Social Work Curricula to Today’s Labor Market (original) (raw)

Social work in Spain: a new social and economic reality to develop in practical academic training

Social Work Education, 2019

This work focuses on understanding how the current Spanish economic crisis is generating changes in the social and economic reality in which social work degree students are developing their practical training and on knowing if this new reality has an impact on their training and on the vision, they can create of the profession. Using a mixed qualitative methodological approach, we aim to visualize and analyze the opinions and insights that both social work professionals and students provide. Online and face-to-face interviews were conducted with social workers working as practice tutors. Likewise, two focus groups were set up and social work degree students at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain) were also interviewed. The main results show that the new scenario creates a debate not only among professionals, but also among the students themselves. They value this stage as an opportunity to rethink their future professional practice. This article may be applicable to the European context, given that the economic crisis is affecting, to a greater or lesser extent, on the different welfare states in Europe.

Psychological and pedagogical features of training future social service workers

Eduweb

The system of training future workers of social services is being transformed in connection with a number of challenges in the social-economic sphere, significantly differentiating within the EU countries. The purpose of the academic paper lies in analysing psychological and pedagogical features in the educational training of social service specialists using the example of EU countries. Methodology. A qualitative design based on a content analysis of the legal framework, statistical data and analytical reports posted on the website of the European Association of Schools of Social Work (2022) have been used in the present research. The results show that social work as an educational training program includes three educational levels: bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral studies. In general, in the EU countries, general requirements regarding the structure and content of educational programs are determined, which are established by legislation. Educational programs are built on a compete...

SOCIAL WORKERS: FROM EDUCATION TO WORKING LIFE

The starting point of this paper is the view that social work practice is highly skill activity. However, students face difficulties in assuming the characteristics of the profession. Social work is a practice-based profession based on principles of human rights and social justice, aiming to empower and liberate people. In this regard, social work candidates are required to possess certain characteristic and to receive a qualified undergraduate education both theoretically and practically. Accordingly, while choosing a career, people focus on several aspects of the profession such as a good salary. However, social work is not a kind of a job to do for profit, on the contrary, it is more than that. The central aim of this article is to provide information about social work profession, and to make this subject accessible to students of social work in order to encourage them and enlighten the transition period of social work from education to working life.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN SPAIN

This research note presents briefly the development of the Education for Social Work in Spain. The year 2008 has marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of its incorporation into Spanish Universities as an undergraduate degree. In addition, the academic year 2008-09 has seen the introduction of the qualification, Doctor of Social Work. It also provides some thoughts about the academic situation and status of social work at a global level as a result of the domination of the English and Spanish languages. It also compares the development of social work with studies in other countries, and different forms an understanding of the basis of social work in Europe.

Social Work Postgraduate Education in Brazil: there is a stumbling block on the way

Revista Katálysis

This paper discusses the Brazilian postgraduate background through the National Postgraduate Plans (PNPGs). They comprise five plans developed from 1974 to 2011, the latest one being in force until 2020. It presents a reflection about the development of postgraduate programs in Social Work aiming to understand how much the changes and present demands, of neoliberal approach and highlighted in the latest PNPGs, affect Social Work activities, especially concerning the continuous search for quality, excellence and consolidation of an ethical-political-professional project.

Training in Social Work – an Analysis from the Perspective of Students Within Alexandru I. Cuza University of Iași

2017

Social work has a specificity among current professions; it has evolved continuously to respond to the multiple challenges triggered by issues of the ever-changing society. Because it is a rather new profession evolving and changing at a fast pace, social work must respond to the multiple challenges concerning the quality of professional training and the quality of provided services, implicitly. This study represents an analysis of the social work school in Iași from the perspective of undergraduate and master students within the Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences. The main directions of analysis were the following: access to the education establishments and previous experience/volunteer work, the training of competences in social work - the education process and the educational resources, the challenges of social worker profession, the experiences and access to the national and international labour market. The study shows that it is necessary to adapt the curriculu...

Rethinking Social Work Undergraduate Education Through Knowledge-Skill-Value-Basis of Social Work

2018

Many of the studies on social work education approaches social work education as a whole with field practice. On the one hand, such kind of approach signifies which knowledge-skill-value basis social work education needs to be structured, on the other hand it describes the process how these basis can be transferred to social work practices. The aim of the social work education is to respond to today's individual and community needs and besides to think about how this process can be improved. It is the focus of this review work to educate social worker with different pedagogical approaches. Therefore, the aim of this study is to discuss how knowledge-skill-value basis of social work can be applied as a pedagogical tool in social work education. Based on this, in this study it is primarily dwelled on the general features of social work education. These discussions are dealt within the context of five components of the learning process; the purpose and scope of social work educatio...

The Specific of Professional Education in Social Work Adjusted to Labour Marketplace

Revista De Cercetare Si Interventie Sociala, 2012

The domain of the social work occupations is a quite recent one for Romania and this fact leads to a series of difficulties in correlating and harmonizing the university professional education with the labour market. In the context of the European integration, and the globalization of certain regulative social processes, a viable solution to diminish the dysfunctions generated by this non-correlation is the occupational standardization and the curricular homogenization. And so, it appears a series of questions, like: What is the social worker in Romania? Who trains the social workers? Focus more on theoretical knowledge or practical skills? Does the labour market of social work prise the university education? The present study is a departure point in this direction. The present study is elaborated on two parts: first, it analyses the current situation of the professional education of the social work, while taking as a departure point its main out-put - the higher education graduate ...

Social Work Field Practicum: Opportunities with Challenges

The field of social work is concerned with the welfare of others and with social change that promotes social justice. Taking a client-oriented and solution-focused approach, social workers improve individuals’ and families’ social functioning. This approach requires social workers to remain aware of the connections between the individual and societal structures, of the importance of practicing at multiple levels, and of the ways in which theory and practice inform one another. A professional practice is informed and guided by the societal goals and that of the profession concerned, its mission to contribute to the creation of a better society based on professional ethics and code of conduct adopted to regulate practice, the constitution and law of the land, international trends and commitment to address them and covenants, challenges facing the society, the development of new knowledge, method and technology. This implies that no professional practice remains static and confined within a national boundary. Its focus is both local and global. It may be noted here that social practice, which can include citizens’ initiatives, social praxis, movements, protests etc., is broader than any professional practice and social work practice for the matter.

ABOUT THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE TRAINING OF FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS AND THE SOCIAL PRACTICE

The article describes the realms of manifestation of the profession of the social worker in Bulgaria. It analyzes the main legislative document, related to the career development of social workers. One of the goals is to provide correspondence between the social practice, the requirements in the sphere of social practice and the level of professional competency of the social workers. The article presents a stage in the development of a competency model for the training of social workers in the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Trakia University in Stara Zagora. Common competencies for social work are developed, based on an analysis of the job descriptions of social workers from different social institutions. These common competencies are formed at a later stage of the process of education of social pedagogy students.