ABSTRACT
The concept of a ‘parachutist’ has been used to describe the most familiar type of community worker – dropped into a local neighbourhood from far away. In opening employment opportunities one is not, of course, only concerned with natural justice for the individual. If Britain is to be a multi-racial society, it is important that black people should be in a cross-section of occupations, including higher prestige roles. Since 1978 every agency in London advertising for a community worker in ‘New Society’ or ‘Time Out’ has been sent a copy of a paper written by the London Council for Community Work Training. This is called ‘Choosing a Community Worker’ and draws interviewing committees’ attention to the folly of relying on any one qualification and stresses rather the knowledge and skills and personality needed and the different routes by which these may have been achieved.
