The Teaching of Writing in Social Work Education:

Though social work educators at the graduate and undergraduate level require their students to write much and often, the quality of writing of many recent graduates appears to be inadequate for meeting the contemporary demands of everyday practice in social work settings or interdicsiplinary arenas. In order to prepare more fully social work students for addressing contemporary social issues and for serving their clients, social work educators in the 1990s could draw upon the expertise of those composition teachers who have devised approaches to the teaching of writing that take into account the special demands of a given profession or discipline. The authors reflect on their application of such an approach in three social work programs - two at the graduate level and one at the undergraduate level.     

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.     

The Implications of Social Constructionism for Social Work Education

This paper discusses the basic tenets of social contructionism. Four implications of this perspective for social work education are described: social theory and the linguistic representation of knowledge, critical thinking, historical and cultural relativity, and morality and values.     

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.     

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.     

高校德育工作队伍建设的认识论思考

要真正有效建设高校德育工作队伍,首先要解决的是认识问题。高校德育工作队伍建设包括很多要素,认识的角度和方法也可以多种多样,而真正能为高校德育工作队伍建设提供认识论基础的,应该是价值、环境和结构认识。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

The Implicit Curriculum in Social Work Education: The Culture of Human Interchange

This article focuses on the culture of human interchange, which is included as a component of the implicit curriculum in the current EPAS. It presents the use of the implicit curriculum concept in teacher and medical education as a context for its application to social work education. The authors argue that professional behaviors taught in the explicit curriculum of the classroom need to be consciously reinforced in the many venues and through the ongoing interpersonal relations throughout the educational environment. The article identifies the challenges that movement in this direction would create but which the implicit curriculum standard mandates us to address.     

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.     

Making Mentoring Work: The Need for Rewiring Epistemology

To help produce more expert coaches at the participation and performance levels, a number of governing bodies have established coach mentoring systems. In light of this trend, against the limited literature on coach mentoring and the risks of superficial treatment by coach education systems, this article critically discusses the role of the mentor in coach development, the nature of the mentor–mentee relationship, and, most specifically, how expertise in the mentee may best be developed. If mentors are to be effective in developing expert coaches, we consequently argue that a focus on personal epistemology is required. On this basis, we present a framework that conceptualizes mentee development on this level through a step by step progression, rather than through an unrealistic and unachievable leap toward expertise. Finally, we consider the resulting implications for practice and research with respect to one-on-one mentoring, communities of practice, and formal coach education.     

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.     

Disability Discrimination in Social Work Education

Abstract

An overview of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is presented. The article emphasizes that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is the federal law upon which the ADA is built. A comparison of Section 504 and the ADA is presented in the paper. An analysis is offered of the case law that has emerged under Section 504 that serves as a guide to the rights and responsibilities of social work programs and faculty under the ADA. Recommendations are made for helping social work programs comply with the ADA in the area of student admissions and retention.     

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.     

Field Instruction in Social Work Education

Recent trends and issues related to values, ethics, research, classroom-field integration, field assignments, part-time education and student stress in social work field instruction are discussed in conjunction with the Council on Social Work Education Curriculum Policy Statement. Changes in educational demands and student characteristics are taken into account when exploring the issues. Research conducted by the author is used to illustrate the conceptual manual.     

Adjunct Faculty in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Adjunct faculty are growing in numbers and time spent instructing courses in social work programs. This paper describes one school's approach in working with and involving adjunct faculty as significant stakeholders in the overall educational program. The described program incorporates a number of ongoing activities to encourage adjunct faculty to contribute to the academic community beyond the instruction of one course. The paper also identifies additional strategies a social work program may consider to further strengthen the adjuncts? role in academia. The paper concludes with questions for social work educational programs and the Council on Social Work Education's Commission on Accreditation to recognize and define the position and function of adjunct faculty in social work education.     

本土社会工作价值观教育研究

本土社会工作价值观的教育应包括＂普遍价值观＂教育和＂本土价值观＂教育。利他主义作为社会工作的普遍价值观,自应是我国社会工作价值观教育的核心内容之一。＂本土价值观＂教育应由四部分组成：我国市场经济中形成的价值观;意识形态提倡的社会主义价值观;中国传统价值观;受西方影响的价值观。     

Students' Participation in Social Networking Sites: Implications for Social Work Education

Social work students have few guidelines to help them evaluate the implication of their posted information on Internet-based social networking sites (SNSs). There is a national trend among employers of human services to cross-check publicly available online information on applicants. Based on data from a survey of 105 baccalaureate and master's social work students at a Midwestern university, this study explored students' perspectives on problematic information on SNSs. The majority reported that they had posted information on SNSs that they would not want their prospective employers to cross-check. Students offered a wide range of opinions, attitudes, and characteristics that contribute to the assessment of the risks that information they post on SNSs pose for their profession. The purpose of this study is to stimulate a conversation among social work educators on how to inculcate awareness and training of students on the ethical implications of SNS participation and to discuss directions for future research.