I had applied for Bradford's applied social studies course because, unusually, it would give me not only a degree but also the professional qualification (the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work, CQSW) that I would need to achieve this plan.
In my admission interview, I was asked why I wanted to be a social worker, and I remember feeling embarrassed and inadequate as I stumbled through my answers — I wanted to "help" people, I said, but I also had an idea that there was something unjust about "society", which (somehow) social work could put right. Little did I know that the inherent tension in my unformed teenage thoughts would be so strongly reflected in the content and cultures of the course.
The key questions were raised often and preoccupied me in my essays and projects. Are human difficulties largely the result of individual pathology, to be tackled at a personal, "compassionate" level? Or are they rooted in the poverty, oppression and deprivation that is essential to maintaining a capitalist system?
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