A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training

Sakaguchi H, Sewpaul V. A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 192–202 © 2009 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article draws on a one‐year study visit to the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, interviews with field supervisors and students in Japan and reviews of the national frameworks of education in Japan and in South Africa. In doing so, the authors identify the similarities and differences in social work education across the two countries and they explore some of the historical and socio‐cultural factors that might account for the differences. There are some identifiable peculiarities in social work education in Japan, especially with the coalescing of care work and social work education. The lack of differentiation between care work and social work makes it difficult to narrow the scope of social work education and practice. National social work standards have been approved in South Africa and regulatory frameworks for social work education and practice have been long accepted, thus rendering ‘social work’ a protected title and a profession that is more entrenched compared with social work in Japan. The codes of ethics in Japan and South Africa are discussed with specific reference to their control functions in South Africa. The article concludes by discussing these comparisons in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education.     

Revisiting Eight Decades of Social Work Education in India

Social work education commenced in India in 1936 with the establishment of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. This paper examines the historical evolution of professional social work education in India. It also critically examines the growth of social work education, fieldwork practice, and social work as a profession in India to discern its limitations. Various alarming situations have hampered the growth of social work in India and as such the profession suffers a credibility problem. We offer recommendations for the growth and success of social work education in India.     

Build the social justice bridge: participatory photography with the international group work community

ABSTRACT

“Build the Social Justice Bridge” was a participatory photography project that engaged international group workers in an assessment of group work as a social justice profession. Inspired by principles of photovoice research, the project invited social work students, educators, and practitioners from around the world to contribute photographs and brief narratives that represented the relationship between group work and social justice. The photographs were exhibited during the opening session of the 2018 Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) in South Africa, where more than 200 participants from ten countries reflected on the meaning of the photos for the group work community. In viewing the photos, symposium participants identified a common vision of social justice as well as culturally-specific approaches to group work. Implications are drawn for the internationalization of professional knowledge.     

The impact of social transformation on the non-government welfare sector and the social work profession

This article examines changes to non-government social welfare, their impact on service delivery and on the social work profession. To redress the legacy of the past and the consequent inequalities in social welfare, in the first decade of democracy the government allocated the bulk of its welfare resources to transforming the social security system at the expense of social service delivery. As a result, South Africa has a costly social security budget with social services on the brink of collapse, leaving social workers and other social service professionals with low morale in the face of the huge challenge of providing welfare services with scarce resources, especially in the non-government sector. Nevertheless, social work remains an important role player in social development. From its marginalised position in the first decade of democracy, in the second decade it is repositioning itself as a recognised contributor to reconstruction and development in South Africa.     

Research into the hardware construction mode of social work laboratory: based on the case study of the social work laboratories in seven institutions of higher education in Beijing and Wuhan

With the development of the social work profession in China, the demand for Social Work graduates is growing. In order to meet the manpower need for social workers, various colleges and universities have set up training programmes for the social work profession, and the need for social work labs which are considered a required facility for professional social work education is also rapidly growing. However, because of the lack of adequately trained professional social workers, there is no consensus among social work academics as to how social work labs should be set up. Based on a literature review and empirical research, this paper summarises and analyses the experiences of how social work labs have been set up in Beijing and Wuhan, both in terms of hardware and software, to meet professional requirements.     

Professional Identity,Job Satisfaction,and Retention of Licensed Social Workers in Korea

This paper reports the results from a survey of 735 social workers in South Korea on their professional identity as a social worker, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the profession. The overall result shows that there was a high level of job satisfaction. Social workers' intention to leave the profession was significantly related to their integrated feelings of professional identity. This relationship was partially mediated by job satisfaction. Social workers' sense of professional identity can be tapped to help social workers feel adequate to carry out their professional responsibility. Boundaries of their practice should be well defined.     

实用专业主义:广州市家庭综合服务中心社会工作者“专业能力”的界定及其逻辑

本研究的目的是找出中国社会工作者专业能力体系及其背后的判定逻辑。本研究运用“模糊德尔菲法”的设计,让广东省高校教育界和实务界的专家参考英格兰、美国和中国香港地区的专业能力,选择其中他们认为对广州市家庭综合服务中心社会工作者重要的指标。结果显示,共有价值伦理、理论知识和实务技巧等3个层面,合计24项能力指标被纳入本地的能力体系。经过分析这些专家判定逻辑,本研究还发现该能力体系存在“实用专业主义”的倾向,包括“犬儒思想”“去政治化”和“技术化”等特征。     

Embedding Social Justice within Micro Social Work Curricula

Social work struggles with the dichotomy between social and economic justice and micro practice. A large percentage of United States social workers (65%) practice in micro practice settings, yet the profession is challenged to commit to its social justice roots. This article reviews the history of social and economic justice within the social work profession, examines the role of distributive justice, and outlines strategies to integrate social and economic justice into micro social work courses. The article details implications for strengthening a social and economic justice perspective in micro curricula.     

Social work in South Africa at the dawn of the new millennium

The article examines recent developments in social policy and its implications for social work education and practice in South Africa. It traces the changes from the birth of democracy in South Africa to the dawn of the new millennium as these crucial years marked the beginning of a new era in South Africa's welfare history. It examines the challenges to social work and provides an example of the integrated, holistic developmental interventions, which are needed to combat social problems such as crime, AIDS and poverty. It ends with an examination of the implications of developmental welfare policy for social–work education as social workers are called to address mass poverty, unemployment and social deprivation through greater use of diverse social work methods, such as advocacy, community development, empowerment, consultation, networking, action research and policy analysis.     

Mental health practice in primary care: Some perspectives concerning the future of social work in organized delivery systems

Abstract

The rise of managed care as the dominant form of healthcare delivery in the U.S. clearly has dramatic implications for the profession of social work. Thus far and for good reasons, the professional dialog about managed care has largely focused on . the threats posed to the professional agenda of social work by managed care in its various forms. This article considers some of the more positive aspects of the transformation from fee‐based to population‐based healthcare systems, in particular the vigorous trend toward multidisciplinary primary care and collaborative mental health practice in primary care settings. It is argued that the market forces behind this trend also promote the emergence of models of social work practice that better integrate historically dichotomized aspects of health and mental health practice. Also considered are implications for social work education and the division of labor among the healthcare professions.     

Social Work and End-of-Life Care

Abstract

This paper reviews the professional literature with respect to the social work profession's involvement in end-of-life care. The search process was conducted by entering key words in various combinations to electronic databases. Eligible articles were required to address one of the following: roles and activities of social workers in providing end-of-life care; core principles valued by social workers in the provision of end-of-life care; and barriers to provision of effective end-of-life care. The literature from 1990 through July 2004 was searched most rigorously. Based on this review, suggestions for where the profession of social work should focus its energies are offered. These key areas include focusing on generating empirically-based knowledge for practice and policy analysis and developing a system of social work education that addresses the unique knowledge and skills needed to participate in end-of-life practice as competent and informed professional practitioners. Current initiatives with regard to critical areas are summarized.     

社会工作课程理论教学与实践教学的整合优化研究

21世纪我国社会工作教育已经进入新的发展时期。社会工作教育的发展,说明它在协调社会关系、防止社会冲突、解决社会问题方面显示出重要作用。但是,通过对社会工作专业学生、教师以及机构社工进行调查,本文认为,在社会工作教育发展中存在两大主要问题:教学中的"重实践、轻理论"和实践中的"重书本、轻操作",针对此情况,进一步提出从加强社会工作专业的理论意识和建立社会工作专业实践教学的操作平台两方面着手解决,为后社会工作专业的教育教学提供较为客观和现实的指导和建议。     

The Role of Family in Career Choices among Social Workers in China

Abstract

High turnover rate affects social work workforce development in China. Few empirical studies have been conducted to explore the factors that have influences on turnover intention among Chinese social workers. This study used data from China General Survey on Professional Social Workers to examine the influence of job satisfaction and family attitude on social workers’ career choices. The findings reveal that both job satisfaction and family’ attitude toward the profession have significant effects on social workers’ turnover intention. Family’s support or disapproval of the social work profession has moderate effect on the negative correlation between job satisfaction and turnover intention. The findings could be explained by the familyism culture of Chinese society and unique challenges of professional development experienced by social workers in China. Future studies should consider the influence of family to develop a more comprehensive research framework. Management in social service agencies should help family of social workers to learn and embrace the profession to gain their support of choosing social work as career.     

Instilling the Soul of Group Work in Social Work Education

This article addresses the process of developing an educational model for teaching social work with groups in an undergraduate social work degree program in Israel. The model was developed against a backdrop of decreasing status of social group work within the profession and the consequent loss of its unique identity and power in the social work field. The model's aims are to provide the students with the basic principles of social group work, to ensure its place in their professional identity, and to awaken curiosity regarding its use in their future practice as social workers.     

Neo-liberalism, Social Exclusion and Welfare Clients in a Global Economy

Globalization has played a major role in redefining the nature of the welfare state and the ways in which social work practice is being undertaken in a number of different countries. Moreover, its impact has been to exacerbate gendered and racialized social relations. In this article, I explore the changes that globalization has wrought on the social work profession. These have resulted in neo-liberialist policies that have contributed to the realization of a purchaser-provider split in service delivery, the commodification of inter-personal relationships embodied in caring work and the creation of a technicist cadre to deal with vulnerable people in need. I conclude by arguing that social workers need to engage in a public debate which challenges this state of affairs and form alliances with clients, professional associations, trade unions, politicians and other professional groupings in order to set a new welfare agenda which replaces profit-making with social justice to ensure that needs-led assessments and people are at the heart of their professional remit.     

The Private and the Public in Personal Models of Social Work: A Response to O'Connor and Dalgleish

Correspondence to Dr. R. Hugman, Department of Social Administration, University of Lancaster, Fylde College, Lancaster LA1 4YF. Summary O'Connor and Dalgleish have proposed an understanding of thedisjuncture between education and beginning practice. They discussthis in relation to individuals' models of practice. It is suggestedin this response that the individual basis of this analysisrestricts the extent of possible conclusions. A comparison withdifferent research findings is made, and it is suggested thatthere are implications for social work education and the collectiveresponsibility the profession has for beginning social workers.     

Professional and personal hierarchies of ethical principles

We explore social workers’ perception of the importance and rank ordering of ethical principles. Do they have a generally agreed upon hierarchy of ethical principles? Do they apply similar hierarchies of ethical principles when facing different cases? Are their professional and personal hierarchies of ethical principles similar? The findings based on a structured questionnaire indicated that while social workers attach high importance to most ethical principles closely associated with social work, they do not hold a universal hierarchy of ethical principles. Social workers change their ethical hierarchies in different professional situations but there is no difference between their professional and personal ethical hierarchies. Implications for practice and education are discussed.     

"A Salary is not Important Here": The Professionalization of Social Work in Contemporary Russia

Helping professions address the growing number of social problems which have emerged, along with contextual changes in Russian society, culture and state social policy. Social work only emerged in Russia in 1991 and it still lacks recognition by public opinion and by other caring professions. This paper addresses the current development of the social work profession in Russia, considers its context and reviews the main issues affecting processes within social work practice and education. Many social work agencies are in search of new forms of organization and are trying to develop new philosophies of service, in order to build positive relations with communities. However, given the 70 years of the Soviet era when social protection was highly centralized and bureaucratized, the organizational cultures of the new social services sometimes reproduce old patterns of bureaucracy, especially where employees lack professional education. The reflective practitioner type of professionalism is here argued to be more appropriate for social workers in today's Russia. The paper includes an analysis of interviews with social workers and administrators in a large Russian city and considers the results of an ethnographic study of social services in the same city.