Professionals usually undertake and publish research to advance the
knowledge base of their professions – lawyers write in law journals, doctors in
medical journals, engineers in engineering journals and, in Britain, social
workers are supposed to write in journals such as the British Journal of Social Work. (http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/)
There you might expect to find articles on subjects such as
how to protect children from abuse and neglect better.
But – and it is a very big BUT – unlike other professionals
many social workers work for organisations that insist that managers, and even
local politicians, control the ability of employees to publish research and to join in
open academic debate.
Just to test things out I wrote to one of the largest local
authorities in England, a large county council, and asked them, under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, what their policy was on their employees
publishing. I wrote:
Dear (County Council),
Please tell me what guidelines, rules and policies apply in your authority to the publication, in academic, professional and trade journals, of articles authored by people who are employed by the authority as social workers in the children’s services department or in a comparable role?
Please tell me what guidelines, rules and policies apply in your authority to the publication, in academic, professional and trade journals, of articles authored by people who are employed by the authority as social workers in the children’s services department or in a comparable role?
And here is what they replied:
Dear Mr Mills,
(The) County Council’s general stance is that any request
for an employee to be involved in any media publication needs to be agreed by
their Manager, Service Director, (the Council’s) Press Office and relevant
Cabinet Member (although the Cabinet Member would not usually need to see
academic articles unless they related to policy issues).
If you want to see the whole Freedom of Information Act
response go to: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/publication_by_childrens_social#incoming-503492
Perhaps I am just naïve, but this seems to me to be a recipe
for suppressing knowledge and debate. Professionals need to be able to act like
professionals and open discussion and dissemination of research findings is
vital to any developing profession. Without it knowledge will not develop,
professionals will not become better at their jobs and abused and neglected children
and young people will be the ultimate losers.
