Module 11 Flashcards
Practice frameworks, professional identity and self-care
Professional Identity
- Is not a piece of knowledge you can learn or a skill you can acquire
- You can’t purchase it or download it
- Professional identity is a process of becoming a person who is professional
The ‘Emerging Practitioner’: a role and identity
What is an ‘emerging practitioner’?
- Emerge/emerging – to come into view, to become apparent, to come into existence
- Practice/practitioner - a person who practices a profession, repetition of an activity in order to develop skill
- Emerging practitioner… a person who is in the process of becoming a practitioner or
professional
Activities for developing your professional identity
- Presenting/promoting a social work (human services) perspective
- Contributing to public dialogue and advocacy
- Contributing to policy and research
- Providing supervision, mentoring or support
to social workers - Attending a professionally relevant network
Practice group or similar - Volunteering within the community
- Contributing to the learning of other social
workers/ human services workers - Participating in World Social Work Day
activities - Attending AASW activities
- Membership of AASW Group, Committee or
Board - Contributing to publications (honours)
- Presenting at a conference, seminar or
similar
(AASW, 2014, p. 8)
Five factors – professional identity
- Self-awareness
- Professional behaviour and commitment
- Interpersonal and communication skills
- Belief in diversity: Attunement with diversity in the human and natural
world - Knowledge base for social work and human services practice
Professional supervision:
- field placement (first experience)
- continue after graduation
- not line management
- may be provided by organisation
- most practitioners organise to have professional
supervision - use to discuss particular and/or complex case
situations, to develop better self-awareness and for
ongoing practice improvement
Preparing ‘futures of practice.’ A global focus
- rapid expansion of global markets
- movement of people and knowledge
- effects on politics, social institutions and cultures
- gap between rich and poor
- decline of local communities
- capacity to share information and ideas across borders
- increased capacity to work collaboratively
Implications for education and ongoing learning:
– preparation for practice – ‘future-ready’
– integration of theory–practice
– global literacy
– social innovation
– use of digital technologies for work and learning (e-professionalism)
- skills in data analytics – using ‘big data’
– changing landscapes – responsiveness
COVID-19 and its Implications
Highlighted existing inequalities:
- access to healthcare and other resources
- some groups affected more than others
- digital divide
Social distancing and isolation:
- mental health issues
- rise in domestic and family violence
- but also new ways of connecting
- Loss of jobs and livelihoods
- Rise in racism and discrimination
- Grief and loss
- Increased access to telehealth and other digitised supports
- Practitioners are required to be more agile and resilient
- Social work/human services are international professions
CLIMATE CHANGE
- Social workers are increasingly being called on to respond to climate change-induced disasters.
- Climate change disproportionately affects those who are marginailsed and disadvantaged.
- AASW declared a climate emergency in 2019 and released a Climate Action Statement in 2021 highlighting that climate change is a social justice issue, that social workers must act and that we must prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and wisdom.
- Social workers can contribute on macro, mezzo and micro levels to address climate change (Anderson, 2021).
- Social workers can undertake advocacy, local organising and program development, and can use their skills in these areas to take a multipronged approach to addressing climate change (Mason,
2022)
