Social work learning practice

1 Your life story

People go into social work for a variety of reasons: to do good, to help others, to change the world, to confront their own problems or even by accident. In many cases their backgrounds and experiences have played a major role in their choice of career.

Making the link between your personal experiences and what you bring to your practice is an important early step towards becoming a reflective practitioner.

In this clip, Stephen Rashid talks to a social worker, a care assistant and two recently qualified social workers. They describe how they came into social work and what life events or turning points may have influenced their choice of occupation.

Activity 1

As you listen to the audio clip, make some notes in your Learning Journal about the different life experiences of the speakers, and on the reasons why they came into social work.

When you have listened to the accounts, think about your own life, and what attracted you to social work.

• What life events, or turning points, do you think might have influenced your choice of occupation?

Make notes and compare them to the experiences of the speakers in the clip.

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