The Problem of Assessment in Social Work : Practice, Education and Continuing Professional Development

ISBN-13: 9783639119091 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 332 str.

Barry Cooper

Opis

Is social work The Assessment Profession? This bookargues that assessment is a defining feature ofprofessional social work and it analyses how thepower of assessment pervades both individual andinstitutional practices. Social workers roles andtasks are increasingly shaped by the need to carryout social assessments of people s lives in complexand contestable public welfare environments. At thesame time, social workers themselves are subject toassessment of their competence and capability throughoccupational standards and continuing educationrequirements. In highlighting social work as uniquelypositioned within this nexus of assessment processes,the author offers a historical and contemporarysynthesis of ideas that combine the critical socialtheories of Habermas with the pioneeringconstructivism of George Kelly s Personal ConstructPsychology. The book outlines an innovative researchenquiry which is used to explore the dilemmas andopportunities of practice-based professional learningand offers a conducive alternative approach toassessment in social work. This book will beimportant reading for students, practitioners andsocial care educators.

O autorze

Dr Barry Cooper, PhD, is Lecturer in Social Work at The Open
University in the UK. He is a qualified social worker and has
practiced, taught, researched and published on social work for
thirty years. He is a member of the Centre for Personal Construct
Psychology and co-edited Best Practice in Social Work: Critical
Perspectives (Palgrave 2008).