ABSTRACT
Social workers have almost certainly done their profession a disservice in the eyes of the public by their apparent inability to reach agreement among themselves on the kind and complexity of skills required to do their job well. American textbooks down the years have all recognised either implicitly or explicitly that the social worker is potentially her own greatest asset. The argument for an open-minded approach to social work style, though self-evidently desirable in a multicultural context, runs counter to the powerful modern trend of demanding a politically correct approach to practice. The qualities of awareness and sensitivity are prerequisites for good practice, and that must mean that young adults from a sheltered suburban home background, on the one hand, or the sort of people covered by Keith-Lucas’s negatives on the other, are probably unsuitable for social work. Social work is a creative job and the artistry of the practitioner is a vital component once the other qualities mastered.
