The article examines aspects of professional autonomy informed by cross sectional surveys of social workers in Wales (UK) and Norway. The data show that in Wales there is circumscribed autonomy whereby rule compliance is both expected and scrutinised, and practitioners are more likely to spend time as a 'screen-worker', fettered by austerity, riskfocused and safety-oriented towards children. The Norwegian sample appears to enjoy frontline freedoms to utilise discretion in delivering bespoke preventive services and are much more likely to spend time at 'street-level' working in a child welfare and family focused approach. Despite these profound differences between the two samples, both sets of practitioners consider their administrative duties to be an important feature of practice rather than an unwarranted diversion from direct work; participants in both countries consider their work to be of quality and most look forward to going to work. These and other variations and similarities in the data are discussed in light of relevant system features and policy.
A Guardian Newspaper survey of social workers in the UK published in 2015 suggested that 'The happiest social workers are in Wales'. In exploring why this may be so, the authors undertook an in-depth national online survey in 2017 of all social workers in Wales registered (n=5564) as employed at that point and from which some 997 responded. The survey sought a wide field of information about the occupational experience, and this paper reports on selected aspects of knowledge, evidence-base, aims, competence and quality as perceived by respondents. Findings: The workforce, durable, mostly white, aging and female, consider their services of good quality despite insufficiencies in staff capacities and material resources. While most acknowledged the influence on their practice of psychosocial, cognitive and systems paradigms, they also cited as major sources of knowledge, their clients, work experience, colleagues, case-procedures, and inhouse training. There seemed much less affirmation of evidence-based techniques and relatively little use of social work journals, books and professional magazines once qualified and in practice. Applications: The emphasis by many upon the bureau or department as both 'habitus' and heuristic for much everyday practice raises important questions for how we understand and enhance practitioner knowledge and ensure equivalent social worker competence across the workforce.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.