SOCIAL AND CARING PROFESSIONS IN EUROPEAN WELFARE STATES
Contents
List of tables and figures
Notes on contributors
Preface
1. European social and caring professions in transition
Introduction
Social and caring welfare professions
Content of the book in brief
Countries representing European welfare models
Part 1. Knowledge, reflection and identity in the social and caring welfare professions
2. The impact of education on professional identity
Introduction
Research methods
Formation of professional identity
Impact of education
Empirical evidence
Coherence
Conclusion
3. The construction of professional identity in social work: experience, analytical reflection and time
Introduction
The construction of professional identity
Experience: ambiguity and narrative constructions
Analytical reflection: a contextual struggle
Time: an unnoticed constituent of professional identity?
Conclusion
4. Professional supervision and professional autonomy
Introduction
Central concepts: autonomy, discretion, agency and supervision
Circular reflections and concerns about professional autonomy and supervision
Discussion: how to cross the circular cycles of professional concerns
Conclusion
Part 2. Control, regulation and management
5. Reconfiguring professional autonomy? The case of social work in the UK
Introduction
Reconfiguration 1: social work in managerialist times
Reconfiguration 2: beyond managerialism?
Conclusion
6. Auditing and accountability
Introduction
Purpose
Conceptual framework and methods
The character and function of two audit systems in Swedish eldercare
Consequences for key actors
Conclusion
7. State regulation of the social work profession: an example from Poland
Introduction
Theoretical assumptions
Social work in Poland before and after 1989: historical heritage and the new political reality
Europeanisation of social welfare in Poland or the paradoxes of top-down modernisation of social work
Standardisation of social services in Poland and its possible consequences for the social work profession
Conclusion
Part 3. Collaboration, conflict and competition
8. Professional boundary crossing and interprofessional knowledge development
Introduction
Interprofessional practices
Examining collaborative practices in social work
What type of boundary crossing was taking place?
Conclusion: readiness for complexity?
nine
9. The formation of a profession: the case of physiotherapy in Norway
Introduction
Physiotherapy in Norway: from the beginning
The legacy from Sweden
Healthcare I: struggle for livelihood and public authorisation
Healthcare II: marking of the social mandate and physiotherapists’ own competence
Healthcare III: referral scheme – control of tasks
Gender and power
The educational sector I: the road to a public education run by the state
The educational sector II: professional borders, further education, academisation
Conclusion and general remarks
11. Professional dilemmas of defining a problem: the case of addiction treatment
Introduction
Aim of the chapter
Historical perspectives on drugs and drug users in Sweden
Recent Swedish context
Medicalisation
Different perspectives, different professional dilemmas
Conclusion
12. Challenges of municipal community work
Introduction
Public governance and community work
Community work and social development in a Polish context
The Kaufhaus case
Stakeholders of the project
Social workers’ and residents’ experience of the project
Conclusion
Part 4. Assessment, negotiation and decision making
13. On the unnoticed aspects of professional practice
Introduction
Negotiation in ‘fuzzy’ realities
Reflections on risk
Cooperation despite controversy
Conclusion and implications for professional development
14. Can complexity in welfare professionals’ work be handled with standardised professional knowledge?
Introduction
The troublesome work organisation
Troublesome relationships with the client
Discussion
15. Who is viewed as client by social workers and general practitioners?
Introduction
The conditions for SWs’ and GPs’ professional practice
Theoretical and organisational implications of variations in the content of professional practice
16. Activation work as professional practice: complexities and professional boundaries at the street level of employment policy implementation
Introduction
The Italian case
The Austrian case
The Danish case
Conclusion
17. Social and caring professions in European welfare states: trends and challenges
Introduction
The state gives, the state takes and the state alters the rules of the game
Welfare professions’ identity in transition
Struggle, conflict and collaboration
Knowledge as a tool in direct practice or a means for controlling professionals?
Conclusion
Index