Essay on the Professionalization of Social Work in Ireland, 2019

This essay provides a critical analysis of the professionalization of social work in Ireland, tracing its historical development from philanthropic roots to its recognition as a regulated profession in 2005. It examines the evolving landscape of social care, highlighting the challenges and issues, such as the lack of a concrete definition and debates surrounding the humanistic aspects of social work. The essay discusses the role of the Social Workers Registration Board under CORU and the impact of ethical codes of conduct and legal frameworks on shaping social work practice. Furthermore, it explores the application of theoretical frameworks, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy, in enhancing social work practice and addressing various social issues such as poverty, housing, and mental health. The essay emphasizes the importance of social workers in addressing these critical issues and contributing to the overall development of Ireland.

Running head: PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
Social work is described as the personal care, social care and the protection and social
support services to adults and kids who are in need or at any kind of risk and in other aspects like
old age, disability and poverty (Lalor and Share 2013). Social care workers are said to be provide
professional care to the vulnerable individuals who experience disadvantage and marginalization.
Social care work is basically constructed on the interpersonal relationships that generally require
positive communication, empathy, self-awareness and the ability to apply critical reflection
(Mänttäri‐van der Kuip 2016). This paper is going to focus on professionalization of social work
in Ireland.
Ireland was developing and considering recognizing social work as a profession since in
the 19th century. According to research, social work in Ireland was developing during the
industrial revolution (Gillespie 2013). During this time there were many people who were
migrating to the urban areas which led to the rise of several social issues like prostitution,
poverty and disease. In this crucial time there were many charitable organisations and religious
people who took a step forward to tackle the situation and wanted to end these social problems.
During the late 19th century, social work in Ireland grew out of various philanthropic activities of
churches and voluntary groups like Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent de Paul. The values of the
Christian community got embedded with the social work and this continued till the mod 90’s.
Administering charity and raising funds was the main and primary focus of the religious
organisations so that they could help in benefiting others and helping them overcome the social
issue they were facing.
Social work in Ireland was regulated and was recognized as a profession in the year 2005
(Curtis and Glacken 2014). This meant that social work in Ireland was not more viewed just as a
philanthropic activity but as a profession where people would be employed to do social work.

2PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
This had led many people who were unqualified in this field to register to acquire a professional
level degree in the field to boost their career in the long run. Social work in Ireland has had a
significant growth and has been expanding in recent times. The amount of students that are
thinking to enter this field of social work has been growing and exploding. However it has been
seen that there are some issues in terms of professionalization of social care in Ireland. One of
the major issues in terms of professionalization of social work in Ireland is the lack of concrete
definition in the Irish context. Social care in Ireland has set to have evolved into set of practices
that are loosely linked like community childcare, community development, therapeutic practice,
residential childcare and youth work and the other issue is in terms of the practice of social care.
Kelemen, Mangan and Moffat (2017) states that there are many people who believe that social
work is considered to be an act of kindness and a activity that comes from within the people and
thus making this a profession dismisses humanity. However there have been arguments that state
professionalizing social work is a huge and important step that will in overcoming the various
social issues that are currently present and pave way for healthy and better living for everyone
(Wickert and De Bakker 2018).
Apart from the professionalization of social work in Ireland, one of the most significant
and important developments that have affected the social work in Ireland which took place on
August 5, 2010 is the time when Social Workers Registration Board went to on to be one the first
boards among the twelve other boards to be appointed by the Minister for Health and Children.
The Social Workers Registration Board was appointed under the act, Health and Social Care
Professionals Act 2005 (Byrne 2016).
CORU which is said to be an umbrella body which responsible for the protection of the
public by regulating the professionals of social and healthcare by promoting very high standards

3PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
of education and professional conduct (McLaughlin 2016). The name CORU has been derived
from the Irish word, Coir which mainly means just and fair. The Social Workers Registration
Board at CORU assumed the statutory responsibility for approval, assessment and the
monitoring of the training courses for the social and health care professionals under the Act. This
board will be responsible for the recognition of the non-national qualifications. Every social
worker in Ireland had to be a registered social worker and to become a registered social work one
has to comply with the necessary criteria in terms of registration and also agree with the Code of
Professional Conduct and Ethics for Social Worker (McLaughlin 2016).
It has been seen that the laws put forward by Ireland and the other bodies that have been
constructed to ensure the monitoring of social workers in terms of how they are performing or
how they are being trained and also whether they have been working aligning the ethical codes
of conduct in order to work ethically and without discriminating anybody. It can be seen that
these ethical codes of conduct and the acts and laws that have been put forward by the Irish
system have helped in shaping the social work practice which is to be ethical and provide proper
facilities to the people who are in need of help or the vulnerable people in the society.
Ireland has been seen to be suffering from various social issues like poverty and housing
issue and also the poor mental state of people (Cohrs, McNeill and Vollhardt 2015). Thus, the
social workers need to effectively work to help people overcome the critical issues that have
been impacting them negatively. There are many theoretical frameworks that often help in
shaping the social practice and help in making it more enhanced so that it effectively caters to the
needs of the individuals. There are many theories and models that are applied in social work
practice for better outcomes; one of the models is the cognitive behavior therapy. This theory has
been seen to have helped people with mental issues.

4PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
Cognitive behavior therapy is largely based on the cognitive theory of psychopathology.
The cognitive model describes how the perception of people or the spontaneous thoughts that
have people have in mind, the situations that often influence the emotional behavior or reactions
arise. The perception of the individuals are often dysfunctional and distorted when an individual
is distressed. These individuals can evaluate their own thoughts that are occurring through
imaginal cognitions or verbally and correct their own thinking that resembles the reality closely
(Johnsen and Friborg 2015). This often helps the individuals to decrease their stress and also help
them to behave in a more functional manner. According to scholars individuals often modify and
also identify the distorted beliefs they have and also the basic understanding they have of
themselves, other people and their world (Mezirow 2018). The distorted belief s of the individual
helps in influencing the information and lead to the rise in distorted thoughts. Thus, according to
the cognitive model states that the behavioral, physiological and emotional responses are
mediated by the perception of the experience that are influenced by the beliefs. Social workers
who work as therapists use Socratic questioning process that helps the patients to evaluate their
thoughts and also respond to their thoughts that are automatic and beliefs. This model helps
social workers shape their practices. The social worker often designs several behavioral
experiments that help in testing cognitions that are generally in the form of predictions.
Every country in the world is facing several issues and it has been seen that Ireland has
been facing similar issues in terms of poverty, housing issues and mental health issues. The
professionalization of social work in Ireland has helped in the facilitating quality social work in
compliance with the act that have been put forward by Ireland and also the ethical code of
conducts that have been set for the social workers to carry out the work ethically and morally. It
is the aim of the social workers to help eradicate the major issue that has been existing in the

5PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
country and also use their profession to good use to help the people who are in need of helps and
pave for the overall development of the people and also the overall development of Ireland.

6PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
Reference
Byrne, C., 2016. Ready or not? Statutory registration, regulation and continuing professional
development for social care workers in Ireland. Administration, 64(2), pp.9-29.
Cohrs, J.C., McNeill, A. and Vollhardt, J.R., 2015. The two-sided role of inclusive victimhood
for intergroup reconciliation: Evidence from Northern Ireland. Peace and Conflict: Journal of
Peace Psychology, 21(4), p.634.
Curtis, E.A. and Glacken, M., 2014. Job satisfaction among public health nurses: a national
survey. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(5), pp.653-663.
Gillespie, R., 2013. Reading Ireland: Print, reading and social change in early modern Ireland.
Johnsen, T.J. and Friborg, O., 2015. The effects of cognitive behavioral therapy as an anti-
depressive treatment is falling: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 141(4), p.747.
Kelemen, M., Mangan, A. and Moffat, S., 2017. More than a ‘little act of kindness’? Towards a
typology of volunteering as unpaid work. Sociology, 51(6), pp.1239-1256.
Lalor, K. and Share, P., 2013. Understanding social care.
Mänttäri‐van der Kuip, M., 2016. Moral distress among social workers: The role of insufficient
resources. International Journal of Social Welfare, 25(1), pp.86-97.
McLaughlin, K.G., 2016. English Lessons: Coru and the surveillance of practitioners. Frontline,
(3), pp.3-5.
Mezirow, J., 2018. Transformative learning theory. In Contemporary Theories of Learning (pp.
114-128). Routledge.
Wickert, C. and De Bakker, F.G., 2018. Pitching for social change: Toward a relational approach
to selling and buying social issues. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(1), pp.50-73.

7PROFESSIONALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND