The growth and professionalisation of social work achieved since the 1950s is now under threat.

Social work has since established its relevance and the call for more of it has grown in leaps and bounds. But the need has not been correctly met by the authorities.

They responded by insufficient recruitment, then filled social-work roles with people not trained for the profession.

The 1980s were marked not only by an increase in numbers but also by the development of local university training and growing professionalisation.

It was through a very careful exercise that untrained people, by then employed as ‘welfare officers’, were given opportunities outside social work. This made sure that all who carried the title of social worker had received the education and training necessary for their delicate role.

The Social Work Profession Act of 2003 assured this key step forward by stipulating that social workers have to be warranted and that only after a four-year BA Honours study course in social work or equivalent. An alternative pathway is also offered by way of the University of Malta’s MASW (Masters in Social Work).

As society grew, in both its needs and expectations, so did the call for social work as a key profession in helping children, families, the elderly, people with mental health problems or disability and in the areas of drug abuse, domestic violence and others. But it soon became obvious that recruitment was falling behind the need.

Unfortunately, the government has addressed this lack by employing people without training in social work in these delicate social-work roles.

These non-social workers are given the title social welfare professionals.

This unwise measure drew the criticism of members of the board responsible for standards in the profession, as well as of the Maltese Association of Social Workers and social work academics.

These were also joined by the Malta Federation of Professional Associations, which protested that the title of ‘professional’ should not be given to people who are, in fact, members of no profession and are not subject to the protective regulation of any professional authority.

Several remedies have been suggested and they must be activated now. The first is to stop the deprofessionalisation of social work and reserve its roles to those legally qualified. Those with other degrees who aspire to do social work have a clear pathway for doing this, namely to follow the Masters course.

Employers should facilitate this by giving them time off to study and qualify. Another vital step is to launch a well-planned and well-resourced recruitment campaign addressed to students and others.

Social-work students and recruits are typically young people with a high sense of commitment. What should be done to stop them suffering burnout later and dropping out of the profession?

Studies and conversations with them show they desire improved work conditions at par with equivalent professions, reasonable workloads, freedom from excessive admin work, a supportive working environment, recognition for their skills and values, and respect for their autonomous professional judgement.

They will thrive in environments where their values and know-how lead their agencies, where merit above all is consistently recognised and rewarded.

Finally, they will also thrive if they have a real choice between agencies and specialisations where to work. NGOs should be supported to offer more attractive working conditions.

And the health department should wake up from its long neglect of recruitment and update its dedicated workers’ conditions. It should stop deploying, incredibly, nurses to make up for the lack of social workers and make sure to always have its own social workers, reliably dedicated to the department’s specialisations and priorities.