Suchergebnisse

This paper examines the Standards of Proficiency for Social Care Workers (Social Care Workers Registration Board (SCWRB), 2017b) in light of the scholarship of care. It does so by setting out some key strands of care scholarship and their significance for social care, followed by a critical assessment of care and its relational and emotional dimensions in the Standards of Proficiency (SoP) (SCWRB, 2017b). Given the centrality of care in the title Social Care Worker and the prevalence of the term in legislation and policy, the word is often ill-defined or not defined at all. Discussion of care within social care literature is remarkable by its absence. This is unfortunate for both service users and the emerging profession. This paper argues that placing care more centrally to social care can provide a key counterweight to the increasing processes of managerialisation ascendant in the social professions. An examination of care in the SoP with reference to two core dimensions - professional relationships and emotional labour - highlight some of the complexities and contradictions of care. The paper concludes that a technical rational understanding of care prevails within the SoP, while its relational and emotional dimensions of practice are underdeveloped or absent. It proposes that care scholarship provides a fertile opportunity to augment these threshold standards with a more critical and relationally informed understanding of care in teaching, practice and research.

AbstractOne of the most striking reconfigurations of Irish social care has been the entry of private for-profit companies into a sector previously regarded as outside the market. This article examines the policy context that has given rise to these developments and the impact of marketisation on both the quality of care provision and the employment conditions of the workforce. Whether for-profit provision of care is a positive development is the subject of intense debate, and the arguments for and against are outlined alongside a range of empirical evidence. International research evidence is not convincing about the capacity of markets to deliver on quality or efficiencies. The article concludes with recommendations for further research to enable analysis and debate in the Irish context.

Abstract
This article provides a timely intervention to debates and scholarship about the professional regulation of social work and social care. In Ireland, the recent commencement of the statutory regulation of social care by CORU – Ireland's multi-professional health regulator – offers a watershed opportunity for learning. Social work has been separately regulated by CORU for over a decade, while the social care work register opened in November 2023. We conduct a comparative content analysis of the standards of proficiency for social work and for social care work. Albeit with different historical origins, regulation has now provided these professions with distinctive, as well as shared professional 'benchmarks', that may shape the trajectories of their future roles and training. We consider the approach CORU takes to regulation, in terms of the standards and how these differentiate or align the two professions. The novel contribution of the paper lies in its key findings. Namely, that: the format of the standards of proficiency framework itself warrants further consideration; insufficient attention is paid to empathy and emotions across standards; there is an absence of a considered approach to the influence of socio-economic factors on practice; there are variations in the emphasis placed on relational versus socio-political dimensions in practice; and finally, there are differences in the importance paid to 'critical understanding' across the standards. These areas particularly illuminate how CORU frames and interprets the nature of both professions. It is concluded that the standards of proficiency for both social care work and social work have much shared terrain, interspersed with infrequent but striking differences, indicative of the many commonalities and overlap in occupational spheres for both professions.