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Item Social work practice knowledge : an enquiry into the nature of the knowledge generated and applied in the practice of social work : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand(Massey University, 2013) Hyslop, IanThis thesis is concerned with the development of social work in Aotearoa / New Zealand and in similar jurisdictions. It is argued that in order to envisage social work’s future it is necessary to develop a clearer understanding of its nature and function. The findings of this thesis are informed by interviews with twenty one experienced social workers currently practising in Auckland, New Zealand. The focus is on the knowledge which social workers learn and apply in practice. The fieldwork research design and subsequent analysis is informed by a process of engaged theoretical enquiry. This enquiry is influenced by critical social theory and by the scholarship of Foucault concerning the relationship between knowledge and power. The configuration of knowledge in and for social work is critically examined in relation to wider discourses of modernity, contested postmodernity and nascent neoliberalism. The research methodology is informed by a critical realist theoretical lens which posits that underlying generative influences underpin the form of social work practice knowledge. There are also elements of grounded theory within the fieldwork design. It is argued that the research approach mirrors the process of situated contextual understanding which is native to social work. The view of social work practice knowledge which emerges is illustrated by practitioner accounts of social work experience. Analysis of the research data suggests that the process of relational engagement which structures knowledge production in social work practice is inherently different from the rational-technical understandings of knowledge which influence much of the design and measurement of contemporary practice. The knowledge form commensurate with social work practice can be related to the discourse of social humanism and an associated commitment to equality and social justice. The findings of this thesis indicate that this knowledge form is resilient and is reproduced in the practice of social work. In this sense links between the daily practice of social work and the emancipatory intent of the critical enlightenment are suggested. The thesis concludes with discussion of the implications of these findings for the practice of social work and for the role of the social work voice in challenging times.Item "Sometimes we are everything and nothing in the same breath": beginning social work practitioners' constructions of professional identity : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2007) Payne, Carmen LarisaThis research takes a social constructionist approach to examine how beginning social work practitioners use discursive practices to make meaning of their experiences and construct their professional identities in the social and political environment of Aotearoa New Zealand. A qualitative inquiry, it utilises the methods of individual interviews and a focus group to gather information from ten beginning social work practitioners who have degreelevel or post-graduate social work qualifications and are within their first three years of practice in child protection, health and community settings. A discursive analytic approach is employed to determine how these practitioners use interpretive repertoires drawn from wider social discourses to construct identities in relation to professional social work practice. The research found that these practitioners utilised five interpretive repertoires, which included 'social work as social change', 'social work as helping', 'constraints', 'being professional' and 'self-care' to construct a number of corresponding identities by which they could account for themselves as competent social workers, albeit not always able to achieve their notions of best practice. These identities included 'change agent', 'helper', 'capable but constrained', 'professional' and 'person(s) first'. The research suggests that these identities are shaped by wider social discourses of social work that have formed over time within the historical, cultural and social milieu of Aotearoa New Zealand, and which often operate in contradiction to each other in education, practice and social settings. The research recommends that to ease the transition from education to practice, new social workers be taught to understand the social work environment as one in which competing discourses interact to influence their constitution of professional identities, and that adequate material supports such as supervision be put in place by employing organisations to provide new social workers with emotional support and opportunities to critically consider their selves in the work environment. Recommendations for future research are also made and the thesis ends with a reflection on the research process.