Dr Bernadette Moorhead discusses her study of social work professional identity in the early post-qualification period
Social workers are socialised into the profession during their training and in their early post-qualifying years in practice. The first few years of a social worker’s professional career often shape who they are as a practitioner, but, for an increasing number, can be influential in turning them away from social work for good. Establishing a strong and positive social work professional identity can give practitioners confidence in their career choice and support their growth and development.
Dr Bernadette Moorhead conducted a study of social workers’ professional identity in their first year in practice after qualifying to explore how it was fostered or eroded. The findings provide some important messages about how we can retain more social workers in the profession.
Dr Bernadette Moorhead is a senior lecturer in social work and human services at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Bernadette is passionate about teaching and researching early-career social work and professional identity. She has just started her own podcast, the Social Work Cafe.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be found here:
Bernadette’s recommendations for further reading on this topic:
Frost, N. (2017). From “silo” to “network” profession – a multi-professional future for social work. Journal of Children’s Services, 12(2-3), 174-183. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-05-2017-0019
Oliver, C. (2013). Social workers as boundary spanners: Reframing our professional identity for interprofessional practice. Social Work Education, 32(6), 773-784. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2013.765401
Ravalier, J., Jones, D., Truell, R., & McFadden, P. (2022). Global social work working conditions and wellbeing. International Social Work, 65(6), 1078-1094. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728221112731
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