childcare-50years

8
areas of social work, the momentum will be towards improving the
levels of expertise in the workforce through more multi as well as
unidisciplinary education opportunities with the latter providing a
wide range of specialist training in practice, management and
research through to doctorate levels. The dramatic growth in child
care needs and services in the last 50 years demands no less if social
workers are to be equipped for the future and children are to receive
the care and protection they need. Better training and the new
arrangements for regulating the workforce pave the way for a future
where there will be an increasing emphasis on lifelong training and
development of the whole workforce in a way that will ensure that
knowledge and skills are continually up-dated to take account of
changing practice.
The main achievements in education and training since 1950
1. There is now widespread recognition that the complexity of the
social work task requires highly skilled, competent staff.
2. The infrastructure has been developed to provide this training and
to plan for the future training needs of the profession.
3. Since the 1970s efforts have been made to ensure that all social
workers working in fieldwork and residential child care hold a
recognised social work qualification.
4. While the first aim has been successful, the latter needs further
work to bring it fully into place.
5. There has been major investment to ensure the availability and
uptake of both qualifying and post qualifying training with added
specialisation possible in child care including opportunities to
develop expertise in particular methods of intervention.
6. There has been recognition of the need for a broad entry base to
social work education and training.
50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
184