Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
SlideShare a Scribd company logo

respecting human rights in social work practice

•Download as PPTX, PDF•
•
R
RaMonette Dalmace

This document discusses several common terms used in social work and analyzes them from a human rights perspective. It argues that terms like "client," "intervention," and "supervision" imply a power imbalance that is incompatible with a human rights approach. It also critiques the use of military metaphors in social work and suggests terms like "citizen" or "collaboration" that better respect human rights. Throughout, it emphasizes the importance of respecting the autonomy and participation of those receiving social work services.

Related slideshows

Introduction to-the-rights-based-approach
Introduction to-the-rights-based-approachIntroduction to-the-rights-based-approach
Introduction to-the-rights-based-approach
 
Social case work
Social case workSocial case work
Social case work
 
Skills of Social Workers
Skills of Social WorkersSkills of Social Workers
Skills of Social Workers
 
1 of 15
RESPECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE DALMACE, RAMONETTE B.
If social work is a human rights profession and aims to meet human rights through its practice, it is essential that the profession itself operate in such a way that its own practices observe human rights principles and do not violate the human rights of others.
LABELLING A CLIENT In its original meaning, ‘client’ referred to a person who voluntarily engaged the services of a professional to provide a service the client had requested, and the client controlled the nature and extent of the service provided. ‘involuntary client’ is often used – in the original sense of ‘client’ there could be no such thing, and the term would be an oxymoron. Instead, the word ‘client’ has come to imply a dependent or relatively powerless position, and in some quarters it has been suggested that ‘customer’ or ‘consumer’ be used instead as they are seen to imply more autonomy and freedom of choice by the person concerned.
In the current practice context in western societies, we can identify four competing discourses of human services: the managerial, the market, the professional and the community (for a fuller analysis see Ife 1997b). Each has its own term for the person receiving or benefiting from human services, respectively ‘consumer’, ‘customer’, ‘client’ and ‘citizen’. ‘consumer’ only reinforces the relatively powerless position of the person concerned, as consumer of a pre-packaged ‘product’. ‘customer’, however, has other connotations and is too identified with a market ideology to sit comfortably with many social workers
‘client’ is part of the professional discourse, which implies essentially a top-down approach to wisdom and expertise, motivated by human values, but with an assumption that the professional is in possession of superior knowledge and skills which are put at the service of the client. people’ or ‘citizens’; it implies citizenship rights which need to be guaranteed, though it is of limited use in working with people such as asylum seekers, who are not seen as ‘citizens’ and cannot claim citizenship rights.
INTERVENTION Another common social work term with worrying connotations from a human rights perspective is ‘intervention’. The word became widely used in social work with the popularity of systems theory in the 1970s (Pincus & Minahan 1976). The idea of a social worker ‘intervening’ is problematic on two grounds. First, it locates the social worker outside the systems within which interactions occur.The second problem is that all the action is seen as belonging to the social worker, the one who is doing the intervening.
the idea of ‘intervention’ serves to disempower, and to see people who are disadvantaged as passive recipients of the social worker’s expert interference. There is, on reflection, an arrogance about the idea of ‘intervention’ which suggests that it is incompatible with a human rights perspective and does not really value the human rights of the client as an active participant in the change process. For the human rights-based social worker, therefore, the word ‘intervention’ is, like ‘client’, one that should be discouraged. Indeed when a social worker finds him/herself using such a word, it is necessary to ask serious questions about its implications, and whether its use is in fact working against a human rights approach to practice
MILITARY METAPHORS The use of military metaphors is widespread in social work, especially in community work, and is largely unnoticed and unacknowledged. It is not hard to come up with a substantial list of terms frequently used by social workers which have origins in or associations with military activity: strategy strategic tactics tactical campaign target join battle win the battle but lose the war fight a rearguard action withdrawal outflanking manoeuvring engagement disengagement alliance guerilla tactics join forces volunteer operational plan.
SUPERVISION It is regarded as an essential component of professional development and competent practice, and has been given particular attention in the literature. Social workers are (or should be) always learning, and the value of reflecting on one’s practice with an experienced colleague is obvious. But the word ‘supervision’ has many more connotations than this. A ‘supervisor’ in the lay sense of the word is an overseer, a person who is in a position of superior power, who knows better than the supervisee how the job is to be done, and who should be telling the supervisee how to do it.
BOUNDARIES The boundary between one’s personal and professional life is commonly seen as needing to be strongly drawn and maintained. This is justified on two grounds. First, the integrity of the profession, and of one’s professional practice, is seen as requiring clear boundaries. If personal issues are allowed to cross into professional life, one’s professional judgement is seen to be clouded and one will act as a result of one’s own needs rather than the needs of the client. Second, the interests of the worker’s mental health, and as a defence against burnout from a stressful job.
Different workers will define their boundaries in different ways and at different points, depending on the nature of the job and on the particular worker. Social workers may agree on the importance of boundaries, but they will not agree on where those boundaries should be drawn; and indeed most social workers would probably agree that in the world of practice there cannot be hard-and-fast rules about such things.
THE ROLE OF CLIENTS We think of supervision only as an activity between professionals, but if we are really serious about a human rights perspective on social work and maximising the rights of clients, supervision of workers by clients is a natural consequence. Clients,after all, are in a better position than anyone else to know how effective the ‘professional help’ of social workers has been, to reflect with the social worker on that worker’s practice, and to help the worker on the path of professional development.
STUDENT CHOICE A human rights-based approach to social work education would seek to respect students’ rights by allowing them maximum choice overfor example, units to be studied, field placements, allocated field educator, form of assessment, research supervisor, and so on. Student choice, however, must be informed. To expect a student to make such choices about his/her education without relevant information There are also practical reasons why student choice cannot always be granted;But it still needs to remain the student’s effective choice where at all possible, rather than the educator using her/his power and experience to ‘persuade’ the student otherwise.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING It is an important component of critical pedagogy. It requires that learning goals be set through dialogue between educator and students, that both be seen as having significant things to contribute to the learning process, and that both be active participants. Collaborative learning among students, using groups where possible, can not only be a way of maximising scarce teaching resources but can also serve the important purpose of challenging the individualist assumptions underlying both education and social work practice
respecting human rights in social work practice

More Related Content

respecting human rights in social work practice

  • 1. RESPECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE DALMACE, RAMONETTE B.
  • 2. If social work is a human rights profession and aims to meet human rights through its practice, it is essential that the profession itself operate in such a way that its own practices observe human rights principles and do not violate the human rights of others.
  • 3. LABELLING A CLIENT In its original meaning, ‘client’ referred to a person who voluntarily engaged the services of a professional to provide a service the client had requested, and the client controlled the nature and extent of the service provided. ‘involuntary client’ is often used – in the original sense of ‘client’ there could be no such thing, and the term would be an oxymoron. Instead, the word ‘client’ has come to imply a dependent or relatively powerless position, and in some quarters it has been suggested that ‘customer’ or ‘consumer’ be used instead as they are seen to imply more autonomy and freedom of choice by the person concerned.
  • 4. In the current practice context in western societies, we can identify four competing discourses of human services: the managerial, the market, the professional and the community (for a fuller analysis see Ife 1997b). Each has its own term for the person receiving or benefiting from human services, respectively ‘consumer’, ‘customer’, ‘client’ and ‘citizen’. ‘consumer’ only reinforces the relatively powerless position of the person concerned, as consumer of a pre-packaged ‘product’. ‘customer’, however, has other connotations and is too identified with a market ideology to sit comfortably with many social workers
  • 5. ‘client’ is part of the professional discourse, which implies essentially a top-down approach to wisdom and expertise, motivated by human values, but with an assumption that the professional is in possession of superior knowledge and skills which are put at the service of the client. people’ or ‘citizens’; it implies citizenship rights which need to be guaranteed, though it is of limited use in working with people such as asylum seekers, who are not seen as ‘citizens’ and cannot claim citizenship rights.
  • 6. INTERVENTION Another common social work term with worrying connotations from a human rights perspective is ‘intervention’. The word became widely used in social work with the popularity of systems theory in the 1970s (Pincus & Minahan 1976). The idea of a social worker ‘intervening’ is problematic on two grounds. First, it locates the social worker outside the systems within which interactions occur.The second problem is that all the action is seen as belonging to the social worker, the one who is doing the intervening.
  • 7. the idea of ‘intervention’ serves to disempower, and to see people who are disadvantaged as passive recipients of the social worker’s expert interference. There is, on reflection, an arrogance about the idea of ‘intervention’ which suggests that it is incompatible with a human rights perspective and does not really value the human rights of the client as an active participant in the change process. For the human rights-based social worker, therefore, the word ‘intervention’ is, like ‘client’, one that should be discouraged. Indeed when a social worker finds him/herself using such a word, it is necessary to ask serious questions about its implications, and whether its use is in fact working against a human rights approach to practice
  • 8. MILITARY METAPHORS The use of military metaphors is widespread in social work, especially in community work, and is largely unnoticed and unacknowledged. It is not hard to come up with a substantial list of terms frequently used by social workers which have origins in or associations with military activity: strategy strategic tactics tactical campaign target join battle win the battle but lose the war fight a rearguard action withdrawal outflanking manoeuvring engagement disengagement alliance guerilla tactics join forces volunteer operational plan.
  • 9. SUPERVISION It is regarded as an essential component of professional development and competent practice, and has been given particular attention in the literature. Social workers are (or should be) always learning, and the value of reflecting on one’s practice with an experienced colleague is obvious. But the word ‘supervision’ has many more connotations than this. A ‘supervisor’ in the lay sense of the word is an overseer, a person who is in a position of superior power, who knows better than the supervisee how the job is to be done, and who should be telling the supervisee how to do it.
  • 10. BOUNDARIES The boundary between one’s personal and professional life is commonly seen as needing to be strongly drawn and maintained. This is justified on two grounds. First, the integrity of the profession, and of one’s professional practice, is seen as requiring clear boundaries. If personal issues are allowed to cross into professional life, one’s professional judgement is seen to be clouded and one will act as a result of one’s own needs rather than the needs of the client. Second, the interests of the worker’s mental health, and as a defence against burnout from a stressful job.
  • 11. Different workers will define their boundaries in different ways and at different points, depending on the nature of the job and on the particular worker. Social workers may agree on the importance of boundaries, but they will not agree on where those boundaries should be drawn; and indeed most social workers would probably agree that in the world of practice there cannot be hard-and-fast rules about such things.
  • 12. THE ROLE OF CLIENTS We think of supervision only as an activity between professionals, but if we are really serious about a human rights perspective on social work and maximising the rights of clients, supervision of workers by clients is a natural consequence. Clients,after all, are in a better position than anyone else to know how effective the ‘professional help’ of social workers has been, to reflect with the social worker on that worker’s practice, and to help the worker on the path of professional development.
  • 13. STUDENT CHOICE A human rights-based approach to social work education would seek to respect students’ rights by allowing them maximum choice overfor example, units to be studied, field placements, allocated field educator, form of assessment, research supervisor, and so on. Student choice, however, must be informed. To expect a student to make such choices about his/her education without relevant information There are also practical reasons why student choice cannot always be granted;But it still needs to remain the student’s effective choice where at all possible, rather than the educator using her/his power and experience to ‘persuade’ the student otherwise.
  • 14. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING It is an important component of critical pedagogy. It requires that learning goals be set through dialogue between educator and students, that both be seen as having significant things to contribute to the learning process, and that both be active participants. Collaborative learning among students, using groups where possible, can not only be a way of maximising scarce teaching resources but can also serve the important purpose of challenging the individualist assumptions underlying both education and social work practice