ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the training of Supplementary Benefits staff and with investigating the extent of the impact that such training may have on staff attitudes and the ways in which its impact may be strengthened or diminished by administrative practices. Social workers, accustomed to thinking in terms of a strong vocational commitment as essential in the choice of their career, tend to react with surprise and displeasure when confronted with the facts about recruitment to the sbc. In all aspects of education and training within the sbc, attitudes to authority and to change—at all levels in the hierarchy—are crucial. The success of practical and technical training can be measured more precisely than training concerned with attitudes and understanding people. The knowledge required is concerned with those aspects of people’s behaviour that have a direct impact or bearing on the officer’s work.
