Questioning identities: social service workers transition to being social work students

Australian universities are situated within a capitalist economic and social context where self-interest and self-responsibility is seen as paramount. Students pay high fees and manage complex lives to meet the demands of higher education and after their degree they may face uncertain employment prospects. Preparing social work students for their professional roles and a professional identity has been topical in social work literature in recent years. Less studied is how neoliberal discourses and material realities position students and the impact of this on those who have been in social service positions and are returning to the student role at university. Drawing on Foucault's concept of 'technologies of the self' and the notion of identity being in progress and context dependent, researchers based at Deakin University interviewed Master of Social Work (MSW) students about their sense of identity in making the transition from professional social worker to being a student. Findings show they are impacted by relationships, material realities (named here as student experience) and the goals or outcomes they sought in choosing to become students. Within these, we identify they adopt both enthusiastic and ambivalent positionalities.