The ‘Making’ of Social Workers: Findings from Interviews with Managers of Newly Qualified Social Workers

Abstract

Social work education, social work practice and social work skills have been long-standing policy interests in England but the views of line managers of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) have not always informed debate. This paper reports on interviews with 23 line managers which asked about their experiences of managing NQSWs. Interviews were held across a diverse range of English local authorities in 2009–2010 and covered participants’ general expectations of NQSWs and how far these have been met, or not; support and induction arrangements for the newly qualified; and how the managers responded to variability among their newly qualified staff. The study participants present their management style as being combinations of modelling, workload and staff management, being open, and exercising their judgment over NQSWs. This suggests that they already possess many of the skills needed to assess NQSWs in their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment and that these should be built upon. We locate our findings within the wider literature highlighting the lack of attention paid to the experiences of social work line managers and the diversity that can be found within them.

Keywords:

• social work managers
• newly qualified social workers
• workload
• caseload
• induction
• Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE)

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer

This research was funded under the Department of Health’s (DH) Policy Research Programme’s Social Care Workforce Research Initiative and the DH Policy Research Programme support for the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. We are most grateful to all the participants in this study for giving up their time and to members of the Unit’s User and Carer Advisory Group. We thank Marie McNay for the advice and expertise she provided as the Programme’s Scientific Advisor. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of the Department of Health.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jill Manthorpe

Jill Manthorpe, Jo Moriarty, Martin Stevens, Shereen Hussein are members of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College London. The Unit is funded by the Department of Health's Policy Research Programme. The team has undertaken several studies of social work education and practice. Endellion Sharpe is manager of Sharpe Research and she has worked with the Social Care Workforce Research Unit on studies of social work education.

Correspondence to Jill Manthorpe, King’s College London, Strand, London: WC2 4LL, UK. Email: [email protected]