Social workers are expected to “take responsibility for the professional learning and development of others through supervision, mentoring, assessing, research, teaching, leadership and management.” (SWRB)
Professional leadership can offer new opportunities for social workers, boost their morale and improve their practice. However, the risk is that some employers may view the above recommendation as an opportunity to reduce training budgets and pass the decision-making and development buck to practitioners. In which case, “leadership” will only become another bureaucratic requirement that further burdens social workers and their practice.
Therefore in our next Live Twitter debate @SWSCmedia, on 1 November at 8:00 PM (London) we will try to address the following questions:
- How can we define and develop leadership in social work?
- Faced with increasing tension of shrinking resources and increased demands how can social workers develop and sustain leadership in their practice?
- How can we ensure that rigid hierarchies do not suffocate individual initiative and leadership in social work?
- Given the challenging climate of “Cuts” and reduced resources, how can employers invest in developing leadership in staff?
We look forward to seeing all of you in our next Social Work and Social Care Live Twitter Debate @SWSCmedia, on 1st of November at 8:00 PM (London), 3:00 PM (New York).
Please remember the hashtag for the debate is #SWSCmedia. Therefore please include #SWSCmedia in your tweets in relation to the debate otherwise they will not be visible to those who follow the debate.
In anticipation of the debate do not hesitate to read Nick Berbiers’ or Dr.Martin Webber’s or ermintrude2′s opinion pieces on Developing Leadership in Social Work and Social Care.
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