Teoretisk kunskap i en praktisk verklighet: en intervjustudie om socionomers och arbetsledares kunskapssyn i socialtjänstens arbete med barn och unga

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how social workers perceive the concept of knowledge within social services, particularly within children and youth services. Our goal is also to study the employer's expectations and demands on graduate social workers. The main questions we address in this thesis are; What knowledge is seen as useful by employers and graduate social workers working in social welfare offices? To what extent does university education bring useful knowledge to the work being done by social workers? What practical knowledge is there in the workplace for social workers to learn? When recruiting, what expectations does the employer have of graduate social workers? What challenges are there with recruiting a graduate social worker? We have interviewed six social workers and four employers in the social childcare division in different municipalities in Skåne region, Sweden. We have used epistemology in our analysis. Our results show that social workers value practical knowledge highly. The employers emphasise learning by doing in social work. To be curious, inventive, confident and to show great interest in children is of importance in social work to both workers and employers. A good working environment with helpful colleagues is of great importance for the social workers development of knowledge. According to the employers one challenge regarding recruiting graduate social workers is a higher workload for other staff members