Community Care's Stand Up Now for social work campaign

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is soon to appoint its first ever public relation manager which is good news for both the social work profession and the media. A recent survey conducted by Community Care as part of their Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign, exposed some serious misunderstandings about the profession by leading journalists. Fewer than half of journalists realised a social worker needed a degree to practice and 68% failed to understand the difference between a social worker and a care worker. If this is the level of misunderstanding about the profession by journalists who are responsible for communicating news to the wider community, it is not surprising that the public reputation of social workers is so low.

However the lack of balanced coverage of the profession in the media is by no means just the result of media misunderstanding. Social workers simply do not have the time to speak with the press and when they are dealing with several serious cases at any one time, do not prioritise doing so. If they stop talking to the press, pretty soon the press will stop asking them and their voice will be lost. With the appointment of a dedicated press liaison officer, social workers will have the opportunity to regain this voice. Offering positive stories and access to the views of social workers, will hopefully lead to a much more balanced and accurate media profile for this much undervalued public sector service. The best of luck to whoever takes on this new role.