Policy-driven and politicising work
Research theme
The job of a social professional is not free of values. Social professionals want to make a difference: make injustice and discrimination public, strive for structural change, and improve society. But how can you fill in this political assignment? What position do social professionals and their organisations adopt towards this assignment? What effect does this position have on their daily practice? And in what ways do they want to and can they contribute to more social justice? This programme wants to find an answer to these questions. That is why it researches the political assignment of social professional via two approaches: policy-driven and politicising work
Challenges for social professionals when striving for structural change
What are we researching and for whom?
Social professionals report problems and seek structural change that is focussed on social justice and human rights. There are two models to do this. A first model is focussed on the negotiation and collaboration with the competent authority, aiming for increasing progress, often behind the scenes. Think of meetings with officials, lobbying, or insurance memoranda. A second model is ‘politicisation’. By raising awareness and showing actions or alternatives, injustice is made visible in the public sphere. Think of petitions, strikes, protests, testimonials, opinion pieces, or walks with politicians in people’s everyday environment.
The key question of this programme is: how do social professionals carry out this political assignment in practice? What are the barriers they experience? What are the existing needs? What position do they take towards their political assignment? In what new ways can they or do they want to contribute to structural change?
Desired outcome
Through research, we want to support the reflection on and practice development of the political assignment of social professionals concerning policy-driven and politicising work, in order that the core assignment can be better fulfilled.
Research lines
This research programme is focussed on two important research lines: (1) a policy-driven approach and (2) politicisation. Within both research lines, we focus on the political assignment of social professionals and their organisations.
Policy-driven approach: an assignment for every social professional
Apart from their direct work with the clients, users, or participants, social professionals must also be good at a policy-driven approach. That is a complex assignment for all social professionals. We check what practices exist and we develop a new approach together.
Politicising approach: developing an operating framework
The importance of politicisation in social work and elsewhere is growing,
but the professional sector also seems to get stuck on this assignment. In various sectors, there is a search for an effective operating framework.
More information?
