ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to identify and clarify the characteristics which make social work education a viable or vulnerable discipline in higher education. The extent to which social work sees itself as an occupational group which should address inequalities and injustices may set social work education apart from other disciplines. J. Jones identified ‘a cluster of so-called social work values’ as having replaced the social science knowledge base in social work education, and a means by which Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work has paid lip-service to the needs of clients relative to the interests of agencies. Particular strategies for survival or development were identified maintaining the qualifying stage of social work education as a manageable part of larger enterprise. The possibility of the ‘downgrading’ of qualifying social work training remained a risk identified by some respondents, and a few responses referred specifically to the likelihood of reduction in the number of social work departments or subject areas.
