Get up, stand up!

I had an interesting twitter debate tonight with Debbie Leven, following a post she made on her blog, following a post I made on this blog... keeping up? I think this might be post modern, I'm not sure? 

Debbie made some excellent points about how we deal with the negative perception of Social Work in the media, but on one point we differ. Debbie feels that we need a 'collaborative approach to raising standards that is visible and meaningful'. I disagree.

I am not arguing that we should not be improving standards, I'm arguing that it doesn't matter how high we push standards it won't matter to the man and woman on the street. In recent times the Social Work qualification became a degree, even more recently the number of people undertaking at Masters level has increased. Has this meant that the popular press take us any more seriously or value us more? Perhaps if we all became Doctors of Social Work it might help? My suspicion is the media would probably accuse us of being out of touch with the real world if that happened, a world that we have to engage in, in a very different way to a GP.

The training Social Workers receive isn't only one way that standards have risen, but given it is the fundamental building block on which our profession is built, it is hard to see a more obvious way to drive up standards. This is why I do not believe that standards are the way to improve our standing.

Let me be clear here, this post is about the media interpretation of what we do, which in turn influences how the general public perceive us. So I am not suggesting some kind of dumbing down or a stop in the drive to improve standards. My point is public perception is not linked to the actual standard of our work. Public perception is what it is told to be by the press. 

How many times when you are challenging a parent/carer is 'Baby P' brought up? Have you ever wanted to ask if any of these people (who so easily use this emotive subject for their own purpose) even know that his name was actually Peter Connelly? Or if they have read either of the two Serious Case Reviews into his murder?  But it is the Peter Connelly's and Victoria Climbié which define the public view of our profession.

I thought long and hard before I used the names of Peter Connelly and Victoria Climbié, not wishing to show disrespect. But it seems that we as a profession are often wringing our hands around the subject, not just the murder of these two children, but any tragedy where a Social Worker is involved. At a time when a child is murdered and fingers are being pointed at us we do not seek to protect ourselves. This is, I'm sure, for a host of reasons, not least that it is not the right time. But, we MUST find a way to manage the media frenzy that damages our profession. Even writing that I feel selfish and somewhat pathetic, but I do not seek to deflect the press for selfish reasons. The negative view of Social Work effects us every day and the people we work with, it hampers us and does not lead to good practice, it leads to defensive practice, it leads to having a warm back because we make sure it is covered at all times. 

If we want to be able to make tough decisions based on the situation that is before us, rather than how we think it may look in the media if something goes wrong, then we need to tackle this situation. Personally, I do not think that becoming professors of Social Work is the answer. We need help and we need advice to formulate responses and we need media savy people to help us do it. And as Bob Marley said we need to 'Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights! Well maybe not our 'rights' but our profession.