ЗАГАЛЬНІ ПІДХОДИ ТА ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ОСВІТНЬОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ТА АКРЕДИТАЦІЙНИХ СТАНДАРТІВ У СФЕРІ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ СОЦІАЛЬНИХ ПРАЦІВНИКІВ У КАНАДІ

Abstract

The article discusses the general approaches and features of educational policy and accreditation standards in the field of social workers’ professional training in Canada. The author carried out a categorical analysis of the concept of "social work" based on study the provisions of the provincial and territorial laws. It is determined that this concept is interpreted almost uniformly in all documents and is defined as a professional activity aimed at providing quality social services based on in-depth social workers’ professional training at the bachelor's, master's and research levels at Canadian universities and highly professional social workers. It was found that the basis of quality education in the field of social work is a clear and legislatively regulated educational policy of social workers’ professional training; high accreditation standards and requirements for educational programs regulated by the Education Policy and Accreditation Standards of the Canadian Association for Social Work Education and based on the Global Standards of Social Workers' Standards of the International Federation of Social Workers and the International Association of Schools of Social Work. The author characterizes the general content of the document "Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards" and identifies general approaches to the accreditation of educational programs in the field of social work. The organizational and content features of the educational policy and accreditation standards of social workers’ professional training in Canada are revealed. The commonalities and differences in the accreditation procedure of Ukrainian and Canadian educational programs are briefly described. Possibilities of application the constructive ideas of the Canadian experience in the Ukrainian educational practice are revealed. Key words: social work, social worker, social workers’ professional training, educational policy, accreditation standards, Canada.