Social Work Education

Abstract

Migration across national borders has resulted in demographic changes in the United States, causing the country to become more multi-ethnic. This presents considerable challenges for graduate level educators who need to be responsive to the unique academic needs of diverse populations by considering students' previous experiences, values, and beliefs. This change requires educators to incorporate various teaching styles and to create a classroom atmosphere where security, trust, and openness can be achieved. Developing cultural competence and creating a transformative learning environment is essential for social work educators teaching in multicultural environments in the 21st century. This article provides a brief overview of Burchum's (2002) Evolutionary Perspectives that will help to assist readers in obtaining a clear understanding of cultural competence. It also presents Blunt's Model of Cultural Competence for Transformative Education, which can promote both transformative learning and assist social work educators in fostering a transformative learning environment.     

Our Social Work Imagination

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the case for social work, the case that the old truths and fighting spirit of an earlier day-our social work imagination-live on, even in the face of uncaring economic forces and resurrected punitiveness. Sustained by an idealism as old as humankind, members of the profession continue to advocate for the poor, the sick, and the oppressed.     

Reconstructing Social Work Education

Understanding social work education requires a long view of history as well as a sense of where social work fits in a larger process of social change and how it can contribute to a radical revisioning of professional education. In this paper a dynamic educational model is proposed, in which the de-centering of knowledge as a fact to knowing as a process is proposed and "lived experience" becomes the central focus of professional attention. At the center of this construction is a new relationship among theory, values, and practice.     

Social Work Accreditation:

This study reports on how the social work education accreditation process is perceived and experienced by a national sample of graduate and baccalaureate social work programs. Respondents, mainly program directors, identify cost and benefits and share problems. Suggestions for how the system can be improved are included.     

Teaching Social Group Work

No abstract available for this article.     

Empowering Social Work Faculty

ABSTRACT

Based upon the emergence of alternative paradigms both inside and outside of social work education, four paradigms representing the most traditional to the most radical are presented. Each paradigm is discussed in terms of its ontological and epistemological assumptions as well as other pedagogical issues including role of the teacher, methods of evaluation and course structure. Educators are urged to use these paradigms to better understand legitimate differences between faculty, to become more conscious and deliberate in their choice of methods, to identify areas of incongruence, and to push themselves and the profession towards philosophies and methods most congruent with social work values an ethics.     

Teaching in Social Work

No abstract available for this article.     

发展型社会政策视角下的社会工作介入

米奇利和吉登斯两位学者关于发展型社会政策的理论观点认为,经济发展和社会政策是相互融合的,它的最大意义在于它使传统的社会政策对民众福利的保护方式从被动型、事后补救型、消费型向积极干预型、促进型和投资型转变。因此,笔者认为,在发展型社会政策视角下,社会工作者也要根据这一创新型政策,通过介入个人、社区和政府层面,来提供适当的服务。     

论社会工作实验室对社会工作专业发展的必要性

社会工作专业强调专业助人活动必须在尊重案主的前提下科学、人道、有效地进行。这就要求社会工作专业学生必须深刻领会和掌握助人过程中工作和案主双方复杂的情绪和态度的动态变化及这种变化对助人效果的影响。学生只有通过在实验室不断地角色扮演、分享交流才有可能达到这种专业要求。因而，实验室对社会工作专业的发展是不可或缺的必要条件之一。     

质的研究方法与社会工作

质的研究（qualitative research）方法以其独特的研究角度和理念越来越受到社会科学研究领域的重视。作为一种方法,质的研究具有一定的跨学科性。本文从质的研究方法的理论基础和操作方法上分析,力求指出其对社会工作研究和实践所具有的重要指导意义。     

迈向关系社会工作

关系主义是社会工作新的哲学基础,提供了重新理解社会工作的革新性路径。迈向关系社会工作,即是走向围绕关系主义现象、规律和行动改变进行研究的专题,是对关系社会学的进一步延伸,尤其突出实践性理论的研究。关系主义的社会工作分析框架在于社会工作场域,干预框架聚焦案主网络结构、资源与权力,从而展开社会工作的关系实践。     

Partnerships in Social Work Education

Historically, society has associated a visit from a child protection worker with the removal of children. In Canada in the 1960s, Aboriginal children were removed from their communities in alarming numbers and were referred to as the “sixties scoop.” This may in part explain the difficulty in recruiting Aboriginal social workers into child welfare practice. This reality prompted the development of a post–bachelor degree certificate aimed at increasing the number of Aboriginal child welfare social workers in northern British Columbia. The results discussed in this article stem from three certificate cohorts and highlight the development of new partnerships and students’ experiences. Two years following the completion of the third cohort, nearly 80% of the students recruited were still employed in the North.     

Student Writing in Social Work

Social work professors are frequently disappointed with the writing their students produce bumt feel unsure about how improvements can be made. Unfortunately, the social work literature does not shed much light on the problem of student writing. This exploratory study suggests a model that established a rationale for writing improvement, provides writing opportunities within non-threatening classroom environments, helps students during the writing process, and promotes explicit grading criteria. Preliminary findings suggest that with this model students may lower their writing anxiety, and professors could spend less time grading papers.     

Conflict in Social Work Education

Abstract

This study surveyed the initial post‐course destinations, the retrospective perceptions on the validity of their degree course and the future career intentions of the Early Childhood Studies students who graduated from University College Suffolk in 1996. Data collection was via postal questionnaires. The majority of graduates had found employment or been accepted onto post‐graduate courses allied to their Early Childhood Studies Degree. They appeared to he satisfied with the relevance of the programme of study to their initial post‐course destinations. The course team, however, identified three issues for consideration when the curriculum and student experience are reviewed.     

Quality Control in Social Work

This paper examines the need for gatekeeping within social work education. It examines the processes within the university, social work educational programs, and the practice community. It highlights concerns about gatekeeping's implementation. Suggestions are made for quality control in classroom instruction, field education, and student evaluation.