Kompetansebegrepets uklarhet i møte med barnevernets komplekse handlingsrom

Abstract

Background: Governmental documents must provide guidance and knowledge for social workers with a focus on child care. They must describe legislative changes, meet employee expectations and evaluate any reforms. To do so, it is important that the language and use of any concepts are interpreted in the same way. One of the terms used by the government in Norway is the word ‘competence’, which intends to describe to employees in social care services their tasks. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight challenges related to governmental use of the concept of the word ‘competence’. The term is used frequently, in the assumption that there is a common and equal interpretation of the word. <p>

<p>Method: This study is a text analysis of relevant governmental documents published from 2014. The purpose of this method is to create structured data out of the documents. <p>

<p>Theory: The study applies the perspectives of hermeneutics and phenomenology, combined with the organizational theories by Skau (2017) and Røvik (2007). <p>

<p>Result: We have three findings concerning the term ‘competence’. The first is that the term is barely defined. The second is that the term is used without a proper structure. The third is that there are few governmental documents that are aimed specifically at child health care workers. <p>

<p>Conclusion: This study shows that the term ‘competence’, which is used frequently in various contexts, lacks proper definition. This may lead to confusion and misunderstanding with respect to governmental directions and intents versus professional job execution amongst employees at social care services in Norway.