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.     

Digital Ethics in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Attention has been given to the revised National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics that guides social worker use of technology. The revision of the NASW Code of Ethics has signaled a transition in the profession toward ethical online practice using modern techniques and contemporary tools. Practicing social workers are applying these new ethical standards, and many social work educators are doing so when using information and communication technologies with students. However, little research focuses on teaching social work students about digital ethics and professional online conduct. This paper explores the importance of preparing social work students for ethical online behavior.     

Safety Training in Social Work Education

Abstract

Social workers are particularly vulnerable to violence due to the type of clients they serve, the preponderance of involuntary service relationships, the settings in which they work, and cutbacks in services. A national survey was conducted of field directors to discern their perceptions about danger to interns, schools' and agencies' practices and responsibilities for student safety, safety standards and policies, training personnel and content, and recommendations for change. Field directors believe that there is a need for more attention to student safety and that risks to students are increasing. There is dissonance between concern about violence and the lack of safety policies and training in schools of social work. Strategies for violence prevention are presented.     

Occupational Social Work Education for Employee Assistance Practice

ABSTRACT

This article explores the current state of Occupational Social Work/Employee Assistance (OSW/EA) education. It examines the relationship between social work curricula, field placement experiences, and entry-level employment opportunities in the OSW/EA field. It is based on an educational initiative called the Partnership for Employee Assistance Education. Drawing on the OSW/EA literature, surveys, and focus group materials, the article concludes that the nature of OSW/EA is being reshaped by information technology, shifting demographics, globalization, and evolving terms and conditions of employment. The authors discuss how the graduate-level OSW/EA curriculum and field placements are being transformed to reflect these trends. Concepts such as Organizational Social Work and organizational intelligence are discussed. Innovative educational strategies are recommended. Finally, the authors argue that the contemporary workplace offers potential opportunity for innovative social work practice and education.     

The Use of Emotions in Social Work Education

The role of emotions, although central to social work practice, has been relatively neglected in the process of teaching and learning social work. This article explores how social work educators can incorporate an understanding of the role of emotions in both the teaching and practice of social work. Attention is drawn toward evolutionary and developmental perspectives, emotional regulation, and the current treatment of emotions in the educational context. Further, the article explores the role of optimal emotional arousal in the learning and retention of social work curriculum and its concurrent relational implications for practice.     

The Construction of Social Class in Social Work Education: A Study of Introductory Textbooks

Social work introductory textbooks reflect myriad practical interests, pedagogical concerns, and theoretical considerations. However, they also present students with accepted views, dominant perspectives, and main discourses of knowledge. In light of this centrality, the present article examines the representation of the concept of “social class” in introductory textbooks as a way to look at the construction of the concept in social work education. Based on the content analysis study of 50 introductory textbooks, the article suggests that social work education has overlooked or even denied the relevance of social class. Class differences, as part of other categories of power such as race, ethnicity, and gender are crucial factors in explaining diversity and inequality. As social justice is one of the main premises of social work, the question of how to prepare students to deal with class issues as future practitioners seems to be very important, especially in light of increasing social class gaps.     

A Call for Self-Compassion in Social Work Education

Many social work students approach the end of their formal training unprepared to utilize self-care approaches to prevent burnout. Providing students more comprehensive self-care training can help address this issue. One approach to fostering self-care and addressing stress and burnout in social work students is the attitude and practice of self-compassion (SC; i.e., compassion directed inward). Training in SC can be helpful, as it has been shown to be effective in addressing stress and burnout, as well as enhancing practice. This article explores the benefits of integrating an SC approach within professional social work education. A definition, review of the SC literature, and a conceptual sketch for integrating SC approaches in social work education are presented.     

Socialization of Doctoral Students: Implications for Social Work Education

Recent discussions on social work education increasingly have drawn attention to doctoral education. The purpose of this article is to consider these discussions that debated some of the ways of improving doctoral student education and professional development, using professional socialization as a conceptual framework. Issues such as research, teaching, and research assistantship, and conferences are considered as key components of the process of preparing doctoral students for knowledge building through teaching and research. Finally, the paper discusses some implications for social work education.     

中国社会工作教育发展面临的若干问题及其解决对策

当前，中国社会工作教育的发展正面临着若干突出的问题，这些问题有着一定的成因，并会造成很大的危害。因此，必须在遵循解决问题的原则、明确解决问题的思路基础上，采取具体的对策措施来寻求实际问题的有效解决。     

美国儿童社会工作的职业伦理本位

儿童社会工作是社会进步、福利制度不断完善的产物。儿童社会工作质量的提升,除了依赖众所周知的社会财富因素之外,制度建设和社工职业伦理建设则更为根本,这是由儿童社会工作的性质——以价值伦理为导向的职业性助人工作——决定的。经过百年探索和革新,美国儿童社会工作形成了比较完备的职业伦理规范,研究和学习美国儿童社会工作的经验,对于我国社工职业的“本土化”进程具有重要意义。     

University and Social Involvement at the Neighborhood Level: Implications for Social Work Education

The article describes and evaluates an innovative experiment in education and training of social workers at an academic learning center, which was established by the Hebrew University's School of Social Work and Social Welfare in a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The project focused on strengthening the link between theory, research, and practice. Participants were exposed to advanced theories and macropractice seminars, and gained practical experience as well as tools and technologies for coping with the social problems faced by Jerusalem neighborhoods. In that process, they became aware of the difficulties involved in initiating programs and in establishing coalitions with neighborhood institutions, residents, and other constituencies. The article deals with the achievements of the learning center, as well as with the difficulties and dilemmas encountered in the effort to sustain collaboration between the university and the community. In addition, issues related to supervision of students specializing in community work and practice, and implications for social work education are presented and discussed.     

我国社会工作教育的困境与出路

社会工作专业教育自20世纪80年代中期在我国恢复设立,在近几年进入了一个迅速扩张的时期。目前,我国各类高等院校大都已纷纷开设社会工作专业,招生数量也急剧增加,我国社会工作教育因而也面临新的任务与挑战。文章以我国转型期间的社会现代化为背景,分析了我国社会工作教育在专业化、职业化、社会化三个方面的困境,并进一步探讨我国社会工作教育健康发展的方向与出路。     

Jewish Ethnic Needs in Multicultural Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

CSWE established a variety of standards regarding minority populations and diversity (CSWE, 1992). Some minority groups, although covered by CSWE standards, in practice are not dealt with in social work education. One in particular, Jewish students, is recommended for attention. This article focuses on what students of all backgrounds need for working effectively with Jewish clients, coverage of Jewish topics in the curriculum, and students' level of comfort in expressing their religion within the context of social work education.     

论特殊教育中社会工作支持服务的拓展

全纳教育的理念要求我们对特殊儿童提供预防、教育、康复、职业训练等领域的综合服务,社会工作成为其重要的专业支持。基于英美国家以及港台地区的经验分析,我们发现社会工作在特殊儿童的筛选评估、专业服务、团队沟通以及政策倡导等方面都发挥着重要作用。我国特教体系中社会工作支持服务的拓展需要进一步完善特教政策,促进专业融合,拓展实务模式以及加强社会宣传。     

社会工作毕业生对本科教学的反馈研究

以天津师范大学社会工作毕业生为研究对象,了解毕业生的就业和职业适应状况、对本科教学等方面的看法和评价,以期为今后社会工作专业的教育教学改革提供较为客观和现实的指导和建议。     

Distance and Online Social Work Education: Novel Ethical Challenges

Digital technology has transformed social work education. Today's students can take individual courses and earn an entire degree without ever meeting their faculty members in person. Technological innovations such as videoconferencing, live online chat, asynchronous podcasts, and webinars enable social work educators to reach students whose personal circumstances and geographical locations make it difficult for them to attend school in person. This paper highlights complex ethical issues associated with the proliferation of digital and online social work education. Key ethical issues concern student access; course and degree program quality and integrity; academic honesty and gatekeeping; and privacy and surveillance.     

Introducing Sexual Diversity into Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Social workers encounter sexuality-related issues in a variety of practice settings. Yet, less than half of professional preparation programs incorporate content on human sexual diversity in their curricula (Diaz & Kelly, 1991). Such an omission poses problems for competent practice with persons-in-sexual situations, especially in a pluralistic society and a multicultural world where there are varied beliefs, values, and options regarding adult sexual expression. This article describes a humanistic group approach to introducing sexual diversity into graduate social work education. It incorporates democratic values and guidelines, group process, and sexual diversity exercises into a professionally ethical approach to a controversial subject in the classroom.     

An Exploratory Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Innovative Model for Teaching Multicultural Social Work Education

Abstract

Effective social work practice with diverse populations requires the successful incorporation of multicultural knowledge, awareness, and skills.As a result, there is a pressing need for innovative and evidencebased teaching strategies and methods that provide social work students with these key multicultural tools. This paper describes one such teachingmodel and presents the findings of an exploratory study to empirically evaluate its effectiveness with undergraduate social work students (N =23) enrolled in a multicultural social work course. Based on pre-and post-test composite scores, the findings suggest that this new model of multicultural instruction and assignments increases students' multicultural awareness andknowledge.     

美国大学-中小学伙伴关系中的教师教育

本文主要论述在<一个孩子都不能落后>(NCLB)的教育法案推行过程美国大学与中小学合作开展的教师教育活动,讨论NCLB对教师资质和素质以及合作伙伴项目的规定,在陈述大学与中小学对NCLB回应的基础上,探讨了美国大学与中小学旨在推进教师专业发展的伙伴关系.     

An Introduction: Reimagining Social Work Education for the Digital Age

ABSTRACT

Despite the recent publication of a number of articles, along with current presentations at professional conferences, and a scholarly text all on the topic of distance learning and online social work education, many believe that the subject has not received the level of recognition among academics in our profession that it needs and deserves. This Introduction to a special double issue of a prominent peer-reviewed journal serves to welcome the reader to the contents of the seventeen articles that follow, and to provide both an overview and conceptual framework for the special issue as a whole. Underscoring both the opportunities and quandaries, support and resistance, most of the authors would appear to conclude that social work educators must rapidly become more agile in embracing the unique opportunities presented by the technology that we now have at hand.