By Gradle Gardner Martin
The shortage of Social Workers in the UK has been a hot topic and a serious problem over the last few years. It’s become, through publicity and the media, an undesirable job; unrewarding with long hours and the risks outweighing the benefits. In a move to try and combat this, the Government has announced that they are looking to use a model of recruitment that is innovative but has come under some valid criticism.
With the Teach First Model, it is hoped that the top Graduates from Universities across the UK will be fast-tracked into the position of Front Line Social Worker in areas where they are really needed due to the staffing crisis. The scheme is also appropriate for tackling the problem of recruiting top graduates, who often are not informed of the benefits and career prospects Social Workers have access to.
A report released presenting the facts and figures that have prompted the scheme’s implementation states that the Profession has a need to raise the standards of recruitment, the quality of applicants and to do what is necessary to help alleviate the current staffing crisis.
In this way, promising undergraduates would be recruited by Frontline in their final year, during which time they would attend an intensive summer training school combined with on-the-job training for their last year at university. In this way, they would be ready to start out as Social Workers immediately after graduation. Not only that, but the top graduates would be employed within the profession, therefore meeting all criteria requested from the report.
The obvious criticism of this scheme is simply that academic achievements do not necessarily match parallel to the ability to perform the job. A Social Worker needs exemplary, outstanding people skills, the ability to enter and diffuse a conflict situation and the ability to separate themselves from a distress in order to continue to be pro-active and complete the work needed. Knowledge of the law, rights and what comes within their remit as a Social Worker can be learned well in the classroom, but how do you prepare for life’s experiences without, well, life experience?
A new graduate is often seen as a fresh, young face, ready to take on the worlds of business, science and the like with an enthusiasm that older employees may long have lost. Intensive training and shadowing may offer a small insight into the job at hand, but it is hard to compare to the real thing. Those that are working on the front line currently may feel that the hard work they have strived to achieve to reach this position holds less value than before.
Although the negative viewpoints hold strong, the facts need to be faced- We are in the midst of a staffing problem and our recruitment throughout the country needs an immediate boost which will be difficult to achieve without such schemes in place. Whether or not this is adapted and introduced throughout the UK is still in high debate and it may be some time before we know the real plan of action.
