Critical Pedagogy in Social Care Education

Authors

Hanlon, Niall

Issue Date

2017

Degree

Publisher

Dublin Business School

Rights

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Abstract

As an emerging profession attracting increasing status, pay and recognition (McCann James 2013), Social Care has become a popular career choice for students. The growth in demand is being met by the expansion of accredited level 7 and 8 degree programmes across the state within the Institutes of Technology and some Universities. Social Care will achieve the status of registered profession under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 which established the Health and Social Care Professional Council (CORU) to initiate a process of registration, approve professional education programmes and establish a professional register. The process could take until 2018 or beyond. All stakeholders, including industry (Social Care Managers & statutory employers), practitioners (Irish Association of Social Care Workers, IASCW), and educators (Irish Association of Social Care Educators, IASCE), are apprehensive as to what the new registration regime will mean for the content and structure of social care education. The process has heightened longstanding uncertainty and disagreement within the field about the definition, distinctiveness and theoretical base underpinning social care as well as its relationship to other social sciences in Ireland (O'Connor and Murphy 2006). As yet no critical independent academic voice is evident in the current debate in the form of scholarly publications. This presentation outlines key elements of a critical pedagogy of social care education and training within this changing regulatory context.