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From March 2002 NASW NEWS Profession Strained in CanadaCanadian social services are expected to do more with less. By Peter Slavin, Special to NASW NEWS In Canada, the social work profession faces a dilemma. At the same time as the demand for social work services grows and standards for social workers are increasingly being professionalized, the provision of social services and those delivering them are being downgraded in value. According to the report "In Critical Demand: Social Work in Canada," issued by an academic and professional consortium, the federal and provincial governments increasingly are contracting for services with private and nonprofit organizations. Thus, even as standards for certifying and accrediting social workers are being raised, there is a contradictory trend toward filling positions held by social workers with professionals in "allied" fields and even those holding just a high school diploma. Decreasing job security has been one result. Traditionally, social services in Canada were provided directly by the government, but in the past decade increasing responsibility has been turned over to third-party, community-based delivery. The reasons include cost containment, attempts to focus services on greatest needs and increased demand for accountability, especially in child protection. To cope with funding restraints, the social service providers are expected to do more with less; the results are particularly damaging to services for those most in need, especially Aboriginal peoples and recent immigrants. At the same time, caseloads have risen, and the plight of clients has grown worse, largely because of deepening poverty and a lack of preventive and remedial programs. The combination of funding limitations and greater service needs "contributes to very stressful working conditions and high burn-out," according to the report. At the same time, social workers have received little assistance in dealing with the demands and stresses of their jobs. Efforts to hold social workers accountable are also causing problems. Attempts to quantify performance often both make work less satisfying and lower the quality of service. The report describes social service employees as facing "an environment of decreasing financial support and a perceived weakening of public support for the very work they do and for those they serve." Due to increased restructuring, in some workplaces those designated as "social workers" do not have a social work degree, while in other work settings professionally qualified social workers are assigned to other jobs. Professional social workers are also losing their supervisory roles, undermining the framework of social services. All this, the report says, has put the very identity of the social work profession in question. Colleges and universities appear to be producing enough social service employees. However, the report warns, that does not necessarily mean a match between the supply of workers and the demands of employers in terms of skills and experience necessary to serve a changing clientele. More work needs to be done to prepare recent graduates — or to upgrade existing workers — to respond to demographic and cultural changes. Few universities provide courses in most of the subject areas identified as requiring high skill or a coming service need. "Whatever the limitations of course offerings in universities," the report says, "the practicum component for the BSW and college courses was universally lauded for its value in helping students focus their career decision making and for enhancing job readiness." Employers rely heavily upon the practicum in hiring recent graduates. The report calls for action in five areas:
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