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Introducing social work: a starter kit
Introducing social work: a starter kit

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Session 1: What is social work?

Introduction

Legally in the UK, the term ‘Social Worker’ has been a protected title since 2005. Anyone using this title must be registered with their relevant UK nation-specific regulatory body and it is an offence to use the title of social worker without being qualified and registered. However, while it is certainly useful that the professional title is legally protected, the definition of what social work itself may be is far from clear cut and, internationally, the roles and tasks of ‘social work’ can vary significantly in their interpretation.

In this first session of the course you’ll look at how to define social work and what exactly being a social worker entails.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K832 Developing social work practice [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .