Embedding learning as a practice of value:Learning from the experiences of early career social workers in Scotland

Across the Global North, professional learning for social workers has become a matter of concern. Efforts to ‘fix’ the problem have focused narrowly on formal methods of learning and show limited connect with recent research. In this article we report on findings from a mixed-method longitudinal cohort study, which examined early career social workers experiences of learning over the first five years of professional practice. Drawing on a repeat-measure annual online survey, our findings provide an inside-view of how early career social workers in Scotland experience work-based learning over time and how professional learning for social workers can be enhanced. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis and reflexive thematic analysis respectively and integrated using a convergence coding matrix to identify meta-themes. Our findings support an integrative, developmental and ecological approach to professional learning, embedded in a value-led understanding of social work as practice. We invite the profession to embrace and embed learning as a ‘practice of value’, both as an antidote to managerial approaches to practice and learning and as a way of valuing the extraordinary work that social workers do

Ontological (in)security in early career social work during COVID-19:Experiences in Scotland

The impact of COVID-19 on the working lives of professionals has been of much interest. Within social work, the pandemic had increased workload demands, while the way in which work was done had shifted significantly. This article uses data gathered from newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) who began their working lives during the pandemic. These first years in practice are viewed as an extension to social workers’ formal education and as a vital stage in their professional development. Survey (n=124) and interview (n=12) data were gathered from NQSWs across Scotland. Findings were considered through Giddens’ lens of ontological security, to explore NQSW transitions during a context of pandemic disruption and its impacts on NQSWs’ confidence and competence, as well as their sense of self and identity. Consistent with other studies, respondents were most impacted by home working and the associated isolation and separation from colleagues, particularly when engaged in emotionally charged work. Findings uncovered a trichotomy of experience, with variation in the quality and availability of formal and informal support, induction, training and development. Implications for practice include a need to focus on how we support and nurture NQSWs at such a critical stage in their professional socialisation

Service Robots Rising:How Humanoid Robots Influence Service Experiences and Elicit Compensatory Consumer Responses

Interactions between consumers and humanoid service robots (HSRs; i.e., robots with a human-like morphology such as a face, arms, and legs) will soon be part of routine marketplace experiences. It is unclear, however, whether these humanoid robots (compared with human employees) will trigger positive or negative consequences for consumers and companies. Seven experimental studies reveal that consumers display compensatory responses when they interact with an HSR rather than a human employee (e.g., they favor purchasing status goods, seek social affiliation, and order and eat more food). The authors investigate the underlying process driving these effects, and they find that HSRs elicit greater consumer discomfort (i.e., eeriness and a threat to human identity), which in turn results in the enhancement of compensatory consumption. Moreover, this research identifies boundary conditions of the effects such that the compensatory responses that HSRs elicit are (1) mitigated when consumer-perceived social belongingness is high, (2) attenuated when food is perceived as more healthful, and (3) buffered when the robot is machinized (rather than anthropomorphized)