To Register or Not—the Relevance of the Social Work Codes of Practice for the Social Work Lecturer

Higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are increasingly demanding that social work lecturers are ‘registered’ with the UK regulatory body, the General Social Care Council (GSCC) as a requirement of appointment for the
post of social work lecturer. There are many compelling reasons for such an expectation but this paper argues that such action should not be undertaken uncritically. Using Colnerud’s five categories of norms a number of tensions for
the lecturer are explored that indicate that the current GSCC codes of practice do not fully recognize the role of the social work lecturer.