Abstract
Social work is a problem-solving scientific and professional discipline and the problem-solving ability of social work students is of the utmost importance for their education. The aim of this study was to investigate the social work students’ problem-solving skills in relation to demographics, year of studies and mental health. The sample included 370 students from the bachelor’s degree programme of the Department of Social Work of the University of Western Attica in Athens, Greece. The Problem- Solving Inventory (PSI) and the Symptom CheckList-90 (SCL-90) were completed by the students along with a questionnaire investigating demographics. A significant negative correlation was found between all SCL-90 dimensions and PSI scores. All SCL-90 dimensions were predictive for all PSI scales. Additionally, it was found that unmarried students had lower Problem- Solving Confidence, Approach-Avoidance Style and Total PSI score as compared with the married ones. Furthermore, students coming from urban areas had greater scores on Personal Control and Total PSI score, while greater scores on Problem-Solving Confidence were found in those attended the 3rd or 4th year of studies as compared to those of the 1st and 2nd year of studies. Implications for additional research and the curriculum of social work studies are discussed.
Highlights
New senior high school graduates‟ interest in entering four years undergraduate teacher education programs has been increasing in Indonesia
All first-year student teachers allowed researchers to use the data in the study. Evidence from this current study indicated that the first-year science and non-science student teachers‟ interpretations and explanations of their motives for entering teacher education programs were quantitatively and qualitatively interwoven among altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic motives across participants of seven different undergraduate teacher education programs
It is surprising that few prior studies have documented student teachers‟ motives and explanations to become a teacher by entering teacher education programs in Indonesia except for Mukminin et al (2017a) and Mukminin et al (2017b) whose studies focused on year 2, 3, and 4 English as foreign language (EFL) student teachers‟ motives to become a teacher through entering an English teacher education program
Summary
New senior high school graduates‟ interest in entering four years undergraduate teacher education programs has been increasing in Indonesia. The increase in the number of senior high school graduates entering teacher education programs has indicated that teaching profession may not become the last choice of young people in Indonesia. The findings of several studies indicated that loving working with children or young people was one of the altruistic motives for person‟s goal to enter teacher education to become a teacher (Fokkens-Bruinsma and Canrınus, 2012; Kılınc et al, 2012; Kyrıacou et al, 1999; Laı et al, 2005; Manuel and Hughes, 2006; Mukminin et al, 2017a; Rıchardson and Watt, 2006; Yong, 1995)
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