Is there a case for the registration of social workers in Australia?

Abstract

The Australian Association of Social Workers has campaigned for many years for the registration of social workers in Australia, but with little success to date. This paper critically examines the key arguments for and against registration with reference to academic and government policy literature from international jurisdictions (primarily New Zealand and England) where government regulation of social work already exists. This review of existing literature found that arguments in favour of registration broadly centre on two main assumptions. They are improved protection of clients and amplification of professional standing. The findings indicate that there is only limited empirical evidence as to whether registration does in fact lift the professional standing of social workers or protect consumers from substandard practice. We conclude that further research is required to examine whether registration of social workers is justified in Australia, and particularly to ascertain whether the regulation of social workers generally or in specific practice areas such as child protection can realistically take place independently of the large number of human service practitioners who are not social work trained.

Should social work become a registered profession? An examination of the views of 15 Australian social workers

“…They also agreed with earlier literature (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2015; Fotheringham, 2018; Healy, 2016; Lonne & Duke, 2009; McCurdy et al, 2020) that registration has a number of potential challenges or limitations including the prohibitive cost of registration fees for social workers who work in part‐time or casual roles, the potential for increased government control and regulation of social work practice and the possible inhibition of social work involvement in policy advocacy. Additionally, the general public might wrongly assume that registration in isolation would improve practice standards.…”

“…Participants agreed with previous commentary (Fotheringham, 2018; Hallahan & Wendt, 2020; Healy, 2016; Lonne & Duke, 2009; McCurdy et al, 2020), suggesting that registration could have a number of benefits for social workers and service users including enhancing public awareness of the strengths of social work, lifting the practice and supervision standards of social workers and improving the formal protection of social work clients from incompetent or harmful practice particularly in terms of preventing unqualified workers from using the social work title.…”

“…Conversely, criticisms of registration include the following: it would reduce the autonomy of the profession with control over education and training standards possibly being taken over by decision makers lacking social work expertise; it could place a significant financial burden on participants; it would divide social workers from the much larger group of non‐social work‐trained human service practitioners; it could undermine the commitment of social workers to policy activism; it could highlight the skill limitations of individual social workers at the expense of addressing systemic problems around service access and resourcing; and it might provoke unnecessary child protection removals by over‐zealous social workers employed in child protection (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2015; Fotheringham, 2018; Healy, 2016; Lonne & Duke, 2009; McCurdy et al, 2020). It might also ironically erode the membership numbers of the AASW given that many social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand have prioritised registration at the expense of joining the professional association given the high cost of dual membership fees (Randal, 2018).…”

“…There is an implied divide between social workers prioritising professional aspirations or alternatively social justice advocacy, although arguably many social workers pursue both objectives (Rank, 2020). Some of the arguments in favour of registration include the following: it would enable protection of the social work title so that non-qualified practitioners could not call themselves social workers as is currently the case; it would give social workers parity compared to members of other health professions in terms of accessing a range of career opportunities that are available only to registered groups; it would advance higher professional standards including improved supervision training by mandating ongoing professional development; it would protect service users from harmful practice by enforcing fitness to practice requirements so that problematic practitioners could be disciplined; and it would raise public confidence in the quality and competence of social workers (Fotheringham, 2018;Hallahan & Wendt, 2020;Healy, 2016;Lonne & Duke, 2009;McCurdy et al, 2020).…”

More than words can say: Why health and social care policy makers should reconsider their position on informal interpreters

“…In England and Wales, most health and social care professions are regulated, although social care workers are a notable exception; social work is a registered profession with a protected title, regulated by Social Work England (see Association of Social Work Boards for American state dependent regulations, Australian Association of Social Workers for voluntary registration and McCurdy et al (2018) for a discussion of the current Australian practice requirements). Nursing in the UK is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the General Medical Council provide this function for doctors across the UK.…”