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An introduction to social work law
An introduction to social work law

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1.2 Role of a social worker

Having considered what your perception of a social worker is, you are now going to consider the role of a social worker and the work that they do on a day-to-day basis.

Activity 2 What does a social worker do?

Timing: 45 minutes

Part 1

Visit the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] website. To avoid losing your place in the course, if you are studying on a desktop you should open the link in a new tab or window by holding down Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) when you click on it. If you are studying on a mobile device hold down the link and select to ‘Open in New Tab’. Return here when you have finished.

BASW is the representative body for social work and produces a Code of Ethics for members. It is not, however, the legal regulator of social work.

Explore the types of roles that a social worker can do and the organisations where social workers are employed. Are there any particular roles that you are attracted to?

Now having considered the range of roles that a social worker might undertake, watch the two videos in Part 2 to explore the actual work of a social worker in more depth.

Part 2

Watch the following two videos from the Social Care Institute for Excellence, an organisation that provides training and resources for social care and social workers across the UK. While these videos explore the work of social workers in England, the role is broadly similar across the UK, except that in Scotland there is a third key area that social workers may work in, and that is as a Criminal Justice Social Worker.

Whilst you are watching think about your preconceptions of what social workers do and whether that is consistent with the social workers in these videos.

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Video 1 Social work in an Emergency Duty Team
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Video 2 Social work with older people
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Comment

You will see from the British Association for Social Work website and the videos that the role of the social worker is extremely wide-ranging and covers everything from work with young offenders to work with older people or those with mental health issues.

You will have seen that working with older people has many challenges. It is regularly the case that work with older people includes providing support so that they can remain in their home and also helping them to transition into residential care when it is not possible to remain at home.

Working in the emergency duty team requires an ability to make decisions based on limited information. It also requires a wide-ranging knowledge, as the duty team deals with all aspects of social work.

It is important to understand that while the types of social work roles vary greatly, having professional values is the crucial element of social work practice. In the next section you will consider some of the key professional social work values and how they impact on practice.