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A Definition of Social Work for Practice
Author(s) -
Bolzan Natalie
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
asian social work and policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.286
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1753-1411
pISSN - 1753-1403
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-1411.2007.00005.x
Subject(s) - dynamism , social work , enthusiasm , premise , sociology , agency (philosophy) , politics , public relations , value (mathematics) , vitality , work (physics) , engineering ethics , political science , epistemology , social science , social psychology , law , psychology , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , theology , machine learning , computer science
Australian and international discussions of the broad mission of social work, of its underlying premise that the personal is political, that it is responsive and able to take a leadership role from a clear value base, are sophisticated debates that demonstrate the vitality, dynamism, and enthusiasm of a profession cognizant of changes and challenges occurring outside it. However such developments and considerations are possibly most meaningful for those social workers who are either very clear about what social work is or who are not daily confronted with challenges to explain or account for their profession in performance‐driven agency contexts. This article proposes a simple definition of social work which, while cognizant of the theoretical developments occurring both in and outside the profession, presents the profession in a way that clearly articulates what it is that social workers do.