Attitudes Toward Advanced Licensing for Macro Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

Trends in clinical licensing and a renewed energy to strengthen macro practice are raising questions about the appropriateness of licensure for macro social work practice. This article presents findings from an online survey of macro social work educators and macro social work practitioners exploring their attitudes toward an advanced-level macro social work license. Faculty and practitioner responders agreed that there is a role for advanced-licensing of macro social work practice; however, the lack of a collectively strong response reflects a current state of ambivalence toward advanced-level licensing for macro practice. Implications from these findings on contemporary social work are discussed.     

Visual and Other Aids

Abstract

Blind Man's Bluff, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. New York: Harper Paperback, 1998.     

Engaging Students in Social Work Research Education

This article discusses existing issues in social work research education. It includes challenges to delivering research education at the MSW level such as student anxiety and disinterest, and incorporates an exploration of post graduation interest in research. The authors recommend that professors increase the emphasis on practical applications of research and encourage students to disseminate research results via publication. The article concludes with the implications of encouraging student research within the social work profession.     

Social Work Practice and Education in México

Social work education and practice in Mexico has emphasized need for social change, family, and community involvement. Education includes casework, group work, and community organization with extensive field work experience that is community based. Education programs rely heavily on literature from South American countries including liberation theory such as that espoused by Paolo Friere. Social work education at the college level prepares graduates for practice, with a licencia. Social Workers in Mexico work in medical settings, children's services, rehabilitation, family services, work settings and a variety of community based programs. Mexico has begun to develop graduate education. Education in the US, Canada, Mexico and other countries could be enhanced with further exchanges of faculty, students and literature.     

Social Development and Minimum Standards in Social Work Education in South Africa

This paper evaluates how well South African minimum standards for social work education, known as Exit Level Outcomes, are aligned to a social development paradigm. Developmental social work is a relatively new approach in social work education internationally, and this article can therefore provide lessons for other countries using this paradigm in an education model based on national minimum standards.

The complexities and difficulties of using a minimum standards approach in education are discussed and the policy context for the development of these standards in South Africa is explained. The use of a social development framework for the analysis is motivated in relation to its relevance to the social context. Nine criteria for a social development perspective were drawn from the literature to form an analytical framework. A content analysis using this framework was done on the minimum standards.

The results show that the minimum standards are generally aligned with social development principles that drive national priorities, but a few significant gaps exist, which are outlined and discussed. This article attempts to grapple with the complexities of using these minimum standards to drive both curricula related and extra curricula activities in social work education in South Africa     

In Memoriam

This article discusses the origin of social work education in Africa as an export of colonial powers. Social work or social work education has not been the product of a progressive social metamorphosis but rather that of foreign methodologies imposed on African societies. Consequently, the essence of social work education lacks relevance in terms of its philosophical, value and ideological base. Thus students who graduate from such a system of education tend to remain, to some extent, unfamiliar with indigenous knowledge systems and lack adequate knowledge in working with the people. The paper further argues that, while the origin of social work education is well known, its future direction, development and focus on the continent remain unknown, at worst haphazard, ad hoc and undirected with serious implications for the mission and vision of the profession. Social work in Africa has been without a platform to foster discourse on its nature, character and direction. Transformation of social work education from being Euro-centric to being Afro-centric has to be spearheaded by an organization that can provide a forum for dialogue, leadership and a contextual framework. The article therefore examines the need for such a forum and briefly discusses past efforts in this direction in an attempt to provide a direction for transformation.     

The Role of Social Work Education in Advancing Social Development in the English-speaking Caribbean

This article presents a discussion of the role of professional social work education in advancing social development in the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean. It addresses issues around the development of the profession in the region, student enrolment, curriculum expansion and programme delivery by the institutions which offer social work education. The events which contributed to the emergence of social work education in the region during the fourth decade of the twentieth century and social work education's continued contribution to regional development are discussed. The prospective use of the new Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development to advance the profession in the region in the twenty-first century is noted. The article concludes by highlighting the many challenges that currently impact social work education in the Caribbean and the fact that the development of social work education in the region is inextricably linked to the region's social development needs. Social work education as delivered through the University of the West Indies is used as the case in point for discussion.     

商务英语课程设置折射出的两个深层次问题

基于交流需求分析,着眼于跨文化交流能力的培养,理想的商务英语课程设置包含着语言、沟通、文化和商务四个模块的课程体系。在现实中,这样一个理想的商务英语课程体系是否能够得到实施,人们对于商务英语课程设置的认知与现实中的教学实践之间是否存在差异,以河南高校为样本,对商务英语课程的实施情况进行了实证调查。在对调查结果进行分析时,得出了数项结论,同时发现了两个待解的深层次问题:一是如何培养商务英语专业的核心竞争优势?二是什么是商务英语课程体系的共同核心?     

我校舞蹈学专业民间舞课程改革之贵州民族特色

高校办学改革的一个重要方面就是课程的改革.这种改革对于学校硬件设施以及师资、生源等软件都不是很突出的院校而言尤为重要.而最具可行性的改革途径之一则是特色办学模式的选择.于我校舞蹈学专业民族民间舞蹈课程的改革而言,大力充实富于浓郁民族特色且艺术水平较高的贵州省少数民族民间舞蹈艺术品种到目前采用的教材中有其必要性,也具备相...     

多元与动态化大学英语课程体系探析

要解决目前我国大学英语教育面临的问题,就必须建立由基础英语模块、通识教育课程、专门用途英语(ESP)课程构成的多元的、动态的大学英语课程体系.而构建这一体系,全面贯彻落实大学英语教学改革,既需要各高校进行社会需求分析,并根据自身的特点和学生的个性合理规划、配置教学资源,优化管理,也需要教师转变观念,调整知识结构.