Social work in an assembly line? The development of specialisation in child welfare and further internal division of work between 2003 and 2018

ABSTRACT

Organisational specialisation characterises present social work in Sweden as internationally. Specialisation is often expected to lead to higher professional expertise. This study provides an overview of the development of specialisation and workforce characteristics in child welfare based on survey data collected in 2003, 2014 and 2018. The aim was to describe the development of specialisation and discuss the conditions for professional expertise in child welfare work. The results indicate that child welfare work is increasingly work task specialised. Social workers reported performing fewer tasks in 2014 and 2018 compared to 2003. This could be understood mainly as a form of statutory specialisation, indicating a shift in the professional role. Also, with the tendency to divide the work into only one or two phases of the process, child welfare work today almost resembles work at an assembly line. Compared with 2003, the statutory child welfare social workers surveyed in 2014 and 2018 were also significantly younger and less experienced. Since decision-making in child protection is a highly complex and challenging task, a question is if the development may be a survival strategy of the organisations rather than an opportunity for developing expertise.

ABSTRAKT

Organisatorisk specialisering kännetecknar socialt arbete i Sverige såväl som internationellt. Specialisering förväntas ofta leda till högre professionell expertis. Denna studie ger en översikt över utvecklingen av specialisering och arbetskraftens egenskaper inom sociala barnavården utifrån enkätdata som samlats in vid tre mättillfällen, 2003, 2014 och 2018. Syftet med studien var att beskriva specialiseringens utveckling och diskutera förutsättningarna för professionell expertis inom sociala barnavården. Resultaten tyder på att arbetet i allt högre grad är arbetsuppgiftsspecialiserat. Socialsekreterare rapporterade att de utförde färre uppgifter under 2014 och 2018 jämfört med 2013. Detta kan förstås som en form av myndighetsutövningsspecialisering, vilket tyder på en förskjutning av yrkesrollen. Tendensen att dela upp arbetet så att olika socialsekreterare arbetar med endast en eller två faser av processen, gör att arbetet idag nästan påminner om arbete vid ett löpande band. Jämfört med 2003 var socialsekreterarna som undersöktes 2014 och 2018 också yngre och mindre erfarna. Eftersom beslutsfattande inom den sociala barnavården är en mycket komplex och svår uppgift är frågan om socialsekreterarens mer avgränsade roll är en överlevnadsstrategi för organisationerna snarare än en möjlighet att utveckla yrkeskunnandet.

KEYWORDS:

• Specialisation
• statutory child welfare
• professional expertise

NYCKELORD:

• Specialisering
• sociala barnavården
• professionell expertis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Geolocation information

59.33413201326066, 18.056159396885867.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by AFA insurance, Sweden. Dnr 170025.

Notes on contributors

Karin Steive

Karin Steive is a PhD student in social work at the University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational studies. Before that, she worked as a social worker in Child Welfare.

Pia Tham

Pia Tham, is professor of Social Work. During the peer-review process, Pia has moved and is now affiliated with Uppsala University, Sweden. She has for twenty years been researching working conditions among social workers. Her research involves quantitative studies of how the working conditions among social workers in child welfare have developed between 2003, 2014 and 2018. Her studies have also focused on the transition from the education to the workplace, the situation for newly educated social workers, and the role of first-line managers.

Stefan Wiklund

Stefan Wiklund is professor at the department of social work, Stockholm university. His main research interest is personal social services with a particular interest in child welfare work.

Pär Grell

Pär Grell is Doctor and senior lecturer of Social Work at the University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies. His research focuses on the organisation of social work and client work.

Ingemar Kåreholt

Ingemar Kåreholt, professor at the Institute of Gerontology, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University. Since early 1990s he has devoted his professional career to research about health and welfare, with the effect of the psychological work environment has become one of his main interests. He has published more approximately 150 articles in peer reviewed journals. Of those 35 have focused on psychosocial working conditions. His research about the effect of working conditions have lately received much media attention with articles in approximately 50 newspapers and journals, interviews in radio and TV. He has been a member of the research council at the School of Health and Welfare at Jönköping University and is presently chairman of the Research Council Review Board at the School of Health and Welfare.