Reflexive professionalisation in social work practice development,research, and education: the vital challenge of democratic citizenparticipation

Abstract

This paper examines how the renewed critical emphasis on reflexiveprofessionalisation in thefield of social work can take into account thechallenges regarding the politics of democratic participation of serviceusers as citizens while working towards social justice. Our contributionis based on thefindings of a collaborative European research projectinvolving researchers, students, public service organisations, service userorganisations, and educators from various European countries. The aimof the project was to gain a differentiated and in-depth understandingof how reflexive professionalisation in social work may function as aconcept and practice that stimulates social care that integrates acommitment to democratic citizen participation. Based on a qualitativecontent analysis of 21 transnational empirical case studies, we identifyfour vital dimensions of developing reflexive and democraticparticipatory approaches in social service contexts: (1) cultivating ahistorical awarenessof how the professional identity and mandate ofsocial workers has been and is currently (nationally) defined; (2)articulating theprofessional positions and normative value orientationsthat underpin (participatory) practice development; (3) reflecting on theconstructions of problems, service user identities and related actions; and(4) creating space forambiguity, risks and mistakes