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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on August 4, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2009 39(1):144-160; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm094
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

(Re) Shaping Social Work: An Australian Case Study

Catherine McDonald and Lesley Chenoweth

Catherine McDonald, School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

Lesley Chenoweth, School of Human Service, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

Correspondence to Professor Catherine McDonald, School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, 3001VIC, Australia. E-mail: catherine.mcdonald{at}rmit.edu.au


  Abstract

Contemporary policy development via various nationally contingent processes of welfare reform poses significant challenges to social work. This paper explores the initial impact on one group of generalist social workers in working in the Australian income support agency—Centrelink. Positioning welfare reform within a theoretical framework of institutional change, the authors suggest that the associated policy developments have the capacity to seriously destabilize social work, particularly in that they promote values and rationalities at odds with those assumed by the profession. These assumptions are explored through exploratory empirical engagement with the Centrelink social workers, the results of which suggest that all social workers in those national contexts experiencing the same policy orientation have significant reason to be concerned.

Keywords: welfare reform, institutional change, the future of social work


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