history of social work education in uk

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Social Work Education in Europe pp 211–231 Cite as

Social Work Education in the United Kingdom

• Steven Lucas 5 &
• Hakan Acar 5  
• First Online: 08 May 2021

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Part of the book series: European Social Work Education and Practice ((ESWEP))

Since 2000 social work has been a regulated profession throughout the United Kingdom with a requirement for individual social worker registration, regulatory bodies overseeing standards of practice, a disciplinary framework allowing suspension and removal of social workers from the register, and inspection and validation of educational programmes set at degree level throughout the UK. In this account of social work education in the United Kingdom we begin with a brief historical introduction to the development of these national arrangements for social work and social work education in the UK before discussing some contemporary challenges. Whilst a general structure for social work regulation was established across the UK, there are regional divergences. Accordingly, in this chapter we also give an overview of arrangements throughout the regions of the UK. This regional view is necessary as the devolved government in the regions of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales accounts for increasing local control and divergence in the arrangements for social work throughout the UK. After accounting for developments in the UK regions we consider contemporary issues in England and the UK more generally with respect to the national government and professional regulation and discuss their implications for the professional social work curriculum in a closely regulated environment.

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Lucas, S., Acar, H. (2021). Social Work Education in the United Kingdom. In: Laging, M., Žganec, N. (eds) Social Work Education in Europe. European Social Work Education and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69701-3_11

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Article Contents

Introduction, early references to social work as an inclusive term, the social work of the salvation army, developments in training for charitable, philanthropic and social work, planning training for charitable, philanthropic and social workers, developing a home visiting role for social workers, developing a curriculum for training social workers, introducing social work as a profession.

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Introducing Social Workers: Their Roles and Training

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Mike Burt, Introducing Social Workers: Their Roles and Training, The British Journal of Social Work , Volume 52, Issue 4, June 2022, Pages 2166–2182, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab175

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During the late Victorian and early Edwardian period references to ‘social work’ in the UK emerged in the context of the movement for social reform. Using a wide variety of contemporary literature, archival sources and Internet searches this article finds that, alongside charitable and philanthropic work, the term ‘social work’ referred to a particularly wide range of social, health, educational, industrial welfare and recreation activity. Few attempts were made to attribute an explicit meaning to the term and it was not used as frequently as is sometimes implied by commentaries about the period. However, voluntary and paid workers were increasingly referred to collectively as ‘social workers’ and became the subject of increasing discussion about their roles and need for training. This article traces the developments in references to social work and social workers in the literature and highlights the early debate that took place in the UK and USA about the relative importance of practical work and study of the social sciences, introducing the tension which characterised social workers’ subsequent difficulties in establishing a professional identity.

The late Victorian and early Edwardian period in the UK has been widely referred to as the start of ‘modern’ social work. Using a wide variety of contemporary literature, archival sources and Internet searches, this article contributes a historical appreciation of the early shaping of social work, 1890–1910, providing historical context, and exploring the emergence and use of relevant terms and phrases, with a particular focus on ‘social work’ and ‘social worker’. It finds that throughout the period the use of the term ‘social work’ referred to a particularly wide range of social, health, educational, industrial welfare and recreation activity, that is, work which was relevant to progress in social life. Moreover, although voluntary societies, municipal authorities and the Poor Law invariably used their own title to refer to their workers, for example, friendly visitor, district visitor, visitor, voluntary worker, almoner, secretary, club manager and the term ‘social worker’ was increasingly used as a collective designation. Towards the end of the 1890s it was increasingly recognised that charitable, philanthropic and social workers required training. Developments in the provision of training for voluntary and paid workers are examined in the UK, USA and elsewhere together with their implications for a curriculum and establishing a professional identity.

The meaning of social work has changed throughout time. In drawing attention to the wide range of work referred to as social work from the late Victorian period onwards, Cree (1995) points out that there was no self-evident direction which social work should take. Healey (2011) , meanwhile, highlights the significance of changes in social policy resulting in different priorities for social work. Addressing the contrast between definitions which point to social work’s core values and principles and those which address its roles and responsibilities, Dickens (2012) highlights the continuing difficulty that social work has experienced in succinctly stating its purpose.

Space does not permit an evaluation of the influence of the ethical and religious dimensions of charitable, philanthropic and social work or the development of their methods in relation to, for example, visiting, inquiry, case work, relief and after-care, or the early references to prevention and supervision, which characterised the subsequent development of social work. Articles in prominent contemporary journals and literature together with archive material feature widely in the research. However, the findings of this article remain provisional because it has only been possible to access a limited amount of the potential archive material available, for example, the records of numerous local and national societies.

Early references to social work were made in the context of the social problems experienced by the masses of poor people for whom it was thought there should be a wider range of help, both religious and secular, than the provision of Poor Law relief and charities. For example, a speaker at the 1874 annual meeting of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes referred to ‘the ability with which it dealt with the practical social work carried out’ ( The Times, 1874 , p. 12). In connection with the movement to establish settlements a report referred to ‘those men and women—young barristers and men of letters—who go regularly eastward on stated days to hold classes or to do social work in courts and alleys, sometimes on the lines laid down by Miss Octavia Hill’ ( The Times, 1883 , p. 7). Early references in the ‘Charity Organisation Review (COR)’ reported on the formation of the Denison Club, which was linked with the Charity Organisation Society (COS), to discuss social problems and ‘…represented an attempt to find common ground in social work’ ( Notes of the Month, 1885 , p. 266).

References to social work in the UK and USA began to increase but remained infrequent from the early 1890s onwards, emerging in the context of increasing use of terms which recognised the social conditions of people’s lives, for example, social life, social problem, social welfare and social effort. Social work was an inclusive term, referring to a wide range of different types of activity, which was sometimes used as an alternative to, or in association with charitable and philanthropic work but without explicit discussion of a different meaning. In the literature it was mainly used as an introductory title or at the start or end of a pamphlet, chapter or book.

For example, in a thorough survey of the provision of dinners to school children in London the introduction of a COS report stated that ‘[i]n every branch of social work, demands for charitable relief constantly arise, and press for a prompt response’ ( COS, 1893 , p. 1). Throughout the remaining 132 pages no further use of the term social work is made. Helen Bosanquet, a prominent figure in the COS, made a small number of references to social work in her texts; however, almost all occur towards the start or end of a book or chapter, emphasising the summative use of the term. For example, the Introduction to a general textbook which outlines social conditions in a particular London parish and provides advice to people thinking about becoming charity workers, refers to the ‘…labyrinth of “Social Work”’ ( Bosanquet, 1896 , p. 6). Although published later in a collection of essays, in the penultimate paragraph of a paper read to a COS conference in 1893 Bosanquet presciently anticipates that ‘[t]he time will come when no town will be without its training college for social workers’ ( Bosanquet, 1906 , p. 278). Meanwhile, although Bosanquet’s (1898 ; 1901 ) articles made some references to social work, they were more concerned with advocating the principles of the COS and his philosophical position of Idealism than with discussing social work as a new concept.

Examples of the breadth of activity to which social work referred are found in reports about the work of settlements. Some chapters in an edited book occasionally used the term social work to refer to the wider work with the poor by all societies rather than to their own work. In one example, Bailward (1895) , a district secretary of the COS, referred to people in certain roles which ‘…have served to link the social work of East London’ (p. 153). Their work included local responsible positions taken by residents of the settlement, social and recreational club work, visiting, provident collecting, education classes, children’s holidays, advice to immigrants and talks. An example of a settlement referring to its own social work was the Mary Ward Settlement. Whilst referring to the ‘separate parts of our social work’, two other references to social work at the Marchmont Hall space specifically mention the ‘clubs, concerts and popular lectures’, which were provided there, and as its base for the forming of a guild for workers with an introductory lecture ‘The Place of Religion in Social Work’ ( Ward, 1892 ).

An initial Internet search of The Commons, The Charities Review and Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ( AAAPSS ), suggests that there was even less use of the term social work in the USA during the 1890s. An exception, for example, was a brief reference to the Boston College settlement and ‘…its various agencies for educational and social work’ in The Charities Review ( News and Notes, 1898 , p. 796). A pamphlet that summarised the work of charity organisation societies in the USA in 1895 made no reference to social work, using expressions such as personal service and friendly visiting ( Blackett, 1895 ). Similarly, in neither a pamphlet written in 1899 nor her account of the first twenty years of Hull House did Addams (1899 , 1910 ) use the term social work.

A significant exception to the early and limited use of social work as an inclusive term was the Salvation Army’s formal reference to its own social work, which included reports in local and national newspapers. Its international reach would have been an influence on the increasing use of the term . However, the extent of its work drew regular criticism from the COS, which regarded its wide range of provision for the poor as indiscriminate and encouragement to continuing dependency. Nevertheless, the Salvation Army’s references to social work were a way of contrasting its own particularly wide range of work with most other organisations. For example, the opening statement of a report in 1891 notes that ‘[t]he Darkest England Scheme is the Social Work of the Salvation Army…’ ( Salvation Army, 1891 , p. 1). Cheap food depots, night shelters for men and women, labour bureau for the unemployed, factories, a farm colony, prison gate work and homes for convicts, house to house work in the slums, rescue homes for women, inquiry for those lost and missing and poor man’s advice bureau were described ( Salvation Army, 1891 ). Meanwhile, a letter to The Times describes the wide scope of the Salvation Army’s social work with women, which included the availability of night shelters, lodging houses, a hospital, employment and ‘an inquiry agency for befriending and helping young girls for seeking lost relatives’ ( The Times, 1896 , p. 4).

International developments in charitable, philanthropic and social work led to calls for training the workers involved. In 1893, at a meeting of the International Congress of Charities, Corrections and Philanthropy, Anna L. Dawes proposed ‘some course of study…of charitable science’ ( Costin, 1983 , p. 93). This was followed in 1897 with a firm proposal made by Mary Richmond for a training school to be established in a large city ‘with an emphasis on “practical work” over theory and academic requirements’ (Costin, p. 93). In the UK an annual programme for training voluntary workers was introduced in 1893 by the Women’s University Settlement in Southwark which expressed ‘…the hope of raising the standard of social work for the poor and of meeting an increased demand for trained workers’ ( Women’s University Settlement, 1893 , pp. 63–4). With a view to developing the regular ‘Lectures on Charitable and Social Work’ and other training, a Joint Committee was formed between the Women’s University Settlement, National Union of Women Workers and COS in 1896. However, the committee’s reports were written almost entirely from the perspective of the COS and neither the lecture subjects nor reports in the ‘COR’ make specific reference to social work ( COS, 1899 ). Increasing significance was given by the COS to the training of volunteers within their own offices and considering how it could influence the work of other charities. To that end additional lectures on ‘Charitable and Social Work’ started to take place in London and other towns and cities, the subjects including the history of the Poor Law, the work of reformatory and industrial schools, provision of medical relief, district nursing, housing management and opportunities provided by clubs, recreation and use of open spaces.

Articles in the ‘COR’ by prominent leaders in the settlement movement at the turn of the century drew attention to the limitations of the work of the COS and argued that training was necessary for charitable and social workers to expand the scope of their work and reach a much wider range of people in need. For example, Bannatyne (1902) , Acting Warden of the Women’s Settlement, emphasised that to influence the poor a wider remit than a technical offer of relief on conditions which might not be met was required. She concluded by suggesting that ‘…we are growing more willing and prepared to place our most responsible work only in qualified hands, even if that involves more paid assistance…’ (p. 334). Meanwhile, Urwick (1902) , then Sub-Warden of Toynbee Hall, identified changes which had taken place to the settlement ideal—from settlers engaging with local people to becoming centres of activity, making one reference to residents as ‘would-be social workers’ (p. 120).

In the UK, the Women’s University Settlement year-long programme which continued throughout the 1890s included lectures on ‘Principles and Methods of Relief and Organisation’, ‘Principles and Methods of keeping accounts’, ‘the duties of a citizen’, ‘Savings banks, Insurance and Friendly Societies’ and ‘Relation of Economics to some Social Questions’. ‘Practical work’ was carried out during the first six months for three days a week at a COS Committee with other days spent at a Settlement ( Women’s University Settlement, 1893 ). In the USA, a School of Social Economics was formed in 1895 to support the work of the Chicago Commons settlement by its founder Graham Taylor, as a ‘periodical informal conference of Settlement workers, ministers and others interested in social questions and social work’. It appears to have met infrequently until Taylor formed the Social Science Center for Practical Training in Philanthropic and Social Work in 1903 ( West, 1895 ). In 1898, a Summer School of Philanthropy was inaugurated in New York at which lectures on a wide range of social problems and issues were provided.

In Germany and the Netherlands, training schools specifically to provide educational opportunities for women were established. Starting in 1899, Alice Salomon, a pioneer in social work education, commenced a series of annual lectures in Berlin: the classes being transformed into one of the first schools of social work in Germany in 1908 with Alice Salomon as president and teacher ( Kuhlmann, 2001 ). In the Netherlands, the Educational Institute for Social Labour in Amsterdam was established in September 1899. Romein (1976) states that it was the first in the world to provide a two-year training course, changing its name to the School of Social Work early in the 1900s. Kalkman (2009) records that lectures in the first year related to social problems, and state and charitable provision. Teaching in the second year included political economics and the theory of democracy, with the availability of specialised options of poor relief, care for children deprived of or withdrawn from their caretakers, supervision of homes, welfare in factories and workplaces and Toynbeewerk (popular development and youth work). Visits to institutions were also made. Prominent amongst the first students were house supervisors whose work was modelled on that of Octavia Hill ( van der Linde, 2014 ). However, although established to provide educational opportunities for women and attendance at individual sessions, during the first four years there were only forty-one students of whom twenty were awarded a diploma ( Kalkman, 2009 , pp. 6–7).

In Sweden, the Central Association for Social Work, formed in 1903, started its first training course in 1909. The Association represented about seventy organisations of varying importance which were reduced to ten prominent bodies in 1922 including the Swedish Poor Law and Child Welfare Association, Union for the Education of the People, General Association of the Sickness Benefit Societies of Sweden and societies promoting the interests of women, health and local communities. Relevant to a wide range of workers, the training was intended ‘for people who desired to train as housing inspectors, child relief, or home work, or for labour exchange work, social education in factories etc’ ( The Swedish Government, 1928 , p. 283). The course initially lasted six months, later increasing to twelve to eighteen months.

A conference was convened by the COS in the UK in 1902 with a view to starting a training school in London. Both COS and settlement leaders considered that practical work should be pre-eminent in courses of study; however, some university representatives argued that practical work could not form part of a university course. One COS delegate forcefully stated that it would be wiser to follow the model of the Amsterdam School rather than join the universities, proposing a minimum two-year course with the option of a third year. Subsequent discussion also identified the need for shorter periods of training involving lectures and practical training ( Smith, 1965 ).

A Social Education Committee was formed and after extensive deliberation, the School of Sociology and Social Economics was founded by the COS in 1903. At the start of an inaugural address titled ‘Social Education of Yesterday and To-day’, Urwick (1903) , Director of Studies, referred to the relevance of the School to the training of charitable and social workers; however, he made no separate reference to social work and it was towards the end of the speech that reference was again made to social workers. In contrast, during the discussion which followed, the Bishop of Stepney ( London Charity Organisation, 1903 ) made several references to social workers in the context of the ‘noble idea of social work’ (p. 288). However, limited developments at a national level prompted an editorial in the ‘COR’ to suggest that ‘[i]t is evident that the need for efficient training for social workers, if their efforts are to attain the best results, is more fully realised in the United States than in this country’ ( Editorial Notes, 1906 , p. 171).

Professor Gonner’s initiative at the University of Liverpool, supported by the arrival of Elizabeth Macadam as Warden of the Liverpool Women’s Settlement in 1903, led to the opening of the School of Social Science and Training for Social Work in January 1905. In 1908, the University of Birmingham then became the first university to directly enrol students onto a course for social workers, in its Social Studies Department. The curriculum for Birmingham’s programme of Social Study: Training for Social and Philanthropic Work was dominated by studies in government, industrial history and economic analysis, statistics, sanitation and hygiene, and included a series of five lectures titled ‘Aims and Methods of Social Work’ and five lectures on ‘Law for Social Works’ ( Davis, 2008 ).

The identification of the need for training in Europe and the USA, relevant to both workers who would take organisational responsibility and for voluntary workers took place in an expanding field of social provision and wider context of social change and social reform. In that rapidly changing environment, the identification of relevant groups of workers was more straightforward than developing a conceptualisation of social work itself because of the different focus and expectations of the COS, settlements, individual societies, charities, institutions and municipal authorities. Nevertheless, recognition of the need for training prompted discussion of the principles social work should develop, many of which subsequently became established within social work.

During the first decade of the 20th century in the UK, there was an increasing acceptance that the conditions of people’s lives were influenced by wider social and economic forces. In response, the restricted and conditional form of charitable relief provided by the COS was more widely challenged, state provision of social welfare was tentatively introduced, and changes to the Poor Law, which anticipated an increased role for municipal authorities in concert with charitable organisations, were proposed. It was considered that an increased level of home visiting by voluntary workers and paid officials in relation to public health, education, relief and family care would improve the homes and families of the poor. Some Poor Law unions made appointments of visitors to children who were boarded out, municipal authorities started to employ health visitors and more school attendance officer, courts engaged probation officers, and some voluntary hospitals in London appointed an almoner ( Burt, 2020 ). Bailward (1904) , a COS district secretary, indicated the scope of work carried out by social workers when he referred to ‘…the enormous number of those who have been called for want of a better name “social workers”’ (p. 130), amongst whom he included workers and visitors in: every ecclesiastical parish and non-conformist centre; the London City Mission and similar missions; the Salvation Army; settlements; the COS; and local nursing institutions. Visitors to hospitals, workhouses and infirmaries were listed as well as workers in official positions including relieving officers, Poor Law guardians, school teachers and school managers.

These developments were reflected in an increase in references to workers collectively as social workers but not necessarily by established societies to their own workers, an approach followed by some newly established groups of voluntary and paid workers. For example, following the formation of the Bradford Guild of Help in 1904, independent guilds of help and similar organisations expanded rapidly mainly in northern and midland towns and cities: designating their voluntary workers as ‘helpers’ who visited a small number of families ( Laybourn, 1997 ). Towns and cities gave different names to bodies which were formed in the likeness of guilds of help. In his account of the formation of the Birmingham City Aid Society in 1906, a new body that acknowledged the impact of being exposed to circumstances beyond people’s control, and of ‘sympathetic interest’ in individual cases, Muirhead (1911 ) refers to ‘real friendly visitation’, voluntary helpers and social service but not to social work. Expecting that its work would be available to a wider range of people and needs, the differently named Sunderland Civic and Social (Service) League aimed ‘[t]o find a friend for everyone in need, whatever form the need may take’ ( County Borough of Sunderland, n.d. , p. 2). Voluntary workers were referred to as helpers, but no reference is made to social work or social workers.

Similarly, the minutes of the London County Council’s Education Committee in relation to its care committees did not refer to the work of the volunteers and paid district organisers as social work. Care committees were established in all London schools in 1907 to organise home visiting and advice to parents by voluntary workers, feeding of ‘necessitous’ school children, medical care and advice about employment. In her account of their work, Davies (1909) also makes no reference to social work or social workers, although extensive references to visitors and friendly visitors are made. Addressing the co-ordination of work, Davies attributed particular importance to the use of individual case papers, referral to and consultation with other workers, in particular, school attendance officers, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Invalid Children’s Aid Association.

Hospital almoners formed a small coherent occupational group in London hospitals following the initial appointment of Mary Stewart by the COS to the Royal Free Hospital in 1895. They were another group of workers which used their individual title to describe their work, making only occasional references to social work in the documentation which has been examined. Although based in hospitals, an increasing emphasis was placed on their home visiting ( Mudd, 1909 ). Moreover, hospital almoners were at the forefront of introducing an organised approach to their training with the formation of the Hospital Almoners’ Council in1907. Its first report ( Hospital Almoners’ Council, 1909 ) makes a formal statement of the duties of a hospital almoner and outlines the three parts of training: experience in a district office of the COS described variously as ‘instruction in charitable work’ and ‘a thorough training in social work’; theoretical training with lectures in ‘social subjects’, elementary hygiene and physiology at the School of Sociology; and ‘a course of training in an out-patients’ department under an experienced Hospital Almoner’. Depending on the ‘aptitude of the candidate’ the training lasted between twelve and eighteen months (pp. 2–3).

The Majority and Minority Reports of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress (1909) make a handful of references to social work and social workers, none of them attributing or suggesting any particular significance to their use, although one of the main points which the Majority Report made about ‘Leading defects of the Poor Law System’ was a ‘…(x) General failure to attract capable social workers and leading citizens’ ( Royal Commission, 1909 , p. 189). However, standing in contrast, a long individual Memorandum by T. Hancock Nunn, a member of the Royal Commission, prioritised references to social work and social workers. Drawing on his involvement in the formation of the Hampstead Council of Social Welfare, Hancock Nunn recommended that a local Council should be established in every municipal authority to co-ordinate the work of all voluntary organisations and which would be responsible for liaising with the new Public Assistance Authority proposed by the Royal Commission. He argued that ‘much of the best social work consists in the personal influence of one human being over another’ and that ‘the relationship between helper and helped should continue long enough to develop the knowledge essential to friendly help’ ( Hancock Nunn, 1909 , pp. 301–2). In the 1910s, the issue of co-ordinating work at the local level of individual workers by voluntary societies and municipal authorities was addressed by the establishing of Councils of Social Welfare throughout the country, the first one being formed in Liverpool in 1910.

Towards the end of the first decade of the 1900s more frequent references to social work were made independently of charitable and philanthropic work. However, the absence of attempts to establish a meaning to early social work was reflected in Macadam’s (1914) observation that ‘[s]ocial work is so vague and elastic an expression that its use is only justified by its great convenience’ (p. 1). Nevertheless, the identification of workers’ need for training and co-ordination of their work, together with increasing references to them as social workers, with an emphasis on the value of their role in home visiting, started to create a collective identity amongst workers involved in various forms of social reform.

In reviewing the progress and influence of the School of Sociology and Social Economics in London, articles in the ‘COR’ made more references to social workers and discussed the balance in the curriculum between preparation for and the extent of practical work on the one hand, and the wider teaching of social and economic subjects on the other hand. For example, a paper read by Loch (1907) to the School in June 1907, whilst acknowledging the importance of teaching the social sciences, emphasised the importance of teaching about practical work. In contrast, Professor Chapman’s inaugural address to the School in October 1907 was more wide ranging, suggesting that the ‘…meaning of social work is not self-evident’ but referring regularly to social workers in addressing the connection between social work and economics. He started his speech with a short discussion about the need to define social work suggesting that the time had been reached when religious activity, moral revival and specifically medical work should be excluded. Professor Chapman (1907) described social work as ‘…the personal exertions of individuals intended to mitigate direct suffering and evil in the world and promote happiness…the work of voluntary organisations with the same end in view and…the planning of legislation’ (pp. 275–6).

A report about the first years of the School of Social Science in Liverpool presented a balanced picture with details of lectures provided mainly by social science lecturers from the university, supplemented by Poor Law and municipal officers. It emphasised the particularly close relationship with the two settlements in Liverpool in providing practical work and, as well as short courses, the availability of the one-year course ‘for men and women intending to take up social work as a career’ ( D’Aeth, 1907 , p. 196).

References to social work and social workers were made more frequently in reports of the increasing number of conferences. They highlighted the contrast between the large numbers of voluntary visitors engaged in civic duty and workers in full-time and paid positions, including in public bodies. At a conference held at the School of Sociology in 1909, the importance of all social workers carrying out their work according to principles based on essential knowledge of the social sciences was emphasised ( School of Sociology, 1909 ). Elsewhere summative statements of the position of training by Macadam and L. Shairp from their respective posts as Director of the School of Social Science in Liverpool and Organising Secretary of the Leeds COS differentiated full time social workers, either paid or unpaid, whether students, public or charity officers, from voluntary workers. Indeed, both referred to the former as ‘professional’. Whilst noting the importance of practical work, Macadam (1910) advocated that training in the Schools should be more broadly based to benefit a wide range of workers. In contrast, Shairp (1910) emphasised that the training should focus on how to work with individual cases.

Social reform continued to be advocated in literature published in the UK during the early 1900s. However, collected articles written in the first decade of the 1900s by Canon Samuel Barnett, Warden of Toynbee Hall Settlement and ( Barnett and Barnett, 1915 ), Warden of Toynbee Hall Settlement until 1906, and Mrs H. O. Barnett make no reference to social work or social workers. Books by Urwick (1912) and Bosanquet (1910) advanced the development of philosophical models for social reform, which for both authors involved a focus on the wider nature of societies and their social life. Meanwhile, the emergence of a collective identity for social workers is reflected in the publication of the Rev. Haldane’s (1911 ) The Social Workers’ Guide , a highly informative ‘dictionary’ of relevant information pertinent to a wide range of roles.

In contrast, there was some conceptual development of social work as a profession in the USA. For example, in a keynote speech at a Summer School at the New York School of Philanthropy, Smith (1904) referred to social work as a ‘new profession’ whilst acknowledging that ‘[i]n other scientific fields the data are more specific, the scope of the investigation is not so wide, and there are fewer factors taken into account’ (pp. 821–2). Taking a particularly wide view of the situations in which a person could work in social work as a new profession, Woods (1905) , Founder and Head of South End House Settlement Boston, states that the object of the new profession of social work was ‘the properly proportioned and distributed welfare of a community’ (p. 28). He argues that men and women would be involved on an equal basis in a wide range of work in current and new settings which provided increased opportunity for people to become an integral part of their community. As well as social work carried out in people’s spare time, Woods suggests that men should become involved in social work for experience prior to joining one of the established professions or occupations, within which they could orientate their work towards achieving wider improvements in justice, education and health, and influencing the people they worked with. Woods went on to advocate that reasonably paid employment opportunities should be made available for people involved in social work as a ‘permanent career’. A contrasting vision of social work as a profession was provided by Cabot (1909) who postulates that social work was a new profession having replaced charity and philanthropy, and that it was significantly more than friendly visiting. He suggests that an effective social worker is an ‘investigator, teacher, expert interpreter, and referee’ and that rather than the superiority of the patronage of charity, the social worker has expertise in ‘psychical diagnosis and treatment’ (pp. 64–5). Although Cabot acknowledges that social workers had been effective in campaigning for improved public health and that social workers needed an understanding of wider social problems, he argues that to develop as a profession it would be necessary to work primarily with individuals, adding that it would include work with people who were not necessarily poor.

Commenting on tensions within early social work training in the USA, Shoemaker (1998) points out that having introduced a broadly based social science curriculum in 1907, the New York School of Philanthropy changed its position in 1912 and ‘…led the field toward a more narrowly focused and skill-based definition of social work with casework theory and practice at the center of the profession’s knowledge base’ (p. 186). Meanwhile, Coohey (1999) concluded that in the USA ‘…the Chicago School was at the forefront of training settlement workers and the New York School ‘was at the forefront of training charity organization workers’ (p. 421). That difference was reflected in the contrast between D’Aeth’s reference to settlements in Liverpool providing practical work for students and the School of Sociology priortising practical work with COS committees.

However, in the UK, the direction of travel for training in social work centred on the universities rather than the formation of Schools. Difficulties arising about finance led the COS to transfer the work of the School of Sociology to the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1912, resulting in more emphasis on the teaching of social science subjects to social work students ( Smith, 1965 ). Moreover, Macadam (1914) proposed an expansion of the teaching of social work in the universities, which together with her appointment as general secretary of the newly established Joint University Council for Social Studies in 1919, supported the development of a wide range of different occupations which were sometimes designated as social work but which increasingly emphasised their own identity, for example, club leaders, industrial welfare officers and health visitors. Whereas the change made by the New York School in 1912 was influential in the subsequent identification of a social work profession in the USA, it was not until the 1950s that Eileen Younghusband, then Tutor in Practical Work at the LSE, advocated a clearer identity for social work in the UK. Pointing to the different levels of practical experience provided by universities and the need for a coherent identity for social workers, and influenced by developments in the USA, she argued that the curriculum for courses for social workers should be orientated more towards the specific work which they did, with social casework as their core subject.

Drawing on prominent contemporary journals and literature, this article adds to our knowledge about the early use of the terms social work and social worker in the UK and highlights the early tensions in training for social workers in the UK and USA. Attention has been drawn to the relatively limited, although increasing, use of the terms in the literature and archive material which has been examined. Although it became an increasingly preferred term, social work referred to a particularly wide range of activity to address social problems rather than to any specific area or method of work. This was reflected in the limited conceptualisation of social work at the time and subsequently in the patterns of social work which developed in different countries. In contrast, the roles and responsibilities of voluntary and paid social workers in voluntary and statutory authorities were the subject of early analysis, influenced by the movement for social reform and addressing the perception that the activity of social workers required co-ordination and training. Although the broadly based curriculum which emerged has arguably been maintained in the development of international programmes of training for social work, the early use of social work as a broadly inclusive term and its subsequent development in a wide range of settings has made it difficult to make a succinct statement about the purpose of social work at both the national and international level. Nevertheless, although voluntary societies and statutory authorities primarily used their own titles to refer to their workers, early references to them as social workers started to give voluntary and paid workers a collective designation and began a process towards establishing a professional identity.

Conflict of interest statement . None declared.

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Urwick E. J. ( 1912 ) A Philosophy of Social Progress , London , Methuen & Co .

van der Linde M. ( 2014 ) Training Facility for Social Work: The Beginning of Professionalization . www.socialworkhistory.org (accessed July 21, 2021).

Ward M. ( 1892 ) The Future of University Hall: An Address , London , Smith Elder and Co. JSTOR Primary Sources LSE 19th Century Pamphlets . www.jstor.org/site/primary-sources .

West M. ( 1895 ) ‘Chicago commons and its summer school’, Altruistic Review , 3, p. 169. Quoted in C. Coohey ‘Letter to the editor: Notes on the origin of social work education’ , Social Service Review , 73 ( 3 ), pp. 418 – 22 .

Women’s University Settlement. ( 1893 ) ‘ The training of workers ’, Charity Organisation Review , 9 ( 97 ), pp. 63 – 4 .

Woods R. A. ( 1905 ) ‘ Social work: A new profession ’, The International Journal of Ethics , 16 ( 1 ), pp. 25 – 39 .

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Article contents

School social work.

• Paula Allen-Meares Paula Allen-Meares University of Illinois at Chicago
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.351
• Published online: 11 June 2013
• This version: 04 November 2013
• Previous version

In 2006, School social work celebrated 100 years as a vibrant profession. This entry details the genesis and development of this particular specialization to the early 21st century, exploring the history of the profession, including policy and legislation that has either resulted from or affected schools on a national level. Additionally, the entry explains the knowledge base of school social work, examines the regulation and standards for both practice and practitioners, and considers future trends for the field.

• children and adolescents
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Updated in this version

This article is about the historical and evolution of social work practice in educational setting in the United States. It traces major influences that are shaping the current practice.

As practitioners and scholars alike continue to seek solutions and interventions for ever-changing social problems, school social work will continue to be defined by research and new knowledge developments in social work and related fields.

School social workers started as and remain an integral link among school, home, and community. Those who choose this particular field of social work provide direct services, as well as specialized services such as mental-health intervention, crisis management and intervention, and facilitating community involvement in the schools. Working as an interdisciplinary team member, school social workers not only continue to provide services to school children and their families, but also continue to evaluate their roles, services, and consequently modify them to meet organizational, contextual, and contemporary needs.

School social work as a discipline continues to develop in relation to social issues, needs of the school systems, continuing education, and evolving research, perhaps more so than other school-based disciplines. Statistics indicate a recent upswing in the number of school social workers or social-work services in schools. As a result, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( 2012 ) estimates that employment of child, family, and school social workers is expected to increase by 20% between 2010 and 2020.

In the 21st century, practitioners will face evolving definitions of personhood and family, disparities in terms of quality education and health care, and job opportunities that will affect how children learn and function, not only in a school environment but also in their communities. Through it all, school social work will continue to change, thrive, and provide evidence-based solutions for children and families. Before discussing more fully the current trends and issues that are impacting, or have the potential to impact, school social-work practice, it is vital to revisit and examine its historical evolution.

Social work in schools began between 1906 and 1907 (Allen-Meares, 2006 ), with initial development outside the school system, as private agencies and civic organizations took on the work (Costin, 1969 ). It was not until 1913 that the first Board of Education initiated and financed a formal visiting teacher program, placing visiting teachers in special departments of the school under the administration and direction of the superintendent of schools.

Early Influences

As the school social-work movement gained momentum, the early 20th century proved to be a fruitful period in its development. Several important influences included the following:

The passage of compulsory school attendance laws : Concern regarding the illiteracy of youth brought attention to a child’s right to receive a minimum education and the states’ responsibility for providing it. This attention led to support for the enactment of compulsory attendance statutes, and by 1918 each state had passed its own version. The lack of effective enforcement led to the idea that school attendance officers were needed, and Abbott and Breckinridge ( 1917 ) held that this responsibility should be assigned to the school social worker.

Knowledge of individual differences : As the scope of compulsory education laws expanded, states were required to provide an educational experience for a variety of children. At the same time, new knowledge about individual differences among children began to emerge. Previous to this, there had been no real concern about whether children had different learning needs; those who presented a challenge were simply not enrolled.

During the 1920s the number and the influence of school social workers increased, largely as a result of a series of demonstrations held over 3 years, organized and funded by the Commonwealth Fund of New York (Oppenheimer, 1925 ), which provided financial support to the National Committee of Visiting Teachers and increased experimentation in the field of school social work.

The 1920s were also the beginning of a therapeutic role for school social workers in public schools. According to Costin ( 1978 ), the increasing recognition of individual differences among children and interest on the part of the mental hygienists in understanding behavior problems led to an effort on the part of visiting teachers to develop techniques for the prevention of social maladjustment.

Shifting Goals

The development of social-work service was greatly hindered during the Depression, with services either abolished or reduced in volume (Areson, 1923 ). As the Depression worsened, the social-work activity that did take place centered on ensuring that people’s basic needs were met. During this time, visiting teachers began viewing their role in a different way, with their early responsibilities as attendance officers being replaced by the burgeoning role of social caseworker.

Emphasis on Social Casework

By 1940 , the shift to social caseworker was complete. No longer were social change and neighborhood conditions seen as the sole points of intervention. Instead, the profession was beginning to build its clinical base, with the personality needs of the individual child taking primary attention.

Changing Goals and Methods

Public schools came under attack in many different ways during the 1960s. There were those who argued that public education was not sufficient. Several studies documented adverse school policies and claimed that inequality in educational opportunity existed as a result of racial segregation. There was considerable discussion about the need for change, including change in the practices of both social workers and guidance counselors.

During this time, group work, which had previously been introduced to the school system, was becoming a prominent method. In a research progress report, Robert Vinter and Rosemary Sarri described the effective use of group work in dealing with such school problems as high-school dropouts, underachievement, and academic failure (Vinter & Sarri, 1965 ).

Changing Demographics and Increased Recognition in Educational Legislation

During the 1970s the number of school social workers increased, and at the same time more emphasis was being placed on family, community, teaming with workers in other school-related disciplines, and the education of handicapped pupils.

Congress passed The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), which had “impacted social work services in schools profoundly,” as “[s]ocial workers were named specifically as one of the related services required to help individuals with disabilities benefit from special education” (Atkins-Burnett, 2010 , p. 177). This would be the first time, but not the last, that the importance of school social workers was recognized and codified.

Educational legislation continues to play a major role in the definition and function of school social workers and in shaping and expanding the services they provide. In the 1980s school social workers were included as “qualified personnel” in Part H of the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 , the Early Intervention for Handicapped Infants and Toddlers, and the Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 .

The 1990s brought with them many more changes. National organizations grew and offered added support to the specialty. Codified standards for school social workers were edited and tailored for relevance, and states themselves began to take an active role in what it means to be a school social worker.

In 1994 school social workers were once again included in a major piece of legislation—the American Education Act, which included eight national goals, of which the major objectives were research promotion, consensus building, and systemic change, to ensure equality of educational opportunities for all students.

Additionally, two key pieces of legislation have influenced the job and roles of school social workers. In 1990 , the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was authorized. Amended several times, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act further refined services, eligibility, parent involvement, assessment and testing, and learning opportunities for students with disabilities or special needs (IDEA, 1991 ).

In 2002 , President George W. Bush signed into law a comprehensive and controversial piece of federal legislation titled the No Child Left Behind Act (2002). Reauthorized in 2006 , the act was conceived as a way to hold school systems and students accountable for learning and includes standards for those with special needs. The most recent No Child Left Behind legislation, enacted by the Obama administration in 2011, was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Flexibility. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act Flexibility legislation allowed states to request waivers of specific provisions of No Child Left Behind to avoid unintentional barriers to state and local educational reforms (U.S. Department of Education, 2012 ).

Knowledge Base of School Social Work

As school social work evolved, so too did different practice models. A practice model may be defined as “a coherent set of directives which state how a given kind of treatment is to be carried out …. It usually states what a practitioner is expected to do or what practitioners customarily do under given conditions” (Reid & Epstein, 1972 , pp. 7–8).

Alderson ( 1972 ) offered four models of school social-work practice: the traditional clinical model, the school change model, the community school model, and the social interaction model.

Traditional Clinical Model

The best known and most widely used model is the traditional clinical model, which focuses on individual students with social and emotional problems that interfere with their potential to learn. The model’s primary base is psychoanalytic and ego psychology. The model’s major assumption is that the individual child or the family is experiencing difficult times or dysfunction. As a result, the school social worker’s role is that of a direct caseworker—providing services to the child or the family and not focusing on the school itself. School personnel are only involved as a source of information about the child’s behavior.

School Change Model

In contrast, the school change model’s target is, in fact, the school and changing any institutional policies, conditions, and practices that were seen as causing student dysfunction or malperformance. The school itself is considered the client, and school personnel are involved in discussion, identification, and change.

Community School Model

The community school model focuses primarily on communities with limited social and economic resources. The social worker’s role is to educate these communities about the school’s offerings, organize support for the school’s programs, and explain to school officials the dynamics and societal factors affecting the community. This model assumes that school personnel require ongoing and up-to-date information about social problems and their effects on school children to have a complete understanding.

Social Interaction

The social interaction model emphasizes reciprocal influences of the acts of individuals and groups. The target of intervention is the type and the quality of exchanges between parties (the child, groups of children, families, the school, and the community). The school social worker takes on the role of mediator and facilitator, with the goal of seeking common ground and common solutions.

Costin’s Model

Another important model grew out of a demonstration project of a multiuniversity consortium for planned change in pupil personnel services. An amalgamation of several methods, Lela B. Costin’s school–community–pupil relations model (Costin, 1973 ) emphasized the complexity of the interactions among students, the school, and the community. Especially relevant in today’s schools, its primary goal serves to bring about change in the interaction of this triad and, thus, to modify to some extent harmful institutional practices and policies of the school. In a national survey of school social work, authors found that school social workers largely provided mental-health services to at-risk children and their families. In addition, most of the services provided were tier-three services (Kelly et al., 2010 ).

Demographics and Standards

State-by-state regulation and requirements.

Since the early 1970s, the number of state associations of school social workers has risen. These organizations play an important part in heightening this field’s visibility and regulate the profession. Information on specific state associations for school social workers may be found at http://www.sswaa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=67 (School Social Work Association of America, 2012a ).

Nationwide Number of Social Workers

In 2010, there were approximately 650,000 social workers employed in the United States. Estimates suggest that 290,000 of these social workers were child, family, and school social workers. This number includes Child Protective Services, many other government jobs, and school social workers ( http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/social_worker.htm ).

Educational Requirements

In most states a Master’s of Social Work is required. However, some states allow certification at the entry level with a bachelor’s Degree (School Social Work Association of America, 2012b ).

Standards for Social-Work Services in Schools

In 1976 , the National Association of Social Workers ( NASW ) developed the first standards for school social-work services, which were grouped into three areas: attainment of competence, organization and administration, and professional practice. The NASW continues to provide guidelines, standards, and a Code of Ethics (NASW, 2008 ) for the social-work community, as well as specific standards for school social workers (NASW, 2012 ). Over the years, the NASW standards have been revised to contextualize this field of practice within new knowledge, new policies, and laws.

Resources for School Social Workers

In addition to its specific standards for school social work, the NASW offers specialized certification as a Certified School Social Work Specialist, as well as a dedicated specialty practice section.

In 1994 , spearheaded by the school social-work leadership, the School Social Work Association of America was formed, independent of the NASW (School Social Work Association of America, 2012c ). In addition, a new national organization has recently been developed, the American Council for School Social Work, which offers school-based social-work practitioners resources for educators and parents, recommended reading (through journals, articles, and books), and practice evaluation tools. Several regional councils also support school social work.

In addition, important journals supported by major organizations such as Children and Schools (NASW) and the School Social Work Journal (Lyceum Books) provide research, theoretical practice, and policy information.

Trends and Directions

New structures, new partners.

As we look into the future of school social work, concerns about the quality and cost of education, student learning outcomes, accountability, increased demand to serve more diverse student populations, and increased social problems among children and families will challenge the profession to think creatively and differently about their services and how to organize them for greater effectiveness and efficiency. Frey et al. ( 2012 ) proposed a national model for social work that considers social justice, an ecological perspective, ethical and legal policies, and a data-driven approach for the advancement of school social-work practice. What does this mean for school social-work services?

Although many school social workers are employed by local school districts, trends indicate that some school systems are implementing new organizational structures and creating new partnerships. Some districts are contracting with external mental-health service providers or other agencies in what they believe to be a cost-efficient way to serve their students. Schools have also formed relevant partnerships, termed school-linked or integrated services , with organizations such as health providers, which provide their services through the school system (Franklin, 2004 ).

Among its most pressing issues, this field of practice will be facing a myriad of changes and issues, including the following:

Increased global competition and educational excellence. School social workers will need to empirically demonstrate their contributions to the national focus on performance measures and standardized tests and warn the school system about misuse and problems facing vulnerable pupils. Specifically, as education reform has become a top political priority (The White House, 2009 ), there have been growing pressures for school social workers to tie interventions to specific learning outcomes (such as test scores, grades, and attendance).

Social, economic, and educational policy and its impact on education. School social workers must be knowledgeable of those policies, advocate for those that are just, and lobby for the elimination of those that are problematic. For example, the topics of violence and bullying have become substantial in the media. Although these topics are of great relevance, rates of school violence have declined steadily since the 1990s (Pitner, Astor & Benbenishty, 2014 ). Social workers should be knowledgeable about the literature associated with these important issues and should keep school administrators informed when political pressures call for radically changing a system that may already be working.

Technological advances. The gap between those who are technologically literate and those who are not will have an effect on poverty and unemployment rates. Working with other relevant school personnel, school social workers must also make others aware of these inequities.

Growing diversity and new immigrant populations. Multicultural competency, including knowledge about new immigrants, will challenge our public schools and consequently the profession. In response, school social workers will need to increase their knowledge to remain effective assessors, advisors, and advocates for these students.

The focus on evidence-based interventions and outcomes, particularly within the context of the three-tier model (Response to Intervention and Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports; Thompson, 2013 ). Practitioners will need to keep abreast of and incorporate evidence-based interventions, new problem-solving approaches, and innovative partnerships to address the needs of all students.

The American public-education system is subject to numerous criticisms and challenges. Yet it is has proven to be resilient and essential to the core values of our democracy. As adaptations or new innovations develop, the profession of social work must not only respond, but also be proactive in shaping the future. School social workers provide crucial social services in one of the most accessible settings, playing an integral role in prevention, intervention, and positive change for school-age children and their families.

• Abbott, E. , & Breckinridge, S. (1917). Truancy and non-attendance in the Chicago schools: A study of the social aspects of the compulsory education and child labor legislation of Illinois. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Alderson, J. J. (1972). Models of school social work practice. In R. Sarri & F. Maple (Eds.), The school in the community (pp. 151–160). Washington, DC: NASW.
• Allen-Meares, P. (2006). One Hundred Years: A Historical Analysis of Social Work Services in Schools. School Social Work Journal, Special Issue , 24–43.
• Areson, C. W. (1923). Status of children’s work in the United States. Proceedings of the national conference of social work (p. 398). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Atkins-Burnett, S. (2010). Children with disabilities. In P. Allen-Meares (Ed.). Social work services in schools (6th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012). Social workers: Occupational outlook handbook . Retrieved March, 2013, from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Community-and-Social-Service/Social-workers.htm#tab-6
• Costin, L. B. (1969). An analysis of the tasks in school social work. Social Service Review , 43 , 274–285.
• Costin, L. B. (1973). School social work practice: A new model. Social Work , 20 , 135–139.
• Costin, L. B. (1978). Social work services in schools: Historical perspectives and current directions. Continuing education series #8 (pp. 1–34). Washington, DC: NASW.
• Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Federal Register. Pub. L. No. 94–142 41:46977. (1975).
• Franklin, C. (2004). The delivery of school social work services. In P. Allen-Meares (Ed.), Social work services in the school (4th ed., pp. 295–326). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Frey, A. J. , Alvarez, M. E. , Sabatino, C. A. , Lindsey, B. C. , Dupper, D. R. , Raines, J. C. , et al. (2012). The Development of a National School Social Work Practice Model. Children & Schools , 34 (3), 131–134.
• Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Congressional Information Service Annual Legislative Histories for U.S. Public Laws. Pub. L. No. 101–476. (1991).
• Kelly, M. S. , Frey, A. J. , Alvarez, M. , Berzin, S. C. , Shaffer, G. , & O’Brien, K. (2010). School social work practice and response to intervention. Children & Schools , 32 (4), 201–209.
• National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2008). NASW code of ethics . Retrieved May 2, 2013, from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp
• National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2012). Standards for school social work services . Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved May 2, 2013, from http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/naswschoolsocialworkstandards.pdf
• No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Pub.L. No. 107–110 (2002).
• Oppenheimer, J. (1925). The visiting teacher movement, with special reference to administrative relationships (2nd ed., p. 5). New York, NY: Joint Committee on Methods of Preventing Delinquency.
• Pitner, R. , Astor, R. A. , & Benbenishty, R. 2014. Violence in schools. In P. Allen-Meares (Ed.), Social Work Services in Schools (7th ed.) . Boston, MA: Pearson.
• Reid, W. , & Epstein, L. (1972). Task-centered casework. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• School Social Work Association of America. (2012a). State associations . Retrieved May 1, 2013, from http://www.sswaa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=67
• School Social Work Association of America. (2012b). School social work as a career . Retrieved May 1, 2013, from http://sswaa.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=99
• School Social Work Association of America. (2012c). SSWAA history . Retrieved May 1, 2013, from http://www.sswaa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=60
• Thompson, A. M. (2013). Improving classroom conflict management through positive behavior supports. In C. Franklin , M. B. Harris , & P. Allen-Meares (Eds.), The school services sourcebook: A guide for school-based professionals (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• U.S. Department of Education. (2012). Bringing flexibility and focus to education law . Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/fact_sheet_bringing_flexibility_and_focus_to_education_law_0.pdf
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History of Social Work and Social Welfare, 1950-1980 by Paul H. Stuart LAST REVIEWED: 23 April 2022 LAST MODIFIED: 30 January 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389678-0113

The three decades between 1950 and 1980 were significant for the development of the profession of social work and for the development of social welfare programs throughout the world. The Second World War resulted in a significant expansion of government effort and led to the decolonialization movement that resulted in the creation of new nations in Africa and Asia. The war ended in 1945 and postwar recovery included the implementation of wartime proposals for welfare state expansion, resulting in expanded size and scope for social welfare programs in Western Europe, which were imitated widely. Increasing wealth resulted in a matured welfare state in many of the developed nations by the 1970s. However, by the late 1970s, problems in sustaining the social welfare enterprise were apparent. New ideas, in particular neoliberalism, would bring about changes in social welfare and in the social work profession during the 1980s. Limits to the growth of the welfare state seemed apparent. Increasing energy costs and a slowing of economic growth seemed to foretell a difficult future. In the United Kingdom, the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, won a majority of Parliament in 1979, and Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States in 1980. These leaders initiated a retrenchment of welfare state spending in the 1980s, which became worldwide in the 1990s and after. The social work profession expanded and grew during the same period in tandem with the expansion of state services. In the United States, developments in professional organization and education mirrored and stimulated an increasingly significant social assignment for the social work profession, only a half-century old at the beginning of the period. Social work research came of age during the period. Social work methods expanded to encompass group work, community work, and administration in addition to casework with individuals and families. Social workers engaged in new fields of practice and began to conceptualize a generic or generalist professional practice. These developments were mirrored in other countries, particularly as social workers in the United States attempted to export their professional practices to Europe and the newly independent nations created after colonial systems ended, not always successfully.

Included here are works that discuss the growth of social welfare programs between 1950 and 1980 as well as works that attempt to develop generalizations about the phenomenon of the welfare state as it developed in the decades following the Second World War. According to Ashford 1986 , “by 1950 the institutional frameworks of the contemporary welfare states [in Britain and France] were in place” (p. 300). Wilensky and Lebeaux 1958 focuses on the development of social welfare programs in one country, the United States. Ashford 1986 and Janowitz 1976 provide comparative accounts of developments in two countries, while the remaining works ( Esping-Andersen 1990 ; Hu and Manning 2010 ; Wilensky 1975 ) extend the analysis to consider multiple countries and a higher level of abstraction. Friedman 1962 provides a conservative critique of the emerging welfare state with recommendations about the proper relationship between individuals and governments.

Ashford, Douglas E. 1986. The emergence of the welfare states . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Focuses on Britain and France. Traces the development of social welfare programs to the Second World War and argues that the welfare state was institutionalized in those countries in the years immediately following the war,

Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The three worlds of welfare capitalism . Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

A description of three welfare-state regimes—liberal, corporatist, and social democratic welfare states—developed in many nations as a result of the “fantastic pace of growth [of social welfare] in most countries during the 1960s and 1970s” (p. 1), based on data sets on welfare state development constructed in the 1980s.

Friedman, Milton. 1962. Capitalism and freedom . Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

A leading conservative economist’s statement on the relationship between individuals and government; includes a chapter on social welfare measures that influenced policy makers in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hu, Aiqun, and Patrick Manning. 2010. The global social insurance movement since the 1880s. Journal of Global History 5.1: 125–148.

DOI: 10.1017/S1740022809990350

Uses a model of interactive diffusion to explain global social welfare development in the 20th century. Argues that the period between 1945 and 1981 represented a period of great expansion, followed by increasing privatization in the last two decades of the 20th century. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

Janowitz, Morris. 1976. Social control of the welfare state . New York: Elsevier.

In this short book, Janowitz examines the welfare state—its origins, institutional bases, and effects on social structure—based on a study of Britain and the United States.

Wilensky, Harold L. 1975. The welfare state and equality: Structural and ideological roots of public expenditure . Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

A comparative study of welfare state development in sixty-four countries. Emphasizes determinants and outcomes.

Wilensky, Harold L., and Charles N. Lebeaux. 1958. Industrial society and social welfare: The impact of industrialization on the supply and organization of social welfare services in the United States . New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

A discussion of social welfare in the United States in the 1950s. Argues that social welfare programs have become institutionalized as a result of the development of industrialization.

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History of Social Work in the United Kingdom

 contents.

• Introduction 

Role of the Church

Welfare becomes a state responsibility, the elizabethan poor law 1601, influence of the elizabethan poor law.

• The Poor Law Revisions: 1834-1909 

The Beveridge Report

• Beginnings of the COS Movement and Settlement House Movement 

Introduction

In primitive society, sometimes known as 'folk society,' the wider family or tribe assumed responsibility for people whose needs could not be provided in the traditional manner. Children who had lost their parents were placed in relatives' homes or adopted by childless couples. Food was divided among family members and neighbours. When the feudal system gave way to the wage economy, laws were passed to force the impoverished to work. Begging was punishable with whippings, imprisonment, and even death.

The folk tradition lasted in Europe during the early Christian era, and the faithful considered it a religious obligation to care for those members of the group who were unable to care for themselves. The greatest source of charitable motivation was religion. The church, particularly the monasteries, became distribution centres for food, medical aid, and shelter. The parish priest and other clerics who knew the individuals and their circumstances gave alms collected in the parish.

The severe legislation prohibiting begging and vagrancy is the first sign of the transition from church to government responsibility for relief. Between 1350 and 1530, a series of regulations known as the "Statutes of Labourers" were enacted in England, with the goal of forcing the impoverished to work. The decline of the church's influence and the growing trend to delegate duty to government authorities prompted a series of actions in England, culminating in the famous Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601.

Also read -   THE STATE AS A SOCIAL INSTITUTION: ITS FUNCTION AND INFLUENCE ON OTHER INSTITUTIONS

The law distinguished three classes of the poor

• The able-bodied poor were referred to as "sturdy beggars" and made to work in a correctional facility or workhouse. Those who refused to work at the correctional facility were either thrown in the stocks or imprisoned. 
• The impotent poor were persons who were unable to work, such as the sick, elderly, blind, deaf-mute, lame, insane, and mothers with small children. They were sent to the almshouse, where they were expected to assist to the best of their abilities. They were provided "outside relief" in the form of food, clothing, and fuel if they had a place to reside. 
• Orphans and children who had been abandoned by their parents or whose parents were too destitute to raise them were considered dependent children. Children aged eight and up who were capable of doing some household and other work were indentured to a townsman.

For the next 300 years, the Poor Law of 1601 set the standard for public aid under government control in Great Britain. It established the notion that the parish, as the local community, was responsible for organising and funding poor relief for the parish's citizens. The poor overseers were in charge of enforcing the poor legislation in the parish. Their job was to take the impoverished person's application for relief, research his or her situation, and determine whether he or she was eligible for assistance.

• The notion of the state’s obligation for assistance is unanimously acknowledged and has never been substantially questioned. It is in line with democratic thinking as well as with the principle of the separation of church and state. 
• The notion of municipal responsibility for welfare enunciated in the Poor Law stretches back to 1388 and is aimed to deter vagrancy. It stipulates that “sturdy beggars” to return to their birthplaces and there seek relief. 
• A third principle specified differential treatment of persons according to categories: the deserving as against the undeserving poor, children, the aged, and the sick. This idea is founded on the theory that certain categories of unhappy persons have a grater claim on the community than other types. 
• The Poor Law also outlined familial responsibilities for aiding dependants. Children, grandkids, parents, and grandparents were defined as “legally liable” relations.

The Elizabethan Poor Law was noteworthy and progressive when it was enacted. It has served as the basis for both English and American public welfare.

The Poor Law Revisions: 1834-1909

In 1834 a Parliamentary Commission presented a report which aimed to revise the Elizabethan and post Elizabethan Poor Laws. Upon the basis of the committee’s report legislation was enacted enunciating the following principles: (a) doctrine of least eligibility, (b) re-establishment of the workhouse test, and (c) centralization of control. 

The doctrine of least eligibility said that a pauper's situation should never be considered more eligible than that of a person from the lowest social class who subsists on the results of their own labour. In other words, no one who received assistance was expected to be in the same financial situation. The able-bodied poor might ask for assistance in the public workhouse under the second principle, but unwillingness to accept the workhouse's accommodation and fare disqualified them from receiving any aid. The amount of outdoor relief was kept to a bare minimum. The third premise stated that a central authority made up of three Poverty Law Commissioners had the authority to integrate and coordinate poor law services across the country. The administrative units would no longer be parishes.

There were significant modifications in Poor Law legislation between 1834 and 1909, with the cumulative effect of veering the entire system away from the ideas of 1834. Changes that began to provide specialised treatment for specific disadvantaged groups were the most significant. For example, district schools and foster homes were established for dependent children, and specialised institutions for the crazy and feeble-minded were established.

The Poor Law Report of 1909 takes a more positive approach to the poor laws. Instead of repression, the report emphasised therapeutic treatment and rehabilitation, as well as universal provision in place of the selective workhouse test. If the principles of 1834 served as a "foundation of repression," the principles of 1909 may be described as a "structure of prevention."

The chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, Sir William Beveridge, submitted the Committee's Report to the government in 1942. Four important principles were stressed in the report:

• Every citizen to be covered, 
• The major risks of loss of earning power -- sickness, unemployment, accident, old age, widowhood, maternity-- to be included in a single insurance, 
• A flat rate of contribution to be paid regardless of the contributor’s income, and 
• A flat rate of benefit to be paid, also without regard to income, as a right to all who qualify.

Beveridge emphasised that the plan's underpinning social concept was to protect the British from hunger and other social ills. Everyone is eligible for benefits such as maternity, sickness, unemployment, industrial injury, retirement, and a widow's allowance. Family Allowances, National Health Services, and National Assistance are all connected services.

The Beveridge Report of 1942 joins 601, 1834, 1909, and 1942 as one of the great documents in English Poor Law history. The report laid the groundwork for modern social welfare policy in the United Kingdom.

Beginnings of the COS Movement and Settlement House Movement

In 1869, a group of public-spirited persons in England created the London Charity Organization Society to address the problem of competing and overlapping social services in London, which had been growing over the years (COS). Two of the founders were Octavia Hill and Samuel Barnett. Octavia Hill created a technique of "friendly rent collecting" as a method of rehabilitating slum homes in her work as a housing reformer.

Through weekly meetings and 'Letters to Fellow Workers,' Octavia Hill imparted to the volunteers specific principles or laws to be observed in their operations. 'Each case and situation must be tailored to the individual,' she said. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for their privacy and independence. She cautioned her employees against judging the tenants based on their own personal standards. She believed that even the most degraded of her tenants deserved dignity.

Toynbee Hall was founded by Samuel Augustus Barnett, the first settlement house, where wealthy Oxford students "settled" in an attempt to ameliorate living conditions in Whitechapel's slums. The primary concept was to bring educated people together with the impoverished for mutual gain. The Christian Socialists have realised that simply distributing charity does not alleviate issues. It was necessary to live with the poor and listen to their issues in order to gain a deeper understanding of the situation of poverty and underdevelopment.

We've seen how social work evolved from the Church's charity focus to the role of the state in public welfare. The movements and organisations that began in the United Kingdom.

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The evolution of social work education in England: a critical review of its connections and commonalities with nurse education

Affiliation.

• 1 Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London, Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK. [email protected]
• PMID: 15908054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2005.03.004

Social work education in England underwent significant change in its move to degree status in 2003. It is hoped that the result will be increased professional standing for social workers, an improvement in the current widespread problems with recruitment, and assurance that all newly qualified social workers meet the National Occupational Standards for Social Work (Available from: http://www.topssengland.net/files/cd/). This change has pre-occupied social work educators and debate within the profession has concentrated on the practicalities and expectations of reform. This paper suggests that those working in nurse education may observe a number of similarities with its own earlier reforms and with current debates on whether nursing should move to an all-graduate profession. It then highlights three aspects of the new requirements for social work training: service user involvement, the place of research-minded practice, and the primacy of practice--that may be of interest and relevance to nursing colleagues.

Publication types

• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Credentialing
• Curriculum*
• Education, Nursing*
• Interprofessional Relations
• Organizational Innovation
• Social Work / education*
• Social Work / organization & administration

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