Why social work should support industrial action by university staff

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 17 November, 2022

One of the reasons I left my role as a senior social work lecturer was because I wanted a better work-life balance.

The demands on social work academic staff are to not only teach and impart knowledge, but to source and support workplace learning and provide the off-site placement supervision vital to students' professional development.

The National Union of Students supports industrial action by academic staff and so should social workers.

The BASW Code of Ethics begins with the premise that the commitment to promoting social justice is at the core of social work. This is not just reserved for those who use services, it is fundamental to the very practitioners that promote the human rights of the people they support.

From their lecture rooms, social work career entrants learn that the values of social work are based on the principle that respect, equality, worth and dignity are deserving of all people.

Does that not include academics? For far too long, the profession of social work and all those associated with it have been expected to be self-sacrificing in terms of their time and, increasingly, in terms of the financial burden that comes with the role.

Just as social workers should not accept subsidising local authority budgets, social work academics should not be expected to bear the cost of staff shortages and the drive for profits by universities.

Similarly, just as it is untenable to think that social workers will remain in a profession where pay awards have been below inflation for many years and problems with recruitment mean higher caseloads, so too is it unrealistic to believe that the ever-increasing burdens (both administrative and in teaching time) would not lead to the industrial action we now see in our universities.

Social work is an academic discipline which provides great insights into the way practitioners can improve their delivery and the experience of people who use services. It is therefore right that the profession supports academic staff seeking to improve their working conditions.