Shared Expectations? Reforming the Social Work Qualifying Curriculum in England

This is the first of two articles presenting findings from a scoping review undertaken in 2011 to inform proposals for a review of the social work qualifying curriculum in England made by the Social Work Reform Board. The review used a mixture of published and unpublished resources to compare the issues raised by the reports of the Social Work Task Force with what was known from published research investigating the ways that the current Requirements for Social Work Training (Department of Health, London, 2002) operate. It found that the evidence base on which the key issues relating to the concerns about initial social work qualifying programmes rest was very variable. The absence of a substantial research evidence base in this area hinders the development of effective policymaking on social work education, but the current changes to social work education and to social work regulation offer a timely opportunity to expand what we know about different assessment systems and how best to regulate social work courses.     

The Social Work and Politics Initiative

Abstract

Social work is becoming a more politically oriented profession. In addition, social work education is including politics as a greater part of the curriculum. Still, much more can be done to increase the amount of political content in social work education. This paper describes a model for involving students in political social work without drastically altering current arrangements. The model consists of two parts: a class on politics and social work and field practica in state legislators' district offices. Following a discussion of the literature on education for political social work, we look closely at the Social Work and Politics Initiative. We also examine problems encountered with the program.     

Three-dimensional virtual reality: Applications to the 12 grand challenges of social work

Abstract

The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) identified 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work to unify the profession with focused research, practice and policy applications for the most pressing social issues. Virtual Reality (VR), specifically three-dimensional immersive computer-generated environments, has a history of research and applications to address social and behavioral problems. VR is becoming more readily available, as the technology is becoming more common in mainstream platforms such as mobile technology. While social work interventions are often tailored for vulnerable populations that may not have access to VR computing, it appears that virtual reality is gaining accessibility with these advances. Within the framework of the 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work, researchers from three social work virtual reality laboratories in the United States, Texas State University, the University of Houston, and the University of Alabama, review applications previously tested and currently in development to focus future research and intervention in social work practice.     

Teaching Successful Community Practice in Social Work

ABSTRACT

This article identifies and addresses a severe problem in the management of community practice projects of students in their second and third year in the Undergraduate Social Work program at the University of Haifa School of Social Work; namely, the current binary evaluation method based on total success or failure of the project.

Using a systems approach, this study creates a framework by which to ensure effective and positive outcomes for community practice projects carried out by undergraduate social work students (Freund, Arkin & Saltman, 1999). This framework is unique in that it draws on knowledge gained from organizational and community theories, as well as instructional theories for teaching social work practice.

The proposed framework includes three components that describe the factors necessary to help transform the student's learning experience: the organization's characteristics, the student's resources, and the evaluative measures.

This inter-conceptual approach enhances the ability of the instructor, the student, and the organization to build an appropriate organizational foundation for students operating communal programs. The underlying assumption is that an integrative approach promotes a better understanding of the components essential for building and evaluating social plans conducted by social work students.     

From pillar to post: Women and social work studies in the 21st century

Abstract

A decade or so after the acknowledgement and inclusion of women's issues in mainstream social work courses, we find the circumstances in which such education occurs have changed. The 'third wave' of feminism has revisited the feminist agenda of the 1960s and 1970s; there has been a paradigm shift in what tertiary education is perceived to offer; and global theories have been replaced by post modern interpretations. This article discusses the impact of these changes for social work education drawing on the authors' experiences with the 'Women and Social Work' elective subject in the Bachelor of Social Work Degree at the University of New South Wales, Australia. This elective was popular until the mid 1990s when it failed to attract students. The authors reflect on their experience of teaching the subject and their understanding of current feminism to identify a way forward in the attempt to rekindle student enthusiasm for feminist understandings and provide education which will further the emancipatory project of social work.     

Motivations to become a master in social work: a typology of students

ABSTRACT

In the field of social work education, many studies address students’ motivations to become social workers. Most of these studies focus on bachelor‘s students in social work and confirm that altruistic and expressive motivations underlie students’ decisions to enter the social work profession. However, few studies focus on students earning a Master in Social Work (MSW). The purpose of this paper is to explore why students want to earn a master’s degree in social work. An online questionnaire was developed, and the results of six focus group discussions were used. The sample includes 116 graduates from the past 8 years and current students from the MSW programme at the University of Antwerp. We use exploratory factor analysis and identify two types of motivation. In line with earlier studies, we find that the first type is an expressive motivation. These students want to learn more about poverty and social justice and are motivated to improve the life conditions of vulnerable target groups. The second type is an instrumental motivation. These students are oriented towards the development of their professional careers.     

Graduate Education for Social Change

ABSTRACT

Is it possible to conduct an effective, progressive, and politicized program for graduate students in our contemporary conservative context? This article evaluates the outcomes over seven years of a pioneering program in Political Social Work. Based on survey data of Political Social Work alumni, it addresses four outcome measures: enrollment, satisfaction with curriculum and field opportunities, job and career development, and persistence of political ideology and practice. While being “political” during the past decade is clearly different than it was in the 1960s, the evidence proposes that political content and practice can have a significant place in both social work education and the field. More specifically, the study demonstrates that politicized social workers in the 1990s were able after graduation to secure employment, sustain progressive values, and practice political social work.     

Voter Registration

Abstract

Historically, social workers have used voter registration to politically empower their clients. This paper describes the agency-based voter registration project of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, including the project's implementation, and evaluation. Voter registration principles emerge from analyses of successful agency-based voter registration programs.     

Must Schools of Social Work be Freestanding? Yes!

Abstract

Point/Counterpoint is a regular feature of the Journal of Social Work Education. Its purpose is to provide a vehicle for the expression of contrasting views on controversial topics in social work education. Our goal is to illuminate important debates and explore the diverse perspectives that are shaping social work education.

In each issue of the Journal, social work educators are invited to comment on a topic about which they have differing viewpoints. Each commentator is given an opportunity to make a brief rebuttal. In this issue, Barbara Shank (Chair, Department of Social Work, University of St. Thomas and the College of St. Catherine), Irving Piliavin (Director, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Marsha Seltzer (Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison) address the question: Must schools of social work be freestanding?     

Fit for purpose: issues from practice placements,practice teaching and the assessment of students' practice

This paper explores a number of significant issues regarding the delivery of practice based learning for qualifying social workers, in the context of plans for the new social work degree. We also discuss four particular issues: 1. the definition and measurement of ‘good enough’ practice;

2. the determination of students' suitability for social work;

3. the role of practice teachers in responding to sensitive information and students facing personal crises; and

4. specialist and ‘long‐arm’ practice teaching.

In doing so, we draw on both our own direct experience and on discussions between over 70 practice teachers, tutors and placement co‐ordinators attending a Mid‐Yorkshire Social Work Education and Training Planning Group (MYSWETPG) conference hosted by Bradford College in March 2001.

We conclude that, given the current difficulties in the field of qualifying training and education for social workers, any significant improvements following from the new degree will remain dependent on the provision of adequate funding for practice learning, in general, and for the training, structured support and affirmation of practice teachers, in particular.     

Collaborative Education in a Radical Social Work Course

Abstract

This paper explores the use of social group work in a graduate MSW course on Progressive Social Work Practice co-taught by Jan, a faculty member, Stacy, a current graduate student, and the students enrolled in the course.     

Publication Rates of Undergraduate Social Work Programs in Selected Journals

Abstract

Scholarship is receiving an ever-increasing emphasis within social work education, particularly at the undergraduate level. Decisions on recruitment, reappointment, tenure, salary, and promotion often are influenced by publication productivity. The authors extend previous research on publication activity of graduate faculty by reporting the journal article production of undergraduate social work faculty over a 7-year period in seven major social work journals. As expected from earlier studies, relatively few faculty produced a sizable proportion of the articles. However, articles written by only one author were less common than previous research suggested. The majority of articles appeared in three of the journals reviewed: Social Work, Journal of Social Work Education, and Families in Society (formerly Social Casework). The most prolific undergraduate faculty were likely to come from programs located in combined bachelor of social work/master of social work settings in relatively large public universities. Gender differences were noted in only one area: twice as many women authors were among the most prolific baccalaureate contributors.     

The forgotten history of CSWE’s shift away from community colleges

ABSTRACT

From the 1950s to mid-1970s social work educators in the United States considered developing a multi-level continuum of social work education including associate degrees. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) added baccalaureate degree programs only. By 1979 the idea of including associate degrees in this continuum disappeared from the scholarly conversation. This qualitative historical research explores factors that led to the exclusion of community colleges from CSWE membership and prevented accreditation of associate degree programs. Using archival evidence, it synthesizes primary and secondary sources and applies a critical pedagogy framework to highlight concerns. Findings suggest that distrust, the pace of change, professionalization, BSW program development, cultural differences, resistance to change, and a lack of external pressure coalesced to rebuff recognition of community colleges as an alternate pathway for social work education in the U.S.     

The social reality of youth and social work: between visibility and invisibility

ABSTRACT

Social work has a long history of study and intervention in at-risk or vulnerable groups. Due to their diversity, the visibility or invisibility of such groups has varied over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The work presented here is focused on determining the place youth occupies in social work as a field of study and intervention. Demographic reality has shown a decreasing attention to young people when compare to other age groups, while its social relevance has been maintained or even increased. However, their social situation does not seem to be in accordance with this statement. Such imbalance may be the baseline of the actual-limited recognition of youth in current welfare policies, and with them, of Social Work. To confirm this loss of representation, International Social Work conferences were examined. Research lines, thematic areas and intervention models on youth were gathered as well as scientific work from two databases. The presented results show how social work, without losing its primary focus on social exclusion maintains a line of work with youth, but still understanding it as a problem rather than a resource.     

Queering Canadian Social Work Accreditation standards and procedures: a content analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews and critically analyzes the Canadian Association for Social Work Education—Association Canadienne Pour La Formation En Travail Social’s (CASWE-ACFTS’) Accreditation Standards and Procedures from a Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIESC) lens to examine how such are addressed in relevant documents. The CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus undertook a lead role in examining ‘diversity’ in the documents as it serves as an umbrella term for SOGIESC and other intersecting positionalities. This paper iterates an initial response in the CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus’ ongoing consultation with the CASWE-ACFTS’s Education Policy Committee’s work on Education Policy and Accreditation Standards 2019 (EPAS2019). The content analysis of the documents reveals that SOGIESC issues are not adequately addressed and this has implications for undergraduate and graduate social work curricula in Canada. The authors provide recommendations that address the integration of SOGIESC in CASWE-ACFTS’s Accreditation Standards and Procedures documents.     

Issues,Components, and Theoretical Considerations in the Integration of Divinity and Social Work Curricula

Abstract

This article describes the common and distinctive features of Divinity and Social Work Curricula. The investigation of these curricula includes an examination of the theoretical foundations of each discipline, program design, field work options, and the need for joint planning. The suggestion is made that dual degree be dropped as the nomenclature for such cooperative programs and that they be named joint degrees programs.     

Teddy Bears: Facilitators of Love,Friendship and Therapy

Abstract

An edited version of a paper delivered to the Scottish branch of the Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work, Edinburgh, Winter 1976.

After finishing her degree in Social Science in Dublin Una McCluskey took her professional training at Edinburgh University (1971), specialising in psychiatric social work. She worked for a number of years in a Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, where she was the Principal Social Worker, and was involved in the Innovation of the in-patient treatment of whole families. She worked with Barnardo's in Edinburgh, and went as a lecturer to York University in 1978. Interests have always lain in the marriage of psychodynamic and systemic thinking and the application of these ideas to working with individuals, families and organisations.     

“Mapping Social Justice”: Integrating Policy Practice Across the Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education identify social justice as a guiding principle of the social work profession, yet there is little consensus in the field of what the term actually means and how it can be achieved. Master of Social Work programs are likewise struggling with how to educate students on social justice and prepare them to engage in macro-level advocacy after graduating. This article examines how one student-led social justice initiative at a school of social work is seeking to increase student engagement in macro-level social justice work through the use of targeted advocacy alerts. This article explores the project’s development, implementation, first-year feedback, and modifications made to provide other MSW programs a blueprint to adopt their own version of the project. Findings suggest that the targeted alert model may be successful in engaging clinical MSW students in social justice advocacy.     

Information Technology Availability in Schools of Social Work

Abstract

The introduction of information technology into social work education is essential and inevitable. Little, however, is known about the current use of computers in schools of social work. This study is the first to focus on the variety and availability of hardware and software; the extent to which computer-related courses are integrated into the curriculum; and the types of computers, uses, and users in schools of social work. The sample consists of non-US schools drawn from the membership of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and US schools drawn from the membership of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The study tested three hypotheses: A. Schools in the United States use computers significantly more and for more advanced purposes than do schools in other countries; B. Schools that offer graduate degrees will be better equipped with computers and use them more extensively; and C. The larger the school, the greater the number of computers and the higher the sophistication of computer use. The findings supported these hypotheses and portend a trend for standardization of hardware and software in schools of social work. Based on the findings, the article recommends curriculum and policy modifications that should be considered by schools of social work.     

Suitability for practice guidelines for students: A survey of Canadian social work programmes

This paper reports on the development of a 'suitability for practice' policy in a large Canadian school of social work. Pertinent gatekeeping issues are reviewed and the results of a survey on suitability polices in Canadian social work schools are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work Suitability Policy. This policy integrates current research on gatekeeping, the results of the Canadian schools survey and input from primary stakeholders: the students, faculty members, the professional association and the community.