Letters
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050004700330 |
| Date | 01 September 2000 |
| Author | Joyce Lishman,James Maybee |
| Published date | 01 September 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
304
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‘Erroneous Impression’ of
Scottish Training?
Dear Editor,
In James Maybee’s paper ‘The Challenge
Ahead for Criminal Justice Social Work in
Scotland’(Probation Journal 47 (3), he
says:
“For example, my impression of the
current curriculum at The Robert
Gordon University (the local training
provider for Inverness) is that it
provides little specific input on
probation.” (p.197)
I understand from James that this
‘impression’has generated lively
correspondence and debate. Unfortunately
it is inaccurate and misleading. We
provide at The Robert Gordon University
a number of routes to qualification.
In our degree, criminal justice work is
addressed at different levels and in
different modules although there is a
specific module devoted to criminal justice
and to substance abuse, taught by an
experienced practitioner/manager in
criminal justice and a specialist lecturer.
We also provide specialist legal teaching
in relation to criminal justice, ethics in
relation to criminal justice, and social
sciences and social work theory, practice
and intervention as applied to criminal
justice. Our research teaching (a specific
module) also addresses all these issues.
In short we draw on research, social
science, models of social work assessment
and intervention and then help students
apply them to specific areas of social work
of which criminal justice in Scotland
(unlike England) is one. I am concerned
that an unevidenced impression appears to
stand in relation to criminal justice, an
area of social work which has prided itself
on its evidence base.
Professor Joyce Lishman
Head of School of Applied Social Studies
Robert Gordon University
Author’s Reply
Dear Editor,
I do not dispute Professor Lishman’s
assertion that criminal justice work is
addressed in a variety of ways at The
Robert Gordon University as part of a
generic social work training course. My
concern is about whether there is sufficient
specialist training on generic courses to
equip social workers throughout Scotland
to work effectively within criminal justice
upon qualification. To take one example,
trainee social workers will qualify with an
understanding of different theoretical
perspectives but are not trained to deliver
specific programmes designed to reduce
offending behaviour that have been
validated by research. This also applies to
many qualified social workers, as I
demonstrate in my article.
Social workers’ability to help
offenders stop offending is dependent, to a
large extent, on the quality of training.
Thus the central question is how can the
‘gap’in training be eliminated? There are
two broad options: more specialism within
the existing pre-qualifying structure,
combined with well-resourced, mandatory,
and rigorous post-qualifying training; or
separate training altogether. This latter
option has implications, not least in the
possible erosion of the social work values
underpinning current practice and the
whole issue of a national service divorced
from social work. This question needs
addressing urgently if social work is to
maintain its central position within the
Criminal Justice System.
James Maybee
Criminal Justice Social Worker,
Inverness
LETTERS
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