Social Work Evaluation Essay

Evaluation is important to all careers, businesses, industries and workplaces. As humans we seek excellence in what we do. In the business and financial sector good evaluation means that businesses are run more smoothly and therefore outcomes and profits increase. This means that for the social work profession, evaluation is even more necessary. In our profession the “profit” is an increase in social justice and direct needs met. We are working with vulnerable populations and we want to ensure that these populations are receiving the best help available. If the core values of the social work profession truly are social justice, service, dignity of the human, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence, then we will see that evaluation of practice is essential.
Every social worker should best well versed in the important skill of evaluation. Not every social worker will be an evaluator, however, every social worker will have their agency/practice evaluated at some time. By understanding the process of evaluation we can better interpret findings and actually implement change where necessary. In order to better serve the vulnerable population with which we work, social work as a profession
Evaluations are often completed by accrediting agencies, or other entities that supervisors and funders look to as confirmation that your agency/practice has positive outcomes. The general direction of an evaluation is often to find faults and fix them in order to increase outcomes, not to see what is being done right in an organization. Furthermore, as humans we generally look to fix rather than build up. In the social work profession we values strengths, and even have a “strengths perspective” that guide us in working with clients. However, this skill is often not innate in individuals. I remember when I started my BSW classes, it was a skill that I had to