Abstract
The authors describe the book as “a compendium of social work skills” and it is one of a set of three A-Z books, the companion books being A-Z of Social Work Law and A-Z of Social Work Theory. The target audience would be students and newly qualified workers as this book is presented as a foundation for future practice. It is primarily aimed at social workers in England as the regulatory reference is to the Professional Standards of Social Work England (2020) rather than inclusive of the other nations of the United Kingdom and their standards.
The authors have included 60 eclectic skills, giving a breadth to the material, which did challenge my thinking around what is a skill, and what is a task that requires skills, to be managed effectively (e.g., Breaking Bad News). The authors outline in the introduction that they are not presenting a skill as an entity that exists on its own, but rather as blended with knowledge, values and personal qualities in the performance of social work practice and this is the focus of the book.
The book has short chapters about each skill, some of which would have been the subject of myriad books in themselves. The authors have distilled the relevant material into a few paragraphs so inevitably there will be areas readers may feel are missed. The book endeavors to map the skills to other skills and theories, but the way of doing this at times leaves it feeling more complicated than the A-Z format initially suggests. There is an expectation that readers would cross reference across a number of different chapters—for example, in the Interviewing chapter the reader is pointed toward nine other chapters, all relevant but having to go to other places may make the information feel less accessible for some readers.
A significant strength of this book is the specific features that are included within the chapters. These are Danger Zone (where potential issues in respect of the skill are included); Skills in Action (where case studies are used to demonstrate the skill); Stop-Reflect (an activity is given to support reflection on a particular skill) and Theory Explained and Top Tips. A downside was that these features were not all present in every chapter, which was a shame as they were invaluable in understanding the skills in practice.
What was less useful was the box concluding every chapter indicating “Main Associated Theory” and “Skills Category.” These theories and skills categories were named, for example, Humanistic Theory with no further context which may not make sense without an indication as to how and why the authors believe a particular skill is associated with the theory or skills category. At other times, the Main Associated Theory or Skills Category was stated as “All” or a particular theory/skill given with “and All actually apply”, again without any further reference it did not feel very meaningful. Additionally, as it is a book that is probably not intended to be read from cover to cover, readers may miss the introduction which is where the “Main Associated Theory” and “Skills Categories” are stated. Readers may have benefitted from an exclusive short chapter giving a fuller outline of these aspects given their significance throughout the book.
The choice of some of the skills included in the book has a very practical use for students, good examples being the chapters on Chairing Meetings, Case Recording, Email Communication. These are skills that are sometimes less focussed on explicitly but require confidence which having a guide like this can offer. Other skills, like Assertiveness, give clear explicit examples of what you could say, which again, can be very beneficial for practitioners in developing their confidence and competence in practice.
In summary, this is a book that offers some really good material and will support students and newly qualified practitioners develop their social work skills in a practical and informed way. As the authors showed a commitment to connect many different aspects of knowledge, theory, skills, values, and practice I did wonder if an A-Z format was the best way to do this and if ultimately trying to meet the “alphabetical” requirements did not become a challenge too far.