Events
Jessica Toft Presents Research at New Mexico State University
Professor Jessica Toft presents her research, "Daring to Envision Professional Discretion and Better Working Conditions for Social Workers," at NMSU.
In this public talk, Dr. Toft actively engages the audience to think about the nature and importance of professional discretion of social workers and how social workers can fight for it in today’s challenging workplaces.
Her team undertook a statewide anonymous survey and confidential interviews on the effects of intensified business management on social workers’ practice and working conditions.
Social workers experience considerable pressure to work quickly, take on more clients, labor under commission-based structures, and more. Amid such conditions, findings show that social workers’ practice discretion is markedly limited. Yet, social workers are resisting, and their varied examples deserve careful consideration for today’s social work practice.
Toft invites attendees to learn from the historical record of the myriad ways social workers have fought for professional discretion and better working conditions amid shifting political, social, and economic contexts.
This account illustrates that while social workers’ resistance may have been muted under neoliberal social welfare policies over the last 45 years, there is a lengthier history of social work solidarity that we can learn from for the professional fights ahead.
Photographs taken at the event may be used in University of Minnesota print and online publications, promotions, or shared with the CEHD community.
Photographs taken at the event may be used in University of Minnesota print and online publications, promotions, or shared with the CEHD community.
The University of Minnesota campuses were built on the traditional homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous peoples who have walked on these lands from time immemorial. It is important to acknowledge the peoples on whose land we live, learn, and work as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with our tribal nations. We also acknowledge that words are not enough. We must ensure that our institution provides support, resources, and programs that increase access to all aspects of higher education for our American Indian students, staff, faculty, and community members.