Social worker

Social work is a professional and academic discipline committed to the pursuit of social change, to quality of life and to the development of the full potential of each individual, group and community in a society. Social workers draw on the social sciences to solve social problems. They may work in research, practice or higher education. Social work practitioners will usually possess a degree or registered license in the discipline, according to jurisdictional law. Research is often focused on areas such as social policy, public administration, program evaluation and development. Social workers are organized into local, national, continental and international professional bodies. Parts of social work overlap with other disciplines including economics, education, medicine, politics, psychology, and sociology.

History
Social work has its roots in the struggle of society to ameliorate poverty and the resultant problems.

Contemporary professional development
{{local and indigenous knowledge specific to its context. It recognizes the complexity of interactions between human beings and their environment, and the capacity of people both to be affected by and to alter the multiple influences upon them including bio-psychosocial, political and spiritual factors. The social work profession draws on theories of human development, social theory and social systems to analyse complex situations and to facilitate individual, organizational, social and cultural changes."

A hopeful development for bridging this gap is the compilation, in many practice fields, of collections of "best practices" which attempt to distill research findings and the experience of respected practitioners into effective practice techniques.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Although social work has roots in the informatics revolution, an important contemporary development in the profession is overcoming suspicion of technology and taking advantage of the potential of information technology to empower users.

Qualifications
Professional social workers are generally considered those who hold a degree in social work. Often these practitioners must also obtain a license or be professionally registered.

In some areas of the world, social workers education begins with a Bachelor of Social Work (BA, BSc, BSSW or BSW and some university conduct Diploma in Social Work Programme) degree. Some countries offer post-Graduate degrees like the master's degree (MA, MSc or MSW and Post Graduate Diploma in Social work) or the doctoral degree (Ph.D or DSW).

In a number of countries and jurisdictions, registration or licensure of people working as social workers is required and there are mandated qualifications. In other places, a professional association sets academic and experiential requirements for admission to membership. The success of these professional bodies' efforts is demonstrated in the fact that these same requirements are recognized by employers as necessary for employment.

Professional associations
There are a number of professional associations for social workers, which exist to provide ethical guidance and other forms of support for their members and social workers in general. Some of these are international organizations such as the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). Others are based at the national level including the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in the US, the British Association of Social Workers, and the Australian Association of Social Workers.

Alternatively, some organizations are founded with a more narrow focus. For instance the National Association of Black Social Workers and the National Association of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Social Workers, focus on minority communities. Others serve a particular field (e.g. The Council of Nephrology Social Workers), carry out a specialized function (e.g. Counsel on Social Work Education), or seek to provide a specific service (e.g. Network of Professional Social Workers).

Role of the professional
The main tasks of professional social workers can include a variety of services such as case management (linking clients with agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs), counseling (psychotherapy), human services management, social welfare policy analysis, policy and practice development, community organizing, international, social and community development, advocacy, teaching (in schools of social work), and social science research.