Dressing the part? The significance of dress in social work

Scholar, HF

Abstract

This paper explores practice educators’ views about the significance of dress for social work in the context of UK social work education. The findings, drawn from three focus group discussions, suggest that practice educators regard dress as an important way in which social workers demonstrate values in action. Dress is also seen to play a part in the development and maintenance of a professional social work identity, and is relevant to the physical and bodily experiences of ‘doing’ social work. Social workers should be aware of the significance of dress and self-presentation, and where student social workers fail
to demonstrate such awareness, practice educators may have questions about their understanding of the complexity of practice. The paper notes that while participants
expressed similar views about the meaning and impact of dress, these are based on the observation and experience of practice, and there is little research evidence specifically
concerning dress in social work. The study contributes to an understanding of why practice educators consider that dress may be relevant in the assessment of a student’s practice
readiness, and suggests areas for further research about this everyday yet significant aspect of a social worker’s working life.

Citation

Scholar, H. (2013). Dressing the part? The significance of dress in social work. Social Work Education, 32(3), 365-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2012.667798

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2015
• Journal: Social Work Education : The International Journal
• Print ISSN: 0261-5479
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-1227
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 365-379
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2012.667798
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2012.667798
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cswe20/current