There's a new kid on the block: A longitudinal study of the aspirations held by members of the social work profession for the introduction of statutory registration for social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand...... and the consequences

Abstract

The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) was established in 1964 and for nearly 40 years members of the Association debated the merits of statutory registration and its possible forms and processes. In 2003, the Social Workers Registration Act was brought into law. This thesis uses a longitudinal design to analyse interviews conducted on two occasions. In 1996, a sample of Association members was interviewed about their aspirations for the statutory registration of social workers and the role the Association might have in that. Eighteen years later, in 2014, with statutory registration in place, the sample was re-interviewed to establish the extent to which their aspirations for statutory registration have been realised. Qualitative analyses were conducted of all interviews, providing a set of results to address the research questions: To what extent have the aspirations for the statutory registration of social work been realised? In what ways has the introduction of statutory registration changed the face of social work professionalism in ANZ?

The thesis topic lends itself to the examination of professionalisation and occupational regulation and the respective agendas of the Association and the government for the introduction of statutory registration. The research draws on a Bourdieusian framework and examines Foucauldian governmentality and biopower theory as a basis of explanation. An institutional logics perspective is also applied as a basis for discussing the institutional forms of the state and the professional body that are subject to the study. The findings drawn from the interviews are discussed in the light of the conceptual and theoretical threads applied providing a basis to offer some reflections and comment on the consequences and impact of statutory registration as 'the new kid on the block'.