Social Justice as Concept and Practice in Australian Social Work: An Analysis of Norma Parker Addresses, 1969–2008

The Social Policy Context of the Norma Parker Addresses

“…The analysis that follows uses 20 of the 21 Norma Parker Addresses from 1969 to 2012 (the 1973 Address is missing) as a means of identifying how the AASW conceptualised and implemented social policy activism, and the key policy priorities that were identified and actioned (See Table 1, adapted from Taylor, Vreugdenhil, & Schneiders, 2015). The Addresses are available online at: http://www.aasw.asn.au/practitionerresources/social-work-profession.…”

Becoming a Trustworthy Profession: Doing Better Than Doing Good

“…How do we resolve the perceived dissonance between the values that we claim and which, as so many have pointed out, we have often failed to achieve? One possibility is to try to reconcile through furthering our efforts to realise these ideals; that is, strive to more clearly define and achieve social justice values in our practice (see Taylor et al, 2015). By contrast, for Sartre such an approach is questionable because we can never fully reconcile an abstract set of values with our specific practices.…”

“…incorporate insights from the three analyses of the Norma Parker Addresses by Swain (2015), Mendes (2015), and Taylor, Vreugdenhil, and Schneiders (2015) (the addresses themselves are available online at http://www.aasw.asn.au/ practitioner-resources/social-work-profession). Each of these analyses point to continuing tensions that underpin how our profession expresses its mission, including its dual role in strengthening and representing the social work profession and in advocating for a more just and inclusive society.…”

Celebrating 70 Years and Reflecting on the Challenges Ahead

“…As Bigby (2017, p. 1) notes in her editorial, the aims of this Special Issue, "were to generate scholarly publications recounting perspectives on the history of the profession in Australia, and ensure that future scholars could access historic documents". The eight papers in this issue do this admirably, for example, the critiques of Norma Parker Addresses by Taylor, Vreugdenhil, and Schneiders (2017), Swain (2017), and Mendes (2017), as well as other papers addressing such significant issues as gender and the place of women and men within social work (Martin & Healy, 1993), and the history of research on effectiveness outcomes in social work (Gibbons, 2001).…”