Social Work As A Profession - 1928 Words

Social work, as a profession, has developed greatly over the years. As an actual profession, social work did not truly begin until the 1900s. In the 1920s schools of social work developed uniform standards for the training and education used. These standards were developed by the American Association of Schools of Social Work, which later merged and became the Council on Social Work Education. This is the group that currently regulates curriculum taught by social work schools. In 1955 the National Association of Social Workers was founded. This entity helped to bring professionalism to the social work profession, and set a uniform set of ethical codes and rules for social workers to abide by. However, social work started long before it was†¦show more content†¦These visitors did direct relief, prayer, and conversion in order to fix social problems, and were funded by the church. The most prominent section of the missionary movement was led by Mary Richmond, who founded the Charity Organization Society. The emergence of these two groups led to Dr. Abraham Flexner asking if social work was a profession, which eventually led to social work concentrating on case work and the scientific method in order to professionalize itself. Generalist Social Work Generalist social work is a type of social work that focuses on a broad overview of everything, instead of a specific interest in one type of social work. This is what entry level social workers are expected to learn, and is what is taught in programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Having knowledge of generalist social work is a benefit to all social workers, because it gives knowledge of most situations one may run into. Elements of Generalist Practice The Code of Ethics provided by the National Association of Social Workers’ lists six elements that social workers should value: Service, social justice, the dignity and worth of person, the importance and worth of human relationships, integrity, and competence (Code of Ethics, 2008). In addition, the Council on Social Work Education lists two additional elements of value: human rights, and scientific inquiry