‘My profession is gone’: how social workers experience de-professionalization in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Recently social work in the Netherlands underwent two major changes. Specialized agencies were replaced by one-stop shops (district teams) and the welfare state was replaced by a ‘participation society’, in which vulnerable groups have to rely on their social network rather than resort to professional care. The first change is termed ‘de-specialization’; the second ‘basic de-professionalization’. The research question in this article is: how do Dutch social workers experience and evaluate these two developments? Qualitative interviews with 29 experienced social workers show that most of them endorse de-specialization, as this type of aid is deemed better for clients with complex problems. Moreover, many social workers like to take on new tasks. Basic de-professionalization is met with more reserve. Social workers observe that many clients do not have a suitable network and need professional help. In addition, they feel that their profession is being degraded as lay people and volunteers take over (part of) their work. However, they feel unable to resist this development, because resistance might get them sacked. Some social workers even enhance basic de-professionalization because of their willingness to continue working as (retired) volunteers. Social workers and theorists need to address and counter the move towards basic de-professionalization.

SAMENVATTING

Hulpverleners in het sociaal domein in Nederland worden geconfronteerd met twee belangrijke veranderingen. Ten eerste wordt gespecialiseerde hulpverlening grotendeels vervangen door generalistisch werkende wijkteams. En ten tweede maakt de verzorgingsstaat plaats voor een participatiesamenleving, waarin mensen vooral hulp moeten krijgen van elkaar in plaats van betaalde hulpverleners. De eerste verandering heet ‘despecialisatie’, de tweede fundamentele de-professionalisering. De centrale vraag in dit artikel luidt: hoe beoordelen maatschappelijk werkers deze veranderingen? Kwalitatieve interviews met 29 ervaren maatschappelijk werkers laten zien dat zij doorgaans enthousiast zijn over despecialisatie, omdat dit beter is voor cliënten met multi-problematiek. Zij zien generalistisch werken ook als een nieuwe uitdaging. Het oordeel over fundamentele de-professionalisering is negatiever. Maatschappelijk werkers maken zich zorgen over cliënten die geen geschikt netwerk hebben. Zij maken ook zorgen over hun vak, nu hulpverlening (gedeeltelijk) wordt overgenomen door leken en vrijwilligers. Ze vinden het moeilijk om zich tegen deze ontwikkeling te verzetten: zij vrezen voor hun baan. Sommigen zijn bereid om zelf onbetaald hun werk voort te zetten. Het is hoog tijd dat maatschappelijk werkers (nu: sociale professionals) en wetenschappers op dit gebied zich verdiepen in fundamentele de-professionalisering.

KEYWORDS:

• De-professionalization
• de-specialization
• changing welfare state
• the Netherlands

TREFWOORDEN:

• De-professionalisering
• despecialisatie
• generalistisch werken
• participatiesamenleving

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Margo Trappenburg is associate professor at the Utrecht School of Governance (Utrecht University). She holds an endowed chair in the Foundations of Social Work at the University of Humanistic Studies (Utrecht). Her research interests include professionals and professionalism, the welfare state, health care policy and modern political philosophy. Information and publications can be found at her website www.margotrappenburg.nl.

Gercoline van Beek is researcher at the Research Centre for Social Innovation of Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. Her research mainly focuses on professionalization of social workers, especially in the domains of working with mandated clients and debt counselling. In addition, she is lecturer at the Institute for Social Work, where she supervises students on their internships and (graduation) research and teaches them both methodic and research skills.