Idit Weiss-Gal

POVERTY-AWARE SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Despite the profound commitment of social work toward people living in poverty, the social work profession has failed to develop practice based on awareness of poverty. This article shows the ways in which poverty became a marginal issue in social work practice, reviews the literature on teaching poverty in international context, and then explicates the expected educational results and the main course and fieldwork contents. The proposed framework for poverty-aware social work education includes knowledge acquisition, structuring of professional values, skills development, and experiencing. A consideration of the ways in which this content may be integrated into the existing social work curriculum concludes this article.

Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values

ABSTRACT Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic orientations and professional values have an impact on social workers perception of policy practice and the degree to which they are actually involved in the social welfare policy process. In particular, it was found that attitudes toward social justice played a major role in the social workers perceptions of, and involvement in, policy practice.

Social workers’ policy engagement: A review of the literature

The notion that social workers should engage in the policy process to further social justice is embedded in the professional discourse. However, little is known about social workers’ actual engagement in policy processes. This article presents a scoping review of the research literature published in English in order to understand the nature of current research and ascertain what is known about three modes of social workers’ policy involvement: voluntary political participation, holding elected office, policy practice. The review identified 51 studies published between 1964 and 2015. The studies focus mainly on social workers’ levels of involvement, their activities and the factors associated with the level of engagement. The review describes the main findings emerging from the research and underscores some methodological limitations in the existing studies and the continuing gaps in our knowledge on the policy engagement of social workers. Implications for future research, practice and education are presented. Key Practitioner Message: • Social workers’ engagement in policy processes in order to further social justice and the well-being of service users is a core mission in the social work profession. However, it is much less clear whether and how social workers, both as citizens and professionals, have heeded this call; • The article offers a scoping review of the research on three modes of social workers’ policy involvement: voluntary political participation, holding elected office, policy practice; • The review identifies 51 studies that shed light on the levels of engagement, the wide range of policy activities undertaken by social workers and the individual, organisational and macro factors associated with the level of engagement.

Searching for Poverty-aware Social Work: Discourse Analysis of Job Descriptions

This article aims to enrich the current limited body of knowledge regarding social work professional discourse. More specifically, it seeks to examine the extent and ways in which the social work intra-profession discourse, as it is manifested in formal job descriptions of social workers in Israel, reflects the commitment to working with people living in poverty and to confronting poverty. We provide a brief review of the concept of professional discourse and the role of formal job descriptions in this discourse in general, and in Israel in particular. ‘Poverty-aware social work’ is then conceptualised. Against this background, we analysed 75 job descriptions in order to ascertain whether, and in what ways, references to poverty appear in defining client populations, in directions for assessing their situation, and in defining the goals and methods of professional intervention. The research findings reflect a textual silence in relation to poverty issues in job descriptions. The analysis of poverty-related sub-topics in these documents suggests that job descriptions offer, and simultaneously reproduce a conservative and a-political perspective on poverty and on social work practice with people living in poverty.

Realizing Rights in Social Work

Non‐take‐up of rights is a problem that plagues many social programs. The premise in this article is that enhancing access to benefits, services, and labor rights is an integral part of social work. The article examines the engagement of social workers in Israel in case advocacy for welfare and labor rights. It also considers the factors that have an impact on this type of activity. It finds that the actual involvement of social workers in case advocacy is limited and that the perceived policies of the organizations in which social workers are employed have a major effect on their engagement in this.

Bringing public policy into policy practice

Summary Policy practice is a core element of social work practice. The rationale for this type of practice and its key strategies and methods has been discussed at length in the literature. However, insights from public policy theories have not been employed in order to better understand the ways in which social workers can influence social policy formulation. This article seeks to broaden and enrich the theoretical foundations of policy practice by incorporating knowledge from two leading frameworks of the policy process – the Multiple Stream Framework (MSF) and the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) – into the policy practice discourse. Findings This article underscores the potential contribution of these frameworks to the engagement of social workers in the policy process by discussing the practical implications of their theoretical insights upon the roles and tasks of social workers engaged in policy practice. It does so by employing the frameworks to better understand the roles and the tasks of social workers in three streams in the policy process: problems, policy and politics. It also underlines social workers’ potential role of policy entrepreneurs. Applications The insights emerging from the MSF and the ACF can guide social workers in their efforts to influence the policy process. By drawing upon these frameworks, social workers will not only be able to see the wider policy picture but they should be better able to identify possible roles and relevant tasks for themselves in order to influence this process.

Social Welfare Policy: Preferences of Arab and Jewish Social Workers in Israel

Seeking to understand the impact of race and nationality on the attitudes of social workers towards social welfare policy, this study compares the attitudes of Arab and Jewish social workers in Israel. This analysis seeks to determine whether the attitudes of the two groups of social workers diverge and, if so, in what direction. Based on a sample of 110 social workers, evenly divided between Arabs and Jews, the findings revealed both similarities and differences in the social welfare policy references of the two groups of social workers. Although both supported the welfare state, they also expressed a lack of enthusiasm to finance it and a degree of skepticism regarding its impact. In contrast to their Jewish counterparts, Arab social workers were more supportive of the welfare state but did not support policies that were perceived as unsupportive of Arabs.

‘Money makes the world go around’: Social workers in parliamentary finance committees in Israel

Summary The study examined social workers’ participation in two powerful parliamentary committees in Israel: the Finance Committee (FC) and the Economics Affairs Committee (EAC). It sought to better understand the characteristics of social workers who participated in these committees, their inputs, and to uncover differences between these findings and those on social workers in other parliamentary committees. Qualitative and quantitative content analyses were conducted on the minutes of the committees’ sessions between 1999–2013. Findings At least one social worker spoke in 50 of the FC sessions and in 26 of the EAC sessions. These sessions dealt with a wide range of subjects, including national and local social services budgets, social problems, and vulnerable populations. The social workers expressed opinions on deficiencies in social policies and made recommendations for dealing with social problems. Their opinions conveyed support for social provision in a period in which the neo-liberal discourse was in ascendant. They also provided information on diverse aspects of current social policies. Most of the social worker participants were employed in the government sector. Implications In terms of theory, the study augments our knowledge of social workers as policy actors. In terms of practice, it shows that finance committees are relevant and accessible arenas of social work activity. Awareness of the inputs and the roles identified can enable social workers to better understand their potential contribution to the discussions of such committees and conceptualize their possible roles in them.

Social workers and volunteers in Israel

Summary This study examines factors associated with Israeli social workers’ investment of effort in, and inclusion of, volunteers in their work. The variables are drawn from three theories: status characteristic theory, psychological contract theory, and organizational culture theory, and from claims regarding training in working with volunteers. The sample consisted of 118 randomly selected direct social workers in 26 municipal social service departments in Israel. The instruments were designed specifically for the study. Findings Social workers’ effort investment and inclusion increased when they: (a) viewed volunteers as contributing to social workers and the organization; (b) expected themselves to invest effort in their volunteers; (c) believed their volunteer met their expectations with regard to service users and social workers; (d) trusted their volunteer; (e) perceived their managerial culture, peer culture, and artifacts as encouraging effort investment and inclusion; and (f) received training in working with volunteers. Implications On a theoretical level, the findings expand our knowledge about factors that may impact on social workers’ investment of effort in volunteers and their inclusion. On a methodological level, instruments with good psychometric properties were developed to examine the associations studied and these can serve in future research. On the practical level, the findings highlight the importance of training in working with volunteers and underscore the value for managers and volunteer coordinators discussing the workers’ psychological contract with them and of fostering an organizational culture that encourages effort investment in, and inclusion of, volunteers.

Why Do Social Workers Become Policy Actors

The study examines factors related to social workers’ involvement in policy practice by examining their engagement in legislative advocacy in Israel. Based on the three components of the Policy Practice Engagement Framework—opportunity, facilitation and motivation—the study focused upon a group of social workers who were actively involved in legislative advocacy as part of their professional job. In order to learn more about their features and the circumstances of their legislative advocacy, they were asked about their testimonies and were then compared to a group of social workers who have never participated in the deliberations of legislative committees. The sample consisted of 190 social workers evenly divided between the two groups. The findings underscore that the intersect of opportunity, facilitation, and motivation created a context that encouraged the involvement of social workers in a specific form of policy practice. The study findings emphasize the opportunity and facilitation components of the framework over the motivational.