A divisive path

This chapter offers a critical and personal exploration of the fragmentation of criminal justice social work (CJSW) education across the four nations of the UK. Drawing on the author’s professional journey—from qualifying in Scotland to two decades’ justice practice in England, then a decade’s teaching social work, five years co-chairing BASW England Criminal Justice Group—it traces the erosion of criminal justice as a visible and viable social work specialism, particularly in England. Through comparative policy and curriculum analysis, this chapter examines how divergent approaches to social work education have shaped professional identity, interagency collaboration, and the ability of social workers to contribute meaningfully to justice contexts. It argues that there are lessons to be learned from losing presence, the disconnection between social work and probation in England, which has led to a narrowing of practice, weakening relational, ethical, and rights-based responses to the complex needs of justice-involved individuals. Social work’s presence in probation and probation’s presence in social work being mutually beneficial. This chapter calls for the reintroduction or security of criminal justice in qualifying curricula, expansion of practice placements, and development of interdisciplinary education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In particular, it proposes a new cross-professional postgraduate qualification to enable social workers and probation officers in England to work more flexibly across roles and sectors. In doing so, it offers a vision for a more integrated, relational, and ethically grounded justice workforce—one in which social justice values can reassert its vital role.