# Different Ways of Setting Ground Rules Despite forming almost by natural law, ground rules come in several flavors. These differ in respect of the degree to which they are negotiable by the group members. At the extreme ends of an according scale we find the non-negotiable -so called institutional- rules, and the fully negotiable group-defined rules. According to these different flavors there is a variety of ways to define and establish ground rules. Which of these ways is the most appropriate in a given teaching environment depends on the maturity and learning motivation of the audience, as well as on the matter taught and the setting within which the teaching takes place: managerial staff paying good money for the privilege of attending a seminar about the latest team leading techniques will act differently from prison inmates who may have been sent to a key skill course without having been asked.
The Hyacinth Berry case study will be used throughout to identify and discuss the interconnections of values, ethics and legislation. The General Social Care (GSCC) and BASW offer the social work profession its value base. The message from reading their requirements is that values are a fundamental part of a competent social worker. There is also a clear need for both students and qualified workers to ‘identify and question their own values and prejudices and their implications for practice.’ The need for social workers to have respect for persons and their right to self determination still remains the key to practice. Complexities of the social work task relate partly to the worker having to negotiate the tension between these values and the dilemmas that decision making brings.
That is the battle I’m going through now over this story. This couple worked very hard to get the results they did, but at what cost? We are taught to do things certain ways because it is almost planned out how we are supposed to act. This brings up the idea of social facts and makes me wonder who instilled these social facts in our minds, and who are we to assign these social facts to just one species? Who says we are supposed to follow these social facts period?
It is therefore very possible to find varying social norms as we move from one social setting to another. Of significance is the fact that basic social norms cut across cultures of the world. Those who do not adhere to social norms are always punished or considered social misfits. Norms are a very important part of society. In the book, norms are defined as “the specific expectations about how people behave in a given situation”.
Social work is about helping disadvantageous people to have a better life and advocate for any social injustice. However in Singapore social work is an underappreciated field and is only becoming more recognized by the society. Which leads to the question, is social work a profession? Although social work can be done with many ways such as voluntary, charity and mutual aids, the national association of social workers (NASW, 2005) defines social work as a holistic approach to enhance and restore disadvantageous people to their capacity to function socially. Progressing towards this direction also enhancing the practice of social work to be a professional approach by applying various theories and scientific findings to support each steps.
Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments’ (Thompson, N. (2005) Understanding social work: Preparing for practice, 2nd edition, Hampshire). As well as shaping what social work is, this definition gives an insight into what it is that social workers actually do. According to Neil Thompson, social work is a ‘political entity’ and will always remain a contested subject (Thompson, N. (2000) Understanding social work: Preparing for practice, 2nd edition, Hampshire). He neither agrees nor disagrees with the IFSW/BASW definition of social work but merely states that social work has numerous definitions. In his opinion this is due to people having different interpretations of what exactly it is depending on the view they look at it from (e.g.
The use of police force is highly important and can make a huge difference in society. It can make an impact and affect the outcome of a situation. There are people that like the police and there are people who hate them. Regardless of what your opinion is about the use of police force, one should take into account that it is much needed. Police force protects our rights as citizens, enforces the law, and it helps shape a society to make moral and ethical decisions.
Now more than ever, questions about police accountability, police training regarding use of force, and organizational culture regarding implicit bias or racial profiling are common. As a result of the intense scrutiny, improving community-police relations is vital. Even agencies such as my own that have traditionally valued and focused their efforts on community engagement must continually strive to strengthen those relationships and to build new ones. Public safety is the entire community’s responsibility, and we will not be as responsive or as successful without strong collaborative
In her publication titled “Gender Trouble”, Judith Butler presents her view that gender is a performative role in society, meaning that in order for gender identity to be genuinely expressed and understood, it must be conveyed openly in social spaces. Throughout her book she provides numerous examples of these “social spaces” that would be a necessary ground for women in order to better establish an identity in society. These include political representation, cultural movements, and the economic climate. These social spaces are presented in great depth and explain how they limit a person by identifying with a specific gender. In this paper, I will argue for Butler’s view on how certain gender performance is restricted in these numerous fields, and how Ms. Butler would object to these various situations.
There is the constant change in political agenda, theories, new approaches and so social workers must match up these new developments to their own skills in order to keep up with the demands of the job. There are many skills and attributes needed when being committed to lifelong learning within social work such as resilience, reflection, continuous professional development, critical thinking and so on. Rutter’s conclusion (2012, p. 57) supports the view of Cheetham and Chivers (2001, cited in Rutter, 2012, p. 57) that there are dangers of relying on one single approach in regards to learning however this essay seeks to consider two of the skills and attributes needed for effective lifelong learning as a social worker. The first is that of reflection which looks back at ones experiences and situations, identifying what worked and what didn’t. The second is that of critical thinking which moves deeper than the skill of simple reflecting, it goes on to analyse the findings from reflective practice to provide a much deeper level of learning.