Research Paper on Development of Social Work in Australia

Introduction

Social work is a profession that deals with helping people, groups, and communities to enhance their well-being. Its primary objective is to help people develop skills and abilities to use the available resources to solve their problems. Social work came into existence when the society tried to address the poverty and inequality challenges (Baldwin, 2016). It is complicatedly associated with charity work but understood in broader perspective. The churches happened to offer social services even before the rise of a modern European state. During that period, the Christian church had considerable influence on European society where charity was considered as a responsibility as well as a sign of one's piety (Baldwin, 2016). The practice and profession of social work have both modern and scientific origin, and it is believed to have developed out of three strands: casework, social administration, and social action. Contemporarily, social work is recognized for its critical and holistic approach to intervening and understanding of the social problems (Baldwin, 2016). Due to this, poverty is believed to have social and economic basis embedded in social policies.

It all began when the UK was at the core of high economic aptitude and that prosperity led to pride and satisfaction among wealthy citizens who claimed they had achieved all that through their hard work (Gilbert& Powell, 2010). The privileged population did not care about the poor as poverty was blamed on an individual. The law did not recognize the poor at the period as they described it as self-inflicted occurrences. Charity Organization Society (COS) is usually viewed as the originator of social work following their emphasis and focus on individual casework one of the approaches that still exist even in the current social work practices (Gilbert& Powell, 2010). The COS believed that the poor was not enough since it also worsens the condition of the needy people. As the number of charitable organizations increases with their duplicate duties, it significantly impacted on the poor people. As a result, many people became disillusioned and demoralized as they become complacent as they began to exploit and depend on charity for support instead of reinventing themselves and become independent (Gilbert& Powell, 2010). Instead of helping the poor out of their situation COS made the situation worse by promoting laziness among these people hence intensifying poverty. The work of the COS met various challenges since it was viewed as harsh, and it failed to distinguish need and undeserved accurately. They help provided by these organizations was inadequate to combat lack. Eventually, the charity organizations recognized the need for training systematic program what to date has remained the significant attribute of social work.

Social work as social action emanates from settlement movement established in the 1880s by Canonm Bernett. The movement and COS shared various beliefs (Gilbert& Powell, 2010).Despite their different principles, the two shared a same moral law, that is, faith in education. According to their understanding, financial assistance could not eradicate poverty entirely in society but empowering the people through knowledge and learning within communities was the solution to it all. It was the duty of the privileged population to support the underprivileged. The movements embarked on offering training courses and university opportunities as a way of creating awareness of poverty to meet their objective. As they embark on this journey, the association had three ideas that they believed could help them (Gilbert& Powell, 2010). The first one was scientific research on the causes of poverty. Importance of education as means of creating opportunities for the needy people hence improve their lives was the second idea. The last one was enhancing the local communities through leadership. This principle plus the other two envisaged Community and group education as the ultimate solution to poorness and human problems hence improved life.

In the United Kingdom, social work has diverse origins, but for the last forty years the state has remained its influence both locally and nationally (McDonald, Harris& Wintersteen, 2003). Recently, the roles of social service department have reduced following the considerable growth in private residential care provision as well as the services contracted out to a voluntary organization. However, the national government continues to pursue primary service priorities as well as determining the rules for the provision of these services. The local government on the other hand still exerts considerable influence while commissioning and funding most of these services.

In America, social work began even before the revolution when services the needy, children and mentally ill persons had been established in North America (McDonald, Harris& Wintersteen, 2003). At that moment, they used the poor laws set by England in identifying those suitable to receive the services. The state started to provide through towns and cities by the 19th century. Due to their inadequate efforts, the private benevolent societies, as well as self-help organization, began to supplement their support. The people who worked in these individual societies were upper-class men and women who used their moral persuasion as their helping devices. As the escalation of movement for social reforms continued in the early 20th century, more schools for social work were established, and it raised the question of it being a profession. By the end of the Second World War, social work experienced a significant rise in their numbers to attend to the needs of military veterans from war. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) was then formed in 1955 with the aim of promoting professional development and advance social policies. The association was also meant for enhancing educational opportunities in the field of social work as well as maintenance of professional standard in practice. The social workers have had varied experiences in America since the begging up to now.

Australia has developed a unique welfare system for centuries, but following the reforms that began in the late 1990s, it has continuously shown the hallmarks policy of developments in the USA and UK that they share many similarities. The Association of Social Workers (AASW) in Australia was established in 1946 making the social work profession in this country to have a reasonably recent history compared to others (McDonald, Harris& Wintersteen, 2003). In Australia, social work is based on professional models that were recently reinforced by the government's position, and it stems from its competition policy that states, professions should be self-regulated. The professional association, the AASW, has managed to maintain firm control over professional standard as well as accreditation of social work schools with the aim of providing eligible professional membership (Mendes, 2005). Social work in this country is universal and secular by western rationalist thoughts that has a strong commitment to social justice. Social work in Australia is unique in various essential aspects (Mendes, 2005). Despite welfare reform, professional discourse in Australia has remained blatantly critical and social justice oriented, and that has made significant writers on human rights and social work come from Australia. Another unique aspect is that Australia was colonized by immigrants who managed to displace the value and cultures of the indigenous people who formerly lived there (McDonald, Harris& Wintersteen, 2003). While other countries like Aotearoa-New Zealand makes political advancement in Mario and policies, Australia's legislative history on aboriginal relations remains ambivalent even as they continue to embrace diversity in public discourse and advocate for multiculturalism policy.

Social work sector in Australia seems to experience a lot of stress currently following a significant staff turnover and stiff competition for qualified persons. According to the experts, the industry is in transition since more private operators' moves into places that were once dominated by government social workers (Howard &Williams, 2017). Social work seems to move from government to non-governmental sector with a better rate of growth, but qualification and professionalism are at its worse. Most employers in this sector rarely consider the skill, and they apply fewer regulations during recruitment hence ruins the market for the qualified social workers. Currently, there is high demand for social workers in private sectors where most of them seem to experience various challenges during the transition process (Howard &Williams, 2017). The working environment for government agencies is entirely different from that of private agencies, and most trained social workers find it hard to exercise their skills once they join the non-government sector accurately. Despite the higher pay they may receive from private industries, these companies usually fail to realize the significance of proper support structures and supervisions that social work requires. Private hospitals and care agencies that employ the social workers never understand the stress their workers undergo during the practice (Howard &Williams, 2017). They also fail to provide an opportunity for their workers to from policy to practice hence develop their careers. The privileges that social workers enjoy while working for the government are rarely experienced the other side. The rules of social work in Australia has changed in the recent years what makes most of their qualified personnel to look for jobs overseas.

In the UK, all social workers work for the government what seems entirely different from Australia where a more significant percentage has shifted to private sectors. UK social workers are not recognized even by the fellow core workers as doctors as nurses they work with having entirely different ideas on roles of a social worker. They more of a gatekeeper for social services since their clinical skills are never utilized in these institutions. USA story is almost similar to that of Australia because care agencies and private hospitals employ most workers. They value the social workers and grant them a chance to exercise their skill where necessary. In Australia, executives continuously learn from one another both inside and outside the country. They share experiences and best practices what has led to open dialogue that support and also enables the sector to develop consistently countrywide. The UK, on the other hand, do have an open market with a less central prescription but still cannot compete Australia because of the inward-thinking. The Australian social workers offer services that support people living with learning disabilities to work, and their productivity determines the wages they receive. By doing this, they encourage people to be independent and self-reliable. It is entirely different in the UK since such people tend to depend on relief services.

Social work in Australia is the most recent one compared to UK and USA. It all started as government responsibility to provide relief to the poor, but currently, non-governmental agencies seem to have taken over the most significant percentage. Since it began many years after USA and UK, Australian social worker has borrowed much from their policies what they have molded out well making it produce the best social workers. Following the escalating number of private hospitals and care agencies that have increased in Australia, most social work graduates seek for a job overseas. They find it better exercising their skills out there following the favorable environments provided by their employers unlike i...