Personality in those entering social work training in England: comparing women and men

ABSTRACT

The ‘person of the social worker’ has long been considered a crucial aspect of social work. Such terms as ‘the person of the worker’ are complemented by an emphasis on both client/service user and worker as conscious subjects, the ‘use of self’, and the overarching importance ascribed by many to the relationship. Surprisingly, in view of this emphasis, there has been little attempt to look at the personality of those entering social work, or social work education. This is further emphasised by the gender imbalance internationally characteristic of social work and social care, in which women predominate. This study, carried out in two diverse English Universities, whose provision nevertheless reflected the undergraduate and postgraduate expectations of the Bologna Declaration, compares systematically the personality of men and women recruited to their social work programmes. Considerable differences between the sexes are found in certain key areas, with a tendency towards what is termed ‘robustness’ in men and ‘responsiveness’ in women. While the characteristics associated with both tendencies have appropriateness for social work, and results are highly nuanced, this does raise issues about characteristics, selection and possible gender biases. These are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Professions
• personality and social work
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Michael Sheppard is Professor of Social Science and Social Work at the University of Plymouth and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, London. This article is part of one of his long-term programmes of research focusing on cognitive elements of the way social workers make sense of and respond to practice situations (theoretically termed ‘Emergent Understanding’ and ‘Process Knowledge’). This includes a focus on the relationship between personality and use of self.

Marian Charles is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Social Work at the University of Nottingham. Following 20 years social work experience, as a practitioner and team manager, working with children and families in the arenas of adoption, fostering and safeguarding children’s welfare, she returned to Nottingham to undertake a research study around interagency working in child protection. Subsequently she joined the Social Work team, is responsible for teaching around social work theories, models and methods and has research interests in professional learning and development, therapeutic work with children and action research methods.