Every
time I read about social work in other Western European countries
I wonder why I’m still working in the UK. The grass always seems
greener on the other side of the North Sea – better resources,
less government control, a greater sense of professional autonomy,
greater acceptance by other professionals and the public at large
of the validity of social work as a profession. These are all part
of my fantasy of what it would be like to be a social worker elsewhere.
In May
I had the chance to spend a few days in Sweden, meeting social workers
and doing a session with Swedish social work students about Family
Support and the Needs Assessment Framework (Department of Health,
2000). And yes, some things were a lot better over there, but I also
found that they are trying to learn from us about our Looking After
Children system and the Needs Assessment Framework and trying to adapt
these to the needs of Swedish social work.
Supervision
This
is a snapshot of a few impressions. What really staggered me was finding
that all social workers in Sweden have fortnightly supervision paid
for by the State with someone who is independent of their line management
structure.
This
is in addition to supervision in the workplace. Social workers that
I spoke to found this valuable and thought that this independent supervision
was essential for their professional development. It is also not unheard
of for social workers to act as independent consultants to other professionals
such as teachers.
A Decentralised
System
Social
work is very decentralised in Sweden. Each town or city is broken
down into neighbourhoods, each with its own council and council departments.
I imagine that this can promote close contact and accessibility between
social services and the public, and enable local solutions to be designed
for local needs. However, some Swedes see this as wasteful of resources
and expensive. There is a lot of duplication and not necessarily any
co-ordination or links between social workers working in similar services
in different neighbourhoods.
All schools
in Sweden have social workers who work directly with children and
young people. Social work seemed to be accepted as part of the basic
infrastructure of social provision. Better resourcing may mean that
social workers are able to offer a better standard of service to both
service users and other professionals, and that therefore the attitude
and expectations of these groups towards social workers is less jaundiced
than in the UK.
I somehow
think that Sweden does not have the high vacancy rate that we have
in England, though this may be a case of the grass seeming extremely
bright in Scandinavia. The weather was very good!
Always
Assessing
I met
social workers who were doing constant assessments and felt unable
to do much else – a familiar tale! Social workers in Sweden
assess people for benefits and administer the benefits which is very
different to the UK. This is also used as an opportunity to see if
people have other needs. They can then be referred to other services.
There
are 900 students in total on various years of Lund University’s
three and a half year social work course. Newly qualified social workers
often have their first jobs in the benefits service.
Ethnic
issues
There
is perhaps a different perspective on issues involving race and culture.
It felt as though Swedish society was struggling to adjust to the
influx of people from very different cultural backgrounds. Around
one sixth of the population of Malmo, the city where I was staying
is from an ethnic minority. The emphasis was on integration and becoming
Swedish rather than on maintaining cultural identity. These are difficult
issues which many in the UK are also struggling with. Ethnic monitoring
of social work students in Sweden would be seen as racist.
Practice
Observed
I visited
one team of social workers operating out of a council flat in quite
a well off working class neighbourhood who took referrals from individuals
and families with personal problems. Child protection work was dealt
with by a different team based elsewhere. This team of three people
also recruited and supported foster carers and worked with the homeless.
What was interesting to me about this project was that the team kept
no files or detailed information on anyone who came to them for help
(excluding the foster carers, I presume). So confidentiality was assured.
I visited
another team who were piloting the Needs Assessment Framework and
seeing which parts were useful to them. They were finding that they
needed to be selective perhaps focussing on particular Dimensions
of Development or Parenting Capacity, for example, rather than going
through the whole assessment profile.
Social
work in Sweden is much less procedurally based than in the UK. Swedish
social workers have much more freedom to decide how they will work
with someone and for how long. However some of our frameworks and
approaches are seen as having something to offer which could be adapted
to Swedish circumstances.
Students
Teaching
Year 2 Swedish social work students was really enjoyable. Our theoretical
background is very similar – attachment, resilience, looking
at risks and protective factors were all concepts which they had been
considering recently and could see the relevance of when looking at
the Needs Assessment Framework. These students were just about to
go out on placement.
Communication
through English was very easy from my point of view. Perhaps English
social work managers struggling to fill posts should try recruitment
from Scandinavia!
References
Department
of Health (2000) – Framework for the Assessment of Children
in Need and Their Families. The Stationery Office. London.
This
document can be accessed on www.doh.gov.uk along with some excellent
Practice Guidance and various forms and documents that can be used
in doing an assessment.
