More than 250 social workers, social work students and employers came together for this year’s successful GSCC annual conference. The title, ‘Social work: a profession to be proud of’, was reflected in the day’s speeches, especially in contributions from social workers.

During the opening plenary session GSCC Chair Rosie Varley highlighted the unprecedented change that the sector was going through and set out the role and priorities for the GSCC.

Rosie emphasised the need to adopt a more interventionist and rigorous approach to the GSCC’s inspection of social work degree courses to ensure that all social work students receive consistently high quality training wherever they study. She also identified post-qualification training, and in particular support for newly qualified social workers, as a key priority for the organisation. Thirdly, she made it clear that employers must recognise their responsibility to share information with the GSCC and cooperate with their enquiries.

Other speakers included Sara Wells, a social worker from Manchester, and representatives from the Social Work Task Force, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health.

The conference included workshops on PRTL, practice placements, research, professional boundaries and the codes of practice.

There was also a lively debate on strengthening the status and voice of social work. Paul Snell, GSCC Acting Chief Executive, chaired a panel including Deidre Sanders, The Sun’s Agony Aunt and member of the Social Work Task Force, Daniel Lombard, Community Care, Nigel Clarke, Chair of the enquiry into the future professional body for pharmacy, Hilton Dawson, BASW Chief Executive and Rosie Varley.

Rosie stressed that as a regulator, the GSCC must be seen as independent from the social work profession, whilst working towards a committed and skilled workforce.

Closing the conference, Paul Snell, GSCC Acting Chief Executive, told the audience that he believed that social work was on the verge of a renaissance and stressed the need for a strong professional identity, leadership, and regulation.

Read the speeches and presentations from the day.

Forward to a friend

Name:*
Your Email:*
To Email:*
Message (Max. 200 words):* Your comments
Verfication*

Have your say

You can leave comments^† on the article you've just read here. If you have a question for the GSCC please contact us rather than posting it here.

Name:*
Email:*
Message (Max. 200 words):* Your comments
Verfication*
	Remember me
* Compulsory fields † Responses may be edited

I attended a SW road show where Deidre Sanders was due to attend but she either left early or did not attend. The event failed to discuss the elephant in the room, which is poor pay. Students incurr huge debts and the salary is poor to clear such a large debt. At the other end of scale, for a pay scale increase must move into management role. we no longer have national pay rates such as teachers,when i trained SW pay scales were sigificantly higher than teachers pay. Today some SWs are more equal than others, C&F have different pay scale to Adult Services and even within C&F pay scales vary between teams in same department.

JJ
11 Dec 2009