Book, line, now thinker

THE last time social worker Steve Rogowski wrote a book it was about pike fishing.

Now he’s just published a new volume on another subject he knows well — the highs and lows of his profession.

Steve, who is one of the most academically qualified social workers in Oldham, was awarded a PhD after a six-year, part-time course at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004. Dr Rogowski (53), of Co-operative Street, Springhead, has written extensively about his career in social and youth work, as well as social policy journals, and two books on his hobby of pike fishing.

His new book, published by Bristol University’s Policy Press, charts the highs of 1970s social work to the current lows of the profession.

He said: “The many changes over the last three decades have resulted in managers, often with no experience or qualifications in social work, now controlling what social workers do and how. The emphasis is on filling in forms as quickly as speedily as possible, the ultimate goal being to limit public expenditure.

“The changes are a long way from the reasons why people came into social work in the first place — to make a positive difference to people’s lives.

“However, far from being totally demoralised there are those who continue to swim against the tide in the hope of staying true to what social work is really about.”