Social Work at Universities

in the Context of the Required Practical Skills from the Perspective of Profession

Zuzana Truhlářová, Jana Levická, Jana Marie Havigerová, Karel Myška (CZ)

Presentation outline

• Introduction

• Research objective

• Methods

• Description of the research sample

• Summary

• Conclusion

Introduction

• University education in social work in the

Czech Republic was suspended for 40 years.

• Restored in 1990.

• In accordance with Bologna process there is

an emphasis in the acquisition of practical practical

competences competences during university study.

Basic practical competences (Havrdová, 1999)

1. Develop efficient communication

2. Be well informed and plan the procedures

3. Support and encourage self-sufficiency

4. Intervene and provide services

5. Contribute to the actitivity of the organization

6. Proffessional growth

Research objective

• Ascertain the competences which are

considered important by the social workers

themselves from the perspective of practice and

in the context of their professional preparation

for practice.

Secondary objectives

• Ascertain the individual competences which the social

workers believe to be the most important ones in the

framework of their professional practise - Develop

efficient communication, Be well informed and plan

procedures, Support and encourage self-sufficiency,

Intervene and provide services, Contribute to the activity

of the organization, Professional growth.

Research methods

• Questionnaire (both open and closed questions)

• questionnaire turned in to a web

• obtained data processed using the software NCSS, MS

Excel 2010 and LimeSurvey.

• Questionnaire reliability – Cronbachovo alfa 0,97

Description of the research sample

• Social workers in professional practice.

• 2814 e-mails sent

• 1350 questionnaires returned full filled in

• 59,3 %return rate

Respondents type of provided services

Social care services 47% 675Social prevention services 16% 229Social counselling 8% 109State administration and self-government 12% 169Other 2% 31No answer 15% 209

Respondents length of practice

0-2 years 16% 2323-5 years 20% 2816-10 years 20% 27810-15 years 14% 19315 and more years 16% 228No answer 15% 210

Method

• respondents assessed individual

competences needed for basic activities:

the importance of the given competence

on the scale 1-4

• N=1350

Results

Cumulative scores

for each competency

Develop efficient communicationThe competence to provide the space for the expression of clients´views 3878

The knowledge of the rules of communication with clients (communication techniques) 3860The ability to solve conflicts efficiently 3799The ability to provide emotional support 3794The skill of team communication 3778The skill of efficient usage of verbal and non-verbal communication 3636The ability fo communicate with various client groups 3594The knowledge of the rules of directive and non-directive communication 3322

To be well informed and plan the procedures I

To know the rules of confidentiality and protection of personal data 3748The skill to assess the life situation of the client 3696The ability to react to the changes of the clients´requirements in a flexible way 3668Good knowledge of the legislation connected with social work 3660To be able to plan the providing of services based on the clients´needs (individual planning) 3655To know the particularities of providing services depending on the undesirable situation of the clients, his/her health state and disabilities 3575

To be well informed and plan the procedures II

The skill of obtaining information from various sources and have a good control of it 3516The skill to keep the necessary documentation 3482To be well informed about the area of connections between individual social services (health system, education, legal advice) 3467The skill of processing information from various sources 3428The ability to process documentation using ICT including specialized software (systems) 2954

Support and encourage self-sufficiency

The ability to explain the rights, duties and the ways of applying them to the clients 3536

The ability to make the clients understand the consequences of their decisions 3519

The ability to encourage the clients´s self-sufficiency depending on their capabilities and possibilities 3518

The ability to help the client to get rid off the dependence on a social service 3354

The ability to teach the clients to identify and express their abilities and strong points 3330

Intervention and providing of services

To know the legislative framework of providing the given service 3469The ability to formulate, enforce and propagate the rights of the users 3430

The ability to deal with the risks connected with the service 3429

The ability to apply the individual standards in practice 3401To be well informed about the Standards of social services quality 3376

The ability to refer the clients to a specific service 3365

The ability to find potential clients of social services (screening) 2950

The skill of strategic planning of a service on regional level 2885

Contribute to the activity of the organization

Knowledge of the ethical code of social workers 3484Be well informed about the internal rules of the organization 3415

Understand the structure and the goals of the organization 3409The ability to identify oneself with the culture of the organization 3245To be well informed in the system of state administration and self-governemt 3013To know the available funds of the organization and the possibilities of using them 2918To be well informed in the systems of grants supporting social services 2785

To know the possibilities of multisource funding 2764

Professional growthTo be able to organize one´s work and reach the given objective in time 3421

To know the risks of the profession and to be able to eliminate them (health risks, burn out syndrome etc.) 3369To be able to identify the stereotypes and prejudices with negative impact on the work with clients and overcome them 3359To know professional qualities needed for the work in social services, incl. duties in the area of further education 3208

To know the rules and aims of supervision as an important part of personal and professional growth 3091To be well informed about the offer of qualification and further education 2935

The comparison of the importance of the individaul competences

To be able to organize one´s work and reach the given objective in time 3421

To know the risks of the profession and to be able to eliminate them (health risks, burn out syndrome etc.) 3369

To be able to identify the stereotypes and prejudices with negative impact on the work with clients and overcome them 3359

To know professional qualities needed for the work in social services, incl. duties in the area of further education 3208

To know the rules and aims of supervision as an important part of personal and professional growth 3091

To be well informed about the offer of qualification and further education 2935

Results

• Everything is important

• Most important are communication skills communication skills

Recommendations for education Emphasize personal and social training

Focus on the development of communication skills,

mainly the basic rules of communication and the

ability to listen and manage the interview with the

clients

Recommendations for education

• Elaborate an offer of courses permitting the acquisition

of good knowledge from the fields of law and legislation

and the ability to work with relevant legislative

documents and react to the changes in legislative

practice.

• Improve the development of manager skill focused on

one´s own person (e.g. Organization of one´s own time),

incl. perspective of the team.

CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0209

Zuzana TRUHLÁŘOVÁ

Janka LEVICKÁ

Jana Marie HAVIGEROVÁKarel MYŠKA

zuzana.truhlarova@uhk.cz