Introduction
Wednesday, 31 May 2017 was a landmark date. On that day CORU launched the Standards of Proficiency for Social Care Workers and started the clock ticking towards statutory registration. CORU was assigned the task, under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, of establishing the criteria for all twelve professions included in the legislation. CORU designed the standards of proficiency to include five domains, and the first four (professional autonomy and accountability; communication, collaborative practice and teamworking; safety and quality; and professional development) were deemed generic, forming the general guidelines for all twelve professions. Domain five, described as profession-specific (SCWRB 2017), was adjusted to suit each discipline.
This book is a professional response to the standards of proficiency, written entirely by social care workers for students, workers and educators. Here the voice of social care workers is at the centre of each standard of proficiency, providing a valid, meaningful and practice-rich discussion. The book has a single chapter on each of the eighty proficiencies. Each chapter represents the writer’s understanding of the proficiency they have chosen and offers insights into the context in which they work, their professional relationships, and how these shape their professional identity as social care workers. A lot of practice is performed intuitively and draws on personal and professional knowledge and experience built up over a lifetime.
The standards of proficiency are portrayed as a threshold framework for creative and informed practice that views service users as central to social care work. Here the worlds of practice, policy, research and regulation are brought into much closer proximity, presented as an integrated practice- informed body of knowledge with the relationship at the core. The keywords and language of the proficiency are explored and considered through a social care lens anchored in practice. A unique section of each chapter is called ‘Social Care is …’, in which the author explains what social care practice means to them, based on their knowledge and experience. The aim here is to provide as many perspectives as possible on what this evolving profession means to social care workers. Reflections of practice are drawn upon from the ‘coal-face’ using fictional case studies to maximise students’ engagement with the proficiency. The final section of each chapter contains ‘Tips for Practice Educators’ with a focus on how they might teach the proficiency as practice educators, using practical exercises, reflective questions, quotes and points to consider. The social care workers involved have given their time and expertise to help strengthen the profession and their contributions are a testament to their competence, generosity, passion and pride in social care work.
Social care worker is a protected title, and the preferred professional title by authors in this publication. In some chapters, authors have used ‘social care practitioner’, and ‘social care worker’ interchangeably. The Case Studies included in this eBook are either completely fictional, or loosely based on real people. In all cases, names and identifying details have been changed. Remember all the links in the chapters and references list are live, so use them to find other relevant resources to support your practice and education. This book was written by 75 of us, for you, so enjoy.
