What is Social Work? (Transforming Social Work Practice Series)

It is essential that social work students have a clear grasp of the history and the evolutions of social work practice. Now in its fourth edition, Horner′s classic introductory text looks at how issues such as the Personalisation Agenda, the work of the Reform Board, and how the notion of a Big Society and the recent contractions in government spending have impacted on practice and education.

Nigel Horner is Head of the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincoln, where he teaches social work history, theory and methods, residential child care and ageing and older people. He began working in a London Borough Children’s Home in 1972, before studying Sociology at Durham University. After a period as a Community Worker, he qualified in Social Work from Glasgow University in 1980, and thereafter worked in Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Fostering and Youth Offending settings. He is also a Senior Fellow in the Higher Education Academy.