Social Work Education as Preparation for Practice: Evidence from a Survey of the New South Wales Community Sector

Abstract

Social work faces increasing competition from other postschool qualifications, which offer pathways into social and community services in Australia. This has prompted debate about what kinds of qualifications should be required in the sector, and about the relationship between social work and other educational programs. This article presents new empirical evidence about social work compared with other human service qualifications as preparation for practice. Based on data from a large survey of nongovernment sector workers in New South Wales (n = 661), multivariate analysis indicated that any level of qualification in a human service field improved employee self-ratings of preparedness. However, having a Bachelor level degree or higher in social work had the greatest effect, improving preparedness more than any other individual, job, or organisational characteristic. The findings renew support for social work as the key foundation for practice roles in the nongovernment sector.

Keywords:

• Social Workers
• Social Work Education
• Community Services

Acknowledgements

This article analyses data collected in a survey commissioned by the NSW Department of Community Services. However, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department or the NSW Government. The authors thank the research participants, as well as Dr Fiona Hilferty, Sharni Chan, and Dr Kathy Tannous for assistance with survey administration, and Dr Killian Mullan and Dr Roger Patulny for advice on data analysis. Any remaining errors or omissions are, of course, those of the authors.

Notes

¹In Australia, the term “community services” usually refers to the broad collection of services that takes in childcare and residential aged care along with the more targeted welfare services for disadvantaged individuals and social groups (see ABS, 2001). Somewhat confusingly, the more targeted services tend to be referred to as “social and community services”(Meagher and Cortis, 2010). In this article we focus on the more targeted services, childcare and residential aged care, which were not included in the sample.

²Calculated from ABS (2010b) “Other social assistance services” and “Other residential care”, the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) that best approximate social and community services.

³The study by Agllias (2010) included 27 students in a qualitative study; the study by Healy and Meagher (2007) included 208 child welfare workers.

⁴Nagelkerke and other pseudo r² statistics are “invariably low” in logistic regression (Tarling, 2009, p. 68). As Tarling (2009, p. 68) has pointed out they have a less precise interpretation in logistic than linear regression but “this does not mean that the models themselves are of little value”.