Professional competencies for social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand have been subject to many changes in the last 25 years. The sometimes competing roles of the professional association and the regulatory body have confused social workers and employers alike.

In 2019, an amendment to the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) stipulated mandatory registration for social workers, and changes were made to the ways newly qualified social workers were assessed as competent to practise and how qualified and registered social workers were assessed to maintain their annual practising certificate.

The literature identifies many different opinions about the purpose of competencies within the social work profession, ranging from the need for a competence structure to provide a baseline of proficiency against which social workers can be assessed to assertions that competencies unwittingly restrict creativity for social workers and impinge on their practice – becoming a metaphorical political straitjacket. The research reported in this thesis sought to ascertain whether the method of assessing social work competence in Aotearoa New Zealand supports social workers to develop and maintain competent social work practice.

For this study, qualitative data were collected between 2015 and 2017 from semi-structured interviews with focus groups and individual key informant social workers. I used critical reflection to strengthen the research process by journaling at each stage of the research process. The 56 participants were asked to describe their experiences and expectations.

Although the participants were supportive of recent changes in the competence assessment process, they identified several tensions and concerns about the maintenance of professional integrity, including: noticeable gaps in, and a lack of, regular supervision; an over-reliance on supervision as a method to achieve and account for competent practice; apprehensions about the mode of supervision; and disquiet about the lack of a focussed structure to monitor the development of postgraduate skills. This research also identified positive developmental outcomes for supervisors through active supervision of student and practising social workers.

This research suggests that a framework of practice be developed for undergraduate and postgraduate social work education, and recommends that once registered, social workers should not need to focus specifically on continuous professional development that re-asserts their ability to meet the core competence standards. Recognition that students achieve competence when they they successfully complete their first professional qualification then enables qualified social workers to focus on honing appropriate practice skills and specialisms through postgraduate study to enhance the capability and competence of them individually and the profession as a whole.