Susan Balloch

Securing Quality in the Mixed Economy of Care: Difficulties in Regulating Training

This study explores issues about securing quality of provision in social care using evidence from research into training in the adult care sector in two English local authorities. It shows that progress towards securing a trained workforce is slow and explores reasons for this. It argues that since the government is making particular efforts to increase training in this sector, these data provide a good test case of the problems about using regulation to raise care standards. It concludes that significant progress is unlikely to be made in respect of training unless the impact of other factors, such as the occupational segregation of the workforce and contracting out, are also taken into account.

Social Exclusion and Social Work: Questions for the Future

This special edition brings together a diverse group of contributors with a shared focus. The edition seeks to explore dimensions of social exclusion in the context of social work practice, education and learning. The articles and book reviews address this theme in different ways, but in so doing raise interesting questions for the development of social work education and practice. This introductory article describes our theoretical approach to social exclusion and considers the changing nature of social work in this context. We identify some of the questions raised by the contributors and conclude by describing what we see as the complex and challenging issues that social work must face when addressing exclusionary processes. We recognise that social exclusion is a contested concept but, as set out below, we suggest that it offers a useful means by which the lived experiences of those needing or using social work services can be understood and addressed.