lots of discussions; Michael [Cullen] and
others,…one of the things [the Labour
party] talked a lot about was it would be
really good if this turned into a proper
profession that had a proper status with
properly trained people… (Participant G,
July 11, 2016)
In 1999 when Labour won the election, Steve
Maharey, the newly appointed Minister of
Social Services, began the legislative process
for social worker registration (Ministry
of Social Policy, 2000, 2001; New Zealand
Parliament, 2003; Social Services Select
Committee, 2002).
I think his interest was not necessarily
about the wellbeing of the profession,
[rather] about the political benefits of
registration and that he was the Minister
shepherding it through the legislative
process. (Shannon Pakura, August 8,
2016)
People [in Government were at that
time] keen on re-professionalisation,…in
areas like teaching and social work and
a range of kind of what sociologists call
semi-professions…as a device to lift the
status [of the profession] but also to try
and create a workforce of highly skilled
and capable people... (Participant G,
July 11, 2016)
Some participants also spoke about other
agendas for the State to seek the registration
of social workers:
At the time there were [concerns] about
the management of some NGOs, where
there was questionable…practice.
There was a menagerie of NGOs that
were being funded and registration
[would] provide a mechanism to be
able to downsize the sector because you
[would] need to have registered social
workers…to access taxpayer funding.
So externally it was all about the
profession – covertly there were other
priorities.
…the intention of the Act was to provide
the public with some confidence in the
quality of the social work education.
There [were also concerns about] social
work education programmes; so, one
of the [anticipated] outcomes from the
Registration Act was a stabilising of the
sector and the sector having
some standards that they would
have to adhere to. (Shannon Pakura,
August 8, 2016)
Statutory child welfare voices
Over the decades, there had been regular
challenges to the efficacy and quality of
the prevailing child rescue philosophy of
practice in Aotearoa New Zealand and
accompanying State institutional care for
children and young people.
About 1982, the Human Rights
Commission reported on complaints
made about the Auckland institutions
[for children and young people]; and how
[children] were managed and treated….
The process [of closing the Institutions]
might have started because we needed
money but, in the end, [there were]
kids that should not have been in them
anyway. [It] really raised professionalism
and professional ethics and rights and
that became the driver. (Participant C,
February 21, 2017)
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Alongside challenges to the child rescue
model, challenges of racism resulted in
several reviews of child welfare (Berridge
et al., 1984; Department of Social Welfare,
1986) and ultimately the development of the
Children, Young Persons, & their Families
Act (1989) and the family group process.
[The new legislation created a response
to the] child rescue mode of practice...
as once you feature [child rescue] as
the springboard for your actions, then
you’ve got to move children out rather
than move the abusers out and leave
the children within that context and
family system that can take hold of them.
(Participant C, February 21, 2017)
Fears that the re-introduction of this model
of practice might occur with the current
Home for Life focusiii in Oranga Tamariki
prompted the participant to reflect that:
...an apology to the people of
New Zealand for the way that [social
work] practice dealt with children
over those 10, 20, 30 years, might have
been sufficient to put the blocks on
it happening again. (Participant C,
February 21, 2017)
In the 1990s, DSW attempted to increase
the skill levels of its social workers though
recruitment of qualified staff, continuing
professional development and an internal
competency process designed to ensure
base-line standards for all social workers
that proved costly (Keall, 1993; New Zealand
Children and Young Persons Service, 1996).
[The CYPS] competency programme
had proven to be an expensive failure
and I think [registration] was a way
of Ministers saying that we will be
prepared to have an open scrutiny of
the practice of social workers.
(John Dunlop, June 13, 2016)
CYPS increasingly played a key role in
problematising the need for registration,
as despite attempts in the 1990s to
professionalise through recruitment of
qualified staff, targets were never met.
A State-driven strategy was required.
[CYPS had a] policy of workforce
professionalising...[CYPS] would lose
qualified people, particularly to the
health sector who had an absolute ban
on appointing anybody who wasn’t
qualified...What emerged…was that
[CYPS] will never professionalise
until social work in New Zealand had
professionalised.
[Registration] never got into the formal
system until we got it into [the DSW]
business plan, and then it took off … I’m
absolutely sure that had DSW not done
that work, the Association would not have
been able to affect registration. They’d
been trying for years without any inroad,
and it wasn’t until we got a Minister to say
“yes, this will be Government policy, and
yes we will fund it”, that it began to move.
(Participant C, February 21, 2017)
Health sector voices
Social work practice in health care had
been developing since the 1940s and, by the
1990s, health social workers were seeking
alignment with developing tangata whenua
health services and other allied health
professions in the multi-disciplinary context
to strengthen their position in relation to the
medical and nursing professions (Beddoe &
Deeny, 2012; Hunt & King, 2000).
It was about strengthening the position
of the profession to try and align more
closely with other professions…and to
maintain that whole credibility in the
multi-disciplinary context of the health
service. (Buster Curson, July 12, 2016)
Professional leaders were appointed to
support allied health professions in the
sector, including social work.
…around that time [mid 1990s], other
DHBs appointed professional leaders and
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we had a first DHB social work network
meeting; chaired by David McNabb.
(Participant A, January 31, 2017)
While there was a general expectation that
social workers employed in the health
sector should hold a minimum Level B
diplomaiv qualification in social work (Hunt,
2016), gaps in professional accountability
mechanisms were apparent:
The [Health and Disability Commission’s]
Inquiry Report into the Southland District
Health Board Mental Health Services
identified systemic problems…including
the practice of a social worker. His
practice was looked at against ANZASW
standards and many knew, that that
[these standards] weren’t recognised or
mandatory as for the other professions,
and yet what else could you judge
someone’s practice against. (Participant
A, January 31, 2017)
By the 2000s, the State was introducing
new legislation for health practitioners
(Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
[HPCA] Act, 2003) providing one consistent
framework for regulating registered health
professions to ensure the public is protected
from harm when receiving health services.
Social work was excluded from this Act, due
to social work fields of practice being wider
than health alone. Health social workers
and the profession were determined that
the proposed SWRA (2003) aligned with the
HPCA Act (2003), and health social work
roles would not be side-lined. As registration
under the SWRA (2003) was not mandatory,
health social worker status alongside their
allied health peers was again under question
(Briggs & Cromie, 2001).
Joining of practitioner voices
Social workers, both Māori and non-Māori
began urging one another to professionalise:
Social workers the time has come to stand
up and advocate for our clients and our
profession. If we do not do it now for
ourselves, we will be de-professionalised
into extinction. (Kieran O’Donoghue,
Newsfeed Blog 27 March 2001)
Tangata whenua practitioner voices
Parallel to the professionalisation project
was the growing volume of tangata whenua
voices against the impact of colonisation
and racism in practice and the profession.
Participants spoke about the NZASW history
and the decades following when the NGO
social services sector rapidly increased
including the growth of Iwi social services
and services by Māori for Māori. They
reflected how mainstream organisations in
both the NGO and the State sectors began
developing bicultural frameworks of practice
referencing the Treaty of Waitangi as a
baseline for services. There were concerns
that the social work workforce did not match
the ethnic mix of New Zealand, particularly
the communities of need, and the
predominance of Māori as clients in health,
justice, and child protection services. The
concept of registration of social workers to
embed bicultural practice as determined by
Māori was re-introduced by tangata whenua
leaders in the profession while remembering
the historical journey and hard-won battles.
1985 I left university and I worked with
children [in the health sector] … I really
struggled initially in that space but it
was good grounding for seeing social
work as significant inside the hospital
setting and yet there was very little in
the way of Māori voice in that space…
my supervisor at the time said to me
“you know,….you need to actually
look at some cultural supervision”.
(Participant L, November 6, 2017)
[In the 90s ANZASW]…had started
implementing quite strong tangata
whenua processes within the
organisation…I think that the Association
was probably at its strongest then
because of the membership and we had
the Roopu up and running, which was
fantastic because you just dealt with
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one [group of] people. (Participant J,
December 1, 2016)
[There was a huge development
around Māori contribution inside this
professional space to do with tikanga,
developing competency, dealing with
conflict of interest, ethics...there was
a whole body of knowledge world-
wide, research that was being done...
(Participant L, November 6, 2017)
In the late 1990s, the new millennium,…
we’d had a decade in social work with
the new Children, Young Persons
and their Families Act (1989),…also
at that time, there had been 10 years
of the growth of Iwi social services
and Māori social service delivery and
organisations promoting ‘by Māori, for
Māori’ practices and processes,…and
the idea of registration was introduced
into that particular...[growing] group
of organisations. (Robyn Corrigan,
September 23, 2016)
Other voices
Pasifika voices also contributed to the
problematising of social work registration:
…we wanted our knowledge to be
recognised in terms of frameworks of
practice...there were Pacific models
of practice, but in some way, we saw
a standardisation of the social work
profession as a way to ensure that those
who were working with our Pasifika
communities had a comprehensive
enough understanding,…because
everybody went to different [education]
institutes,...and the knowledge was
different, but it was a way for us as
Pacific graduates, of protecting and
acknowledging the place of Pacific
practitioners and the expertise and skills.
(Participant I, January 19, 2017)
Some non-government organisations
(NGOs) also problematised and determined
the need for registration, recognising its
value to their services despite the probable
financial cost to them.
The [State employers] and the profession
would say that they were the main
drivers [of registration], [but] some really
brave employers from the NGO sector
championed registration and saw the
benefit, [they] led the way and made
some big sacrifices: Stand, Barnados,
Family Works. And even some of the
smaller NGOs that really couldn’t afford
it but saw it more as an investment…they
played the long game. (Participant H,
April 30, 2017)
The main union, the Public Service
Association, specifically focused on fair
treatment for all social workers in the
determining of registration working to:
…make sure that its members would be
treated fairly…aware that [registration]
could intensify…differences in the work
force where you had a considerable
proportion of the work force [not]
qualified.…The legislation that was
coming was going to require some
kind of qualification. (Liz Beddoe,
May 18, 2016)
Others spoke of social work in the global
context:
[A] secondary driver was about making
sure that New Zealand social workers
were attractive in other western
jurisdictions, who had registration...
(Shannon Pakura, August 8, 2016)
Discussion
It is argued that, despite the social work
professionalisation project in Aotearoa New
Zealand occurring during major neoliberal
economic revisions, the project progressed
due to the alignment of multiple factors
(Hunt, 2017). The grassroots narrative of social
work was increasingly disrupted through
the decades through efforts by the multiple
stakeholders to ensure consistent and good
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enough practice and to protect the public from
poor practice. The irony of the development’s
timing was not lost on the participants.
…it came about at almost the same time
as consumers were challenging the label
of expert. So many social workers were
heavily involved in the women’s health
movements, land marches, nuclear free
NZ, promoting partnership and self-
determination, social justice, we were
quite radical community development
grass-roots workers and at the same
time the State lost its faith in professions
and needed to challenge social workers.
(Sonya Hunt, May 3, 2016)
However, the risk that a State regulator
tightens rules, controls and definitions of
social work, which ultimately undermine
the social justice mandate of the profession
is clear. Grassroots pathways into the
profession are now restricted with the current
requirement of a minimum four-year degree
in social work to meet the qualification
benchmark (Hunt et al., 2019) and the
application of ‘fit and proper considerations’
for registered social workers (SWRB, 2018).
There remains a sense of unease:
I’ve had a somewhat conflicted view of
looking at registration, mainly because
I think it has the potential to constrain
innovation, and so that has always be a
tension for me around the introduction of
registration and who does it best suit, and
does it do what we hoped it would do.
(Participant B, January 25, 2017)
Social work operates in civil society, so
we have bodies that set themselves up
in civil society, whereas once you‘ve
got…an arm of the State, you’re going
to have the whole apparatus of the State
imposing on you [so registered social
workers have to] give up power to this
process. With registration you’re going
to get the ‘grey suited bureaucrats in
Wellington’, I never thought it would be
me but, in a sense, I don’t disagree with
myself. (Liz Beddoe, May 18, 2016)
Conclusions
These personal accounts of the social work
professionalisation journey illuminate the
contested views and enduring struggles
between stakeholders. Social workers
challenged themselves to put their own
house in order, demonstrating endurance
and resilience as a maturing professional
group. They sought to make central
the views of those groups within the
profession and who they served that
had been marginalised, a basic of
grassroots practice. Professionalisation
was expected to improve services and
ensure better outcomes. The SWRA (2003)
provided for voluntary registration,
a unique response to regulation and
reflecting the State’s ambivalence
within a neoliberal political environment.
However, following several reviews
of the legislation, the Social Workers
Registration Legislation Act (2019) was
passed making it mandatory for all practising
social workers to register by 2021.
It is important to reflect on the various
agendas behind professionalisation and
regulation, as well as the impacts, both
intended and unintended. The ongoing
development of frameworks that assert
the rights of groups that may be readily
marginalised including indigenous service
users and practitioners, is fundamental
to ensuring that difference is kept on the
agenda and grassroots priorities, while
disrupted, are not forgotten.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the participants in this study, and
to the SWRB and ANZASW for allowing
access to their archives, and to the University
of Waikato for their support of this research.
Thanks to the reviewers for their thoughtful
and helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported
by the authors.
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Notes
i Treaty/Tiriti O Waitangi was agreed in 1840 between
representatives of the British Crown and many
indigenous Ma¯ ori chiefs. The English and Ma¯ori versions
of The Treaty/Te Tiriti hold different meanings resulting
in different expectations of The Treaty’s /Te Tiriti’s terms
and ongoing challenges for resolution.
ii Mervyn (Merv) Hancock (1926–2016), widely
acknowledged as the father of modern social work
in Aotearoa New Zealand was the first President of
NZASW. Along with colleagues, Ephra Garret and
Graeme Fraser, Merv established the four-year Massey
University BSW in 1975.
iii The home for life initiative aims to reduce the amount
of time children and young people spend in State care
and reduce the number of placement changes they
experience by transitioning children and young people
from the care of Oranga Tamariki to a permanent
home. https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/
Uploads/20180614-information-about-home-for-life-and-
home-for-life-achieved.pdf
iv Diploma with equivalent of two year’s fulltime study.
Accepted: 20 December 2019
Published: 14 April 2020
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... Finally, this thesis is dedicated to the memory of three special people whose lives and deaths remind me daily to reflect on what is most important: My friend Frances Wilson (1959Wilson ( -2014, who was sure this was a story that needed to be told and encouraged me to have a go. And my gentle brother Phillip Hunt (1959 and my dear father John Hunt (1929Hunt ( -2020, whom I will always love. ...
... Freidson (2001) discussed how professions became institutions, set apart from those they served with special groups of intellectual workers. It is argued this was far from social work's grassroots underpinnings (Hunt et al., 2020). Social workers have long been active in challenging the label of expert, arguing for client self-determination and partnerships with consumers (Munford & Walsh-Tapiata, 2001;O'Brien, 2011a;Sanders & Munford, 2008) and utilising strength-based approaches and empowerment, antidiscrimination and antioppressive theories to underpin practice (Payne, 2014). ...
... Their interconnected roles are considered in this next section of the chapter. Together the professionalisation and regulation projects disrupted the social work grassroots narrative in this country (Hunt, et al., 2020). ...
Thesis
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In the social work profession, we dream of contributing towards a better, fairer, civil society. In this research I explore the professionalisation and regulation of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand specifically considering the question “In what ways have political, sociocultural and economic dimensions impacted on the development and initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act (SWRA) 2003?” A sociological lens was utilised to frame the forces that contributed to the problematising of social work professionalisation and the determining of the need for registration. I employed a qualitative realist research methodology, conducting qualitative interviews with 22 participants. Archival data from Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) as well as policy documents were collected and analysed as the second data set. The archival research demonstrates that the professionalisation project commenced around the same time as the development of the first tertiary social work qualification. Alongside this, the instigation of the New Zealand Association of Social Workers in 1964 connected social workers and formalised international links. Social work as an occupation strengthened with employers increasingly establishing social work roles. An indigenous cultural awakening in Aotearoa New Zealand, in the 1960s and 1970s, strengthened indigenous critical voices to spearhead challenges regarding institutional and personal racism in the social services sector. By the 1980s and 1990s, social workers were challenged to respond to issues of elitism, sexism, and racism within their professional association and work places, as well as personally. Relationships between Māori and Tauiwi (non- Māori living in Aotearoa New Zealand) moved to a more equitable footing within the professional body and, with this, a returning focus on registration was agreed upon in the social work sector. From the 1990s, a perfect storm of coalescing forces led to the development and passing of the SWRA 2003, providing an option for social workers to register. Consideration is given to the part played by a range of key actors in the neoliberal, market-driven environment that the project was anchored within. To implement the enabling legislation, the inaugural Board established by section 97 of the SWRA 2003, was required to consult with the complex sector and develop the policies and practices for registration within a very limited timeframe. Inevitable conflicts between stakeholders and the Board surfaced and decision making and compromise to ensure responsiveness to stakeholders and meet the purposes of the legislation was required. The Aotearoa New Zealand registration history provides a unique response to risk-averse environments, reflecting tensions between prescriptive state regulation and professional autonomy. Risks to the profession of Aotearoa New Zealand’s version of social worker registration are considered. The thesis concludes that while social worker registration has played a role in strengthening the professionalism of social work and enhanced social work’s claim to the professional domain, caution and care are required to ensure the vision of social work’s role in promoting civil society is not undermined by increasingly prescriptive state regulation that blames organisational and systemic failings on individual practitioners. Through the provision of this historical research, lessons may be considered for future social work regulation developments. Recommendations include that future research projects consider the impact of both voluntary and mandatory state regulation with regard to protection of the public, as well as on the profession, educators, and practitioners with specific consideration of the intersection of their gender, ethnicity, age, and region. It is also recommended that the Board, in collaboration with the sector, develop frameworks that assert the rights of indigenous service users and practitioners that are fundamental to addressing systemic as well as individual responsibility to tangata whenua. Further, it is recommended that systemic and organisational responsibilities be accounted for in regulatory framework developments, so that accountability for practice decisions can be considered in a holistic manner. The social work profession is encouraged to strengthen its place and space in the Bourdieusian field of social work. Aligning with this, it is recommended that the responsibility for appointment of Board members be shared by the state with the social work sector to reduce the risk of state capture of the profession. Finally, it is recommended that current levels of investment in social work education be challenged to ensure that educators have capacity required to promote and instill critical consciousness in graduating social workers.
... Williams (2019) Hunt et al. (2020) highlighted the threat to the profession's social justice mandate as the state regulator gains more control in defining and policing social work practice. ...
Article
Full-text available
Over time, the social work profession in Aotearoa New Zealand has become increasingly regulated culminating in mandatory registration under the auspices of the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB), which took effect in February 2021. There has been considerable debate about the benefits and risks to social mahi from mandatory registration, particularly concerning whether someone is a fit and proper person to practise social mahi. This article presents voices largely absent from the debate, exploring the experiences of social workers with criminal convictions navigating the social work profession.
... This professionalization of the social work sector has not always been a smooth ride with the sector acknowledging the deep historical links with religious organizations (Hunt et al., 2020). Since the economic restructuring of the 1980s and reduction of the welfare state, the State has increasingly outsourced its welfare operations to charities, many of which are faith-based organizations. ...
Article
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This opinion piece discusses three aspects that can cause tensions for Christian social service practitioners who work in secular employment. We bring our observations as educators of social service practitioners in the vocational setting. Our specific geographic and historical context of Aotearoa New Zealand adds to the aspects presented. The training of social service workers necessitates covering values and ethical decisions that may be faced in practice. Codes of practice and societal norms may at times, be in conflict with the values held by the practitioner. There is growing awareness that the state in some Western democracies is less secular today and may be entering a post-secular age in which religious pluralism is the norm. How this impacts the Christian practitioner and their training is still under-researched. We add to the discourse by providing a unique context to issues already expressed by others.
Article
The future of social work preoccupies scholars and educators in the field, with consideration periodically extending beyond ‘trends’ to the fundamental question of whether social work per se even has a future. A recurring theme in these debates concerns social work’s professional project, and whether professionalisation enhances or undermines social work’s values and aims. Whilst contributing to the conceptual articulation of a social work habitus, few of these contributions are informed by the views of practitioners in the field. This article analyses 122 practitioners’ perspectives on current issues for social work, through data taken from a survey conducted in Victoria, Australia in 2018. Practitioners’ perspectives are analysed in relation to the theoretical construct of professional capital. In contrast to modernist interpretations of professionalisation-as-status typical of polemical works, a professional capital perspective construes social work’s professional project as a legitimation strategy, the primary aim of which is to secure recognition of the unique view of the social world which informs social work practice. From that perspective, arguments against professionalisation misrecognise the role professionalisation plays in securing social work’s future, unwittingly placing its future in jeopardy.
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INTRODUCTION: In this second of two articles on the history of professionalisation of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand, consideration is given to the more recent coalescing of forces from the 1990s to the initial implementation of the Social Workers Registration Act (2003), which led to our country’s example of a social work regulation project.APPROACH: This critical consideration of social work regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand situates it within the international social work professionalisation context alongside the national context. Consideration is given to the place of leadership and buy-in from the profession, political sponsorship, cultural considerations, and another ministerial review. Overlaying this, an examination of concepts of public trust, respect, and confidence in professions such as social work, are linked to crises of trust in professions in general, and placed within the current neoliberal, market-driven environment in which this project is anchored.CONCLUSION: The literature serves to document the history of social work regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand and as background for an ongoing research project which aims to uncover interests at work and interrogate the legitimacy of those interests, while enabling the voices of key actors from the time to surface, be explored, and be recorded.
Article
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INTRODUCTION: The meaning and purpose of social work has always been debated within the social work profession. The profession dreams of contributing towards a better, fairer, civil society locally and internationally. This article explores the professionalisation of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand. This exploration has been undertaken as background for an ongoing research project.METHOD: A critical consideration of the different theoretical and historical dimensions and interests at work that impacted on the journey of professionalisation of social work in this country has been undertaken based on a review of literature. Part one of the article outlines a definition of social work, and different concepts and approaches to professionalisation. Part two of the article contextualises the different approaches to professionalisation within Aotearoa New Zealand, from early forms of welfare pre-colonisation up until the early 1990s.CONCLUSION: The literature and trends discussed serve to both document the history of professionalisation of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand and as background to an ongoing critical research project which aims to uncover interests at work and interrogate the legitimacy of those interests, while enabling the voices of key actors from the time to surface, be explored, and be recorded.
Article
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One of us (VC) was having a conversation with a student recently about the origins and history of thematic analysis (TA). The student had read Qualitative Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy (McLeod, 2011), a text which presents TA as a variant of grounded theory. Victoria commented that she thought that TA evolved from content analysis, and therefore predated grounded theory, and discussed her recent discovery of the use of a variant of TA in psychotherapy research in the 1930s-1950s. The student let out a heavy sigh and slumped in her chair, bemoaning her ability to ever fully grasp qualitative research in all its complexity. This reaction is not uncommon. Students learning and implementing qualitative research at times find it bewildering and challenging; simple models of ‘how to do things’ can appear to offer reassuring certainty. But simplified models, especially if based in confidently-presented-yet-partial accounts of the field or an approach, at best obfuscate and at worst lead to poor quality research. In our discipline (psychology), students typically learn about qualitative research only after they have been fully immersed in the norms, values and methods of scientific psychology. Many find it difficult to let go of what we call a ‘quantitative sensibility’. For such students, and others not well versed in a qualitative sensibility, Fugard and Potts’ (2015) tool for determining sample sizes in TA research has great intuitive appeal; it provides a life-raft to cling to in the sea of uncertainty that is qualitative research. Thus, we share Hammersley’s (2015) concerns that their tool will be used by funding bodies and others (e.g. editors, reviewers) to determine and evaluate sample sizes in TA research. We fear it will result in further confusion about, and further distortion of, the assumptions and procedures of qualitative research. We here build on concerns expressed by others (Byrne, 2015; Emmel, 2015; Hammersley, 2015) to briefly highlight why this quantitative model for qualitative sampling in TA is problematic, based on flawed assumptions about TA, and steeped in a quantitative logic at odds with the exploratory and qualitative ethos of much TA research.
Article
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A number of key events took place in the history of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. This article explores critical developments and debates in the lead up to the 1986 Turangawaewae conference at which the bi-cultural structure of the Association first emerged. The proceedings of the conference itself are examined and the subsequent establishment of a unique system of accountability for ANZASW members discussed. These events are considered significant in the shaping of the Association’s current structure, bi-lingual Code of Ethics (ANZASW, 2015), its competency assessment processes and in its contribution to the era of professional registration.While it is impossible to clearly delineate a beginning point, the article picks up the Association’s story in 1984. It is told from the perspective of the first two Manuhiri Caucus Presidents, Sarah Fraser (1986-1988) and Lynne Briggs (1988 – 1990), and gives voice to some of the participants involved through reference to documents and communications of the time. Other than the points at which the histories of the Manuhiri (later renamed as Tau Iwi) and Tangata Whenua (later renamed as Tangata Whenua Takawaenga o Aotearoa) caucuses intersect, it is the authors’ view that the important and ground breaking history of the Tangata Whenua Caucus is not theirs to relate.
Article
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Social work in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) is a contested profession on a journey of professionalization in an era where contradictory forces impact on its position and strength. Social work education reflects these tensions, being influenced by economic and political forces. The delineation of a benchmark qualification for entry is a core feature of professional status and so the inception of professional registration has impacted on social work education in ANZ as it has elsewhere. The aim of this paper is to explore dimensions of the history of social work education in ANZ, the impact of the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) (SWRA) and to examine some current constraints and consider the challenges professional education faces in the next 50 years. It is argued that social work education has been, is and will remain a site of struggle.
Article
Education requirements are integral to professionalization and regulation processes, debated alongside levels of qualification, standards, core curricula, and graduate attributes. The purposes of professional qualifications include ensuring quality, baseline knowledge and skills for practice, and meeting the responsibilities of the profession. In 2003, social work in Aotearoa New Zealand experienced a major change process with the introduction of the Social Workers Registration Act (SWRA). To implement the SWRA, the inaugural Social Workers Registration Board (the Board) consulted with key stakeholders to establish registration criteria. The Board set benchmarks for qualification, as well as policies for competence, fit and proper status, competence to practice social work with Māori and different ethnic and cultural groups in New Zealand, and sufficient levels of practical experience to meet section 6 of SWRA. Drawing on qualitative interview data and archival materials this article focuses on the establishment of the qualification criteria, exploring the impact of mixed priorities and agendas. Inevitable conflicts between stakeholders and the Board surfaced, requiring compromise. The Aotearoa New Zealand registration history has similarities and differences to Australian and English experiences of regulation as responses to risk averse environments, reflecting tensions between prescriptive regulation and professional autonomy.
Article
Social work in the Pacific nation Aotearoa New Zealand has developed within a unique cultural and socio-political context. An essentially western model of social work developed sixty years ago in a colonial state which imposed British education, policing, child welfare, criminal justice and mental health systems into to the lives of Māori people. Growing awareness of the negative impacts of those systems on Māori families and communities led to significant challenges to the social work profession, leading to conflict and continuing ambivalence about the emergent professionalisation project. Social work education reflects these tensions, being influenced by political forces, the global struggles of indigenous peoples and, in the last three decades, the impact of neoliberalism in social welfare reform. A limited form of statutory regulation in 2003 saw the introduction of benchmark educational qualifications for entry to social work. In 2018, legislation will introduce mandatory registration and protection of title. The aim of this article is to explore the history of social work in this national context with reference to a Bourdieusian framework of professional capital to explain why social work education is, and will remain, a site of struggle in its mission for social justice and human rights informed practice.
Article
Cultural and national identity have changed dramatically in New Zealand during the latter part of the twentieth century, with the emergence of policies on biculturalism, the development of new immigrant communities, and the increased focus on the Treaty of Waitangi and the settlement of treaty claims. "Recalling Aotearoa" examines why these changes have occurred, and considers the new directions for New Zealand as a nation.
Article
• Summary: The Social Workers Registration Act (2003) introduced a system of voluntary statutory registration of the social work occupation in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was hailed as a measure that would protect the public from unsafe practices, and enhance the status of the profession. More recently, however, commentators have noted that these positive effects may not necessarily be forthcoming. This article explores the impact of registration on educational programmes, by placing regulation of the occupation in the context of hegemonic neoliberalism. • Findings: Neoliberal approaches to social care not only constrain the delivery of services, but attempt to shape the perspectives of the social care workforce. Education is a potentially powerful tool for achieving that shaping. Where statutory regulation of social work is in force, competency based training threatens to supplant critical analysis, which is a hallmark of higher education. To retain viability as an academic discipline, social work educators must champion social work’s continuing role in analysing and theorizing the distribution of power in social welfare and social care. • Application: Social work educators have a role in supporting practitioners, who struggle to maintain disciplinary integrity whilst employed within 21st-century human services, by continuing to engage in critical debates, and advancing knowledge about the theory—practice nexus. In advancing such knowledge, they also have much to offer other disciplines in institutions of higher education that are looking to explicate their utility in the ‘real world’.
Article
This introductory article provides the background and clarifies the concepts and questions to be addressed in the articles that follow. It begins with a section examining how trust and professionalism have been linked in the sociological literature on the professions. The second section outlines a different interpretation of profession and professionalism, which explains how these concepts are increasingly used as discourses of occupational change and social control. The article concludes by examining the consequences of a focus on the discourse of professionalism for the intellectual field of sociology of professional groups and of the claim that there has been a decline of trust, competence and discretion in professional work.