Opportunities, Facilitation, Motivations. Preconditions for politicisation in social work

What does politicisation mean in social work practice and how can you develop practices of politicisation? In several sectors, there is a search for an effective framework for action. Socius published Going Public, a handbook on politicising practice that was presented at the Social Work Conference on 5 May 2022 (https://socius.be/sociaal-cultureel-werken/politiserend-werken). For that book, we developed an initial action framework with practitioners and teachers (Van Bouchaute & Vanderhulst, 2022). That framework will be further explored by 'PARKS', a research project from SAM, support centre for Man and Society, in cooperation with the Flemish social work courses (Politiseren: wat werkt? | samvzw).

A recurring question in that search is 'what internal and external factors inhibit/stimulate politicisation in social work?' In the review article 'The many interpretations of politicisation in social work' (De Corte, Hermans, Raeymaeckers & Van Bouchaute, 2022), those preconditions are summarised in three factors (Weis-Gall, 2020): opportunities, facilitation and motivations of social workers.  

Although the importance of these preconditions is constantly stressed by academics and practitioners, we lack empirical research in Flanders to find out which stimulating and inhibiting dynamics have a major impact. This insight should lead to a strengthening of those preconditions.

How can the preconditions for politicisation in social work be strengthened? The outcome of this research should have a concrete impact on strengthening

• Opportunities: structural (allies, support,...) but also cultural (narrative, formation,...)
• Facilitation: structural (embedding in the organisation) and cultural (mission, discourse,...)
• Motivations: knowledge, competence and skills of the social worker and the team to shape politicising practices - both explicit and implicit formation is addressed.

Strong valorisation is anticipated:

• with recommendations for all stakeholders who (can) play a role in the preconditions;
• in the form of a paper for the SAM consortium with the aim of deepening the action framework for politicisation in social work with the new insights from this research;
• with a popularising article in the media aimed at social workers and their organisations;
• with an academic publication bringing the insights into ongoing academic discussions on politicisation in social work
• with the enrichment of activities in research and service within the politicisation programme from the social work programme and the Association Research Platform in AUGent.