Published
Feb 27, 2015Page count
216 pagesISBN
978-1447314851Dimensions
216 x 138 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Feb 27, 2015Page count
216 pagesISBN
978-1447314882Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Feb 27, 2015Page count
216 pagesISBN
978-1447314875Imprint
Policy Press
Self-Leadership in Social Work
This book is a call for confident, skilled and knowledgeable practice in social work.
The current managerialist agenda has restricted judgement and the exercise of discretion in the profession, and, more damagingly, has played down the social justice components of social work, as well as the responsibilities for therapeutic and change-orientated interventions. This book explores how, through strong self-leadership, social workers can both explain and demonstrate how social work can achieve positive change.
Offering a fresh and innovative view on leadership for social workers, managers of social services and social work students at all levels, the book identifies tactics and strategies to provide leadership both within a team and in senior positions.
"Drawing on extensive experience as practitioner, manager and passionate advocate for relationship-based social work, Bill McKitterick's analysis of the centrality of leadership throughout a social worker's career is thoroughly researched and scholarly but also intensely personal." June Thoburn, University of East Anglia
“Based on decades of experience McKitterick makes a powerful case for the authority of practice and the importance of wisdom and humility in social work accountability." Sue White, University of Birmingham
“Providing an unrelenting critique of reforms that have spawned passive social work, this is a welcome assertion of every social worker’s responsibility to reclaim the possibilities inherent in active social work.” Michael Preston-Shoot, University of Bedfordshire & Independent Chair, Luton Safeguarding Children Board
''A great handbook that every social worker should read'' British Journal of Social Work
Bill McKitterick is a social worker now working in supervision and leadership. He has been a director of social services for ten years, including leading workforce development. He has worked in programmes to improve social work practice in local authority services following critical inspections and has contributed through the British Association of Social Workers and the College of Social Work to the national reform programme.
Introduction;
The meaning and the exercise of leadership in social work;
The leadership vacuum;
The sources of leadership in the social work profession and social work services;
Clarity of purpose in social work practice;
The social work manager as a leader, colleague and champion;
Leadership within direct practice;
Leadership within a multi-disciplinary environment;
Optimism, filling the vacuum and taking the lead.
