Professionalization of Social Care in Ireland

Professionalization of Social Care in Ireland

Social care is defined as the provision of social work, personal care, and protection of threatened or vulnerable children and adults. The core aim of social care is to improve the quality of life of people in society. For adults, social care entails taking care of the homeless people, those with mental illnesses and physical disabilities, those affected by drugs and substance use, supporting the older adults, and the helping the families or caregivers take care of them. In children, social care is crucial in protecting children at risk of being abused, supporting homeless children, and assisting in processes concerning children like adoption and fostering. Adequate resources and training are required to achieve the purpose of social care. Countries have also adopted statutory regulation of social responsibility to improve the quality of services.

Ireland introduced registration of social care workers under the Social Care Workers Registration Board. Requirements to work as a social care worker were laid out and the existing workers were required to be registered. Registration of workers is crucial so that the government can have the statistics of social care workers in the country. The statistics would be useful in planning and ensuring that resources are distributed equally among all citizens and special attention directed to where it is required. By laying out the requisite qualifications, professionalism in the sector is attained, and workers who have not met the minimum requirement are barred from practice or assigned to other areas depending on their qualification. Through the eligibility criteria, some inconsistencies in the recruitment of social care workers that existed in the past were dealt with (Lalor & Share, 2013). Establishment of registration boards will help the oversight bodies in approving education and training programs for social care workers across the nation.

The registration rules also stipulated that only those with the title “social care worker” were required to register while those working with a different title were not being registered by the board and were expected to undergo a process before being enrolled. These eligibility conditions ensure that the job title is well secured and cannot be misused by others. The challenge of the job title is that some advertisers may give it other titles including project worker, support worker, making it difficult for job seekers and non-registered people may take advantage of that. Clarity in the professional title is vital so that those that work as social care workers are all regulated and bound by the code of conduct set by the board. If clarity is not achieved the rules governing social care workers may be compromised because the laws do not govern workers without the title. The issue on the transparency of the title also poses a challenge to those tasked with the protection of the public and ensuring that the minimum threshold is met (Wiles, 2017). The professional title helps in professional identity.

The regulation board was tasked with the formulation of a code of conduct and professional ethics for social care workers. The code of conduct includes maintaining dignity and respect to clients, carrying out of duties professionally and maintaining a high standard of personal behavior (CORU, 2011). The code of conduct would be useful in ensuring that quality service delivery is achieved and disciplinary measures are taken against those who do not abide by the professional ethics. The code of conduct was restricted to those workers who are under the board, and it poses a challenge since the rules did not cut across all the workers. Fitness to practice is concerned with the complaints and competence of the registered social care workers. Fitness to practice is not only concerned with guarding the interests of the clients but also safeguarding the reputation of the profession itself. Fitness to practice, therefore, provides accountability in the job and helps in building the trust of those seeking help (Byrnet, 2016). Since social care workers deal with sensitive issues, there could be various complaints arising in their line of duty. Through the fitness to practice code, claims and disputes are solved as there are well laid out procedures.

Another core feature in the professionalization of social care in Ireland was the introduction of compulsory continuing professional development. This regulation requires that the social care worker’s skills are up to date and are of high quality and relevant. Continuous training helps the workers identify with their profession and boosts their self-esteem (Finnerty, 2012). With emerging issues all over the world, continuous training is required to equip the workers with the necessary skills needed to handle the problems. There is also a need to standardize the training to achieve the desired quality and accountability linked to registration. Performance evaluation over time helps in sharpening the skills of the workers and encourages them to do more in their career. A proper record should be maintained to keep track of the training and performance of the workers. Appropriate documentation helps in the evaluation, and therefore proper recommendations can be made, and also act as evidence that indeed learning took place. Consistent training and assessment will help the board maintain the work-oriented employees thus improving service delivery.

Social care workers are faced with daily challenges which vary in complexity, risk, and safety. It is therefore essential to have chances to evaluate and develop further skills (Halton, Scanlon, & Powell, 2015). Continuing professional development provides a tool for reflective engagement which imparts knowledge and skills that are necessary for practice. Besides meeting the regulators’ requirement, professional development helps in identification of individual capacities and organizational growth. Although continuing professional development is aimed at improving the profession, it is affected by various factors such as time and costs. Some workers may find it quite expensive to frequently attend training and also balancing time to achieve professional goals and other goals. The management should, therefore, provide incentives such as increasing allowances to meet continuing professional development.

Social care has immensely grown in Ireland. The introduction of regulations in the sector ensures that professionalism is at its peak and provides uniformity in the industry. Implementation of the rules may be challenging, but it is of massive help to service users and individual professional practice.