Social work, merit and ethnic diversity

This paper concentrates on the issues of merit and diversity in social work. The principal focus is ethnic diversity, used as an example to illustrate a wider point about diversity. It is clear that ethnic diversity in particular has become a major political objective across the public sector as part of the ‘community cohesion’ initiative. Several benefits have been identified and linked to the achievement of ethnic diversity in the workforce; many of these have appeared in social work debate. The argument here is that while diversity has transformative potential, it must be located within a more radical agenda if it is to be successful. As a profession with a radical thread to its pedigree, social work is well placed to take this agenda forward